Definitely my favorite demonstration was the woman who hand-made bone china flowers. Bone china isn't just a goofy term- 50% of the paste is made up of cow bone! Another interesting fact is that it is always translucent, as the photo above demonstrates.
The woman above was simply amazing. She said that she used to get paid a certain amount for every dozen flowers she made in a day. She could make 30- 40 dozen in a day! A few people have tried to invent a machine that can make these, but they are too intricate. She had all sorts of tricks for making the different parts of the flowers. For the stamens she would take a strip of clay and run a comb part way through it. She would wrap the strip around a ball that had been pressed against a piece of mesh- to make the seeds. She had all sorts of tools that would put patterns on the petals. It's a real art.
This is what they look like before they are fired.
And this is what they look like after they are fired and painted. Of course I had to buy one in the gift shop! I bought a snowdrop :)
No comments:
Post a Comment