Regularly Asked Questions

Ceramics, Porcelains and Vases

Dutch graduates from the Royal College of Art (RCA), London examine new approaches to product design in porcelain.

A style for Kangxi interval (1662 to 1722) blue and white wares grew to massive proportions in Europe through the later years of the 19th century and triggered the manufacturing at Jingdezhen of enormous portions of porcelain wares that strike a resemblance to ceramics of earlier intervals. Such blue and white wares were not fakes or even convincing reproductions, even though some pieces carried four-character Kangxi reign-marks that proceed to cause confusion to this day. Kangxi reign-marks within the kind shown within the illustration happen solely on wares made in the direction of the end of the nineteenth century or later, with out exception.

Today, in an effort to make a really perfect ceramic restoration, step one is to completely clean the pottery surfaces, particularly the area on the break or crack. So as to do away with stains and impurities, the usage of lasers, steam wands, delicate acids, alkalis, and some specialised detergents could be very useful. You might be shocked how a lot being attentive to this preliminary cleansing course of can contribute to a successful ceramic restoration and reduce the need for re-restorations in the future.

Blue & white porcelain was hand painted with beautiful cobalt blue pigment in all kinds of designs, and completed with a transparent over-glaze. Thousands and hundreds of cargoes of wonderful Ming blue and white export porcelain were shipped to main sea faring port cities of Europe within the 17 & 1800s; including France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, as well as Holland, Belgium, Austria, and Germany.

This was the first time I realized how one can work with plaster and the plaster wheel. You begin by rolling up a plastic tube and setting it center on the wheel head. After you have that plastic dammed up across the sides with clay you pour plaster in the tube to the peak that you really want your piece to be. Relying on the size of the piece you unroll the plaster and begin to lathe the plaster block into no matter your coronary heart wishes. Once you have the shape you want you soap it and repeat the first step and make a crack mildew. It is a cup I made the place I lathed it upside down.