The Story in a Cup and Saucer
HOW CHINA IS MADE
Many different kinds of raw materials are required to produce the clay from which china is formed, and these ingredients come from widely separated localities. Clays from Florida, North Carolina, Cornwall and Devon. Flint from Illinois and Pennsylvania. Boracic acid from the Mojave Desert and Tuscany. Cobalt from Ontario and Saxony. Feldspar from Maine. All these and more must enter into the making of every piece.
Grinders for reducing glazing materials.
These materials are reduced to fine powder and stored in huge bins. Between these bins, on a track provided for the purpose, the workmen push a car which bears a great box. Under this box is a scale for weighing the exact amount of each ingredient as it is put in, for too much of one kind of clay or too little of another would seriously impair the quality of the finished china.
Mill for pulverizing materials.
From bin to bin this car goes, gathering up so many pounds of this material and so many pounds of that, until its load is complete. Then it is dumped into one of the great round tanks called “blungers,” where big electrically driven paddles mix it with water until it has the consistency of thick cream. From the blungers this liquid mass passes into another and still larger tank, called a “rough agitator,” and is there kept constantly in motion until it is released to run in a steady stream over the “sifters.”
These sifters are vibrating tables of finest silk lawn, very much like that used for bolting flour at the mills. The material for china making strains through the silk, while the refuse, including all foreign matter, little lumps, etc., runs into a waste trough and is thrown away. From the sifters the liquid passes through a square box-like chute, in which are placed a number of large horseshoe magnets, which attract to themselves and hold any particles of harmful minerals which may be in the mixture.
After leaving the magnets the fluid is free from impurities, and is discharged into another huge tank called the “smooth agitator.” While the fluid is in this tank a number of paddles keep it constantly in motion.
From the smooth agitator the mixture is forced under high pressure into a press where a peculiar arrangement of steel chambers packed with heavy canvas allows the water to escape, filtered pure and clear, but retains the clay in discs or leaves weighing about thirty pounds each. From the presses this damp clay is taken out to the “pug mills,” where it is all ground up together, reduced to a uniform consistency, and cut into blocks of convenient size. It is now ready to use. Automatic elevators carry it to the workmen upstairs.
HOW THE DISHES ARE SHAPED
The exact process of handling the clay differs with articles of different shapes. Some are molded by hand in plaster of paris molds of proper shape, while others are formed by machine. To make a plate, for example, the workman takes a lump of clay as large as a teacup. He lays this on a flat stone, and with a large, round, flat weight, strikes it a blow which flattens the material out until it resembles dough rolled out for cake or biscuits, only instead of being white or yellow it is of a dark gray color. A hard, smooth mold exactly the size and shape of the inside of the plate is at hand. Over this the workman claps the flat piece of damp clay. Then the mold is passed on to another workman, who stands before a rapidly revolving pedestal, commonly known as the potter’s wheel. On this wheel he places the mold and its layer of clay. He then pulls down a lever to which is attached a steel scraper. As the plate rapidly revolves, this scraper cuts away the surplus clay, and gives to the back of the plate its proper form. The plate, still in its mold, is placed on a long board, together with a number of others, and shoved into a rack to dry. One workman with two helpers will make 2,400 plates per day. It is fascinating to watch the molders’ deft hands at work swiftly changing a mass of clay into perfectly formed dishes. Such skilled workmen are naturally well paid.
When the clay is sufficiently dry, the plate is taken from its mold, the edge smoothed and rounded, and any minor defects remedied. It is then placed in an oval shaped clay receptacle called a “sagger,” together with about two dozen of its fellows, packed in fine sand, and placed in one of the furnaces or kilns. Each kiln will contain on an average two thousand saggers. When the kiln is full the doorway is closed and plastered with clay, the fires started, and the dishes subjected to terrific heat for a period of forty-eight hours. The fuel used is natural gas, piped one hundred miles from wells 2,000 feet deep. Natural gas gives an intense heat, and yet is always under perfect control—features which are vital in producing uniformly good china.
When the plate is taken from the kiln after the first baking, it is pure white, but of dull, velvety texture, and is known as bisque ware.
In order to give it a smooth, high finish, the plate is next dipped into a solution of white lead, borax and silica, dried, placed in a kiln and again baked. When it is taken out for the second time it has acquired that beautiful glaze which so delights the eye. In this condition it is known as “plain white ware,” and is finished, unless some decoration is to be added.
HOW CHINA IS DECORATED
Most people are surprised to learn that the greater part of the gold which adorns dishes is put on by a simple rubber stamp. Two preparations of gold are used. One is a commercial solution called “liquid bright gold,” the other is very expensive, and is simply gold bullion melted down with acids to the right consistency.
Decorating in colors is now done almost exclusively by decalcomania art transfers. These are made principally in Europe.
After the gold and colors are applied, the China must again go through the oven’s heat for a period of twelve hours. Then the piece finished at last, is ready to grace your table. The dull gray clay has become beautifully finished china, which will delight alike the housekeeper and her guests.