Soft-paste Porcelain

Soft-paste Porcelain

First produced in Europe in 1738. Soft-paste porcelain is produced by mixing white clay with 'frit' - a glassy substance that was a mixture of white sand, gypsum, soda, salt, alum and nitre. Lime and chalk were used to fuse the white clay and the frit, the mixture is then fired at a lower temperature than hard-paste porcelain. There are three types of porcelain: Hard-paste Soft-paste Bone china

Soft-paste porcelain is soft and the body is granular since the ingredients do not melt together.

The glaze is clear and thick and sometimes gathers into pools. The enamel colours sink into the glaze.

Glassy porcelain has no standard recipe but the body is made from - Glass, China stone, other ingredients. Firing temperatures: biscuit 1200 C - 1300 C, glost 1050 C - 1150 C

Porcelaneous ware was first made in China, hence its common name china. Chinese porcelain is less vitrified (and therefore softer) than its modern European counterpart, which was developed in Germany in the early 18th century.

questions / comments? email Steve Birks steveb@netcentral.co.uk