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Porcelain Labware: Evaporating Dishes, Crucibles, Funnels and Streak Plates
Hard porcelain stands strong heat and most chemicals, so the laboratory's dishes, crucibles and filter funnels are made of it; left unglazed, its white biscuit is the streak plate for testing minerals. Form the pieces, give them a light first firing, dip them in ground-felspar glaze, and fire them hard in saggers, as Andrew Ure (1839) describes for Sèvres.
The picture: porcelain evaporating dishes in three sizes, glazed, with pouring lips.
Advanced
Weeks with drying and two firings
Instructions
1
1
Form the pieces
Form the pieces
Throw shallow round dishes with a lip and small lidded crucibles on the wheel. For a Büchner funnel throw a cylinder with a flat floor, pierce the floor with many small holes and add a stem. Roll a slab and cut it into small tiles for streak plates.
Materials for this step:
Porcelain Clay5 kgTools needed:
Potter's Wheel
Rolling Pin
Clay Tool Set
Ruler2
2
Dry very slowly
Dry very slowly
Ure: dry them very slowly; a little hurry spoils them.
3
3
Light first firing
Light first firing
Fire them gently so they keep their shape but become strong enough to handle and be dipped in water.
Materials for this step:
Firewood1 as requiredTools needed:
Kiln
Heat-Resistant Gloves4
4
Felspar glaze
Felspar glaze
Grind felspar very fine, stir it with water and a little vinegar to a thin pap. Dip each dish, crucible and funnel for an instant; the porous body draws the glaze on. Wipe the glaze off the feet. Leave the streak-plate tiles unglazed.
Materials for this step:
Feldspar Chunk0.5 kg
Water2 liters
Vinegar0.05 literTools needed:
Muller
Fine Mesh Sieve
Vat
Dust Mask5
5
Set in saggers
Set in saggers
Set every piece in its own sagger on a flat, sand-dusted base so it cannot stick or sag out of shape; small pieces may share a base if they do not touch.
Materials for this step:
Fine Sand1 kgTools needed:
Sagger6
6
The hard firing
The hard firing
Raise the fire slowly for about 15 hours to a cherry red, then fire hard until the kiln glows white inside, drawing trial pieces to judge when the glaze is smooth. Cool slowly over days.
Materials for this step:
Firewood1 as requiredTools needed:
KilnHeat-Resistant Gloves7
7
Ure's firing, hour by hour
Ure's firing, hour by hour
Loading Jupyter Notebook...
8
8
Limits
Limits
The firings, glaze and saggers are Ure's account of Sèvres; the forms of the four wares are ours. A full porcelain firing needs a kiln that reaches white heat.
Materials
6- 5 kgPlaceholder
- 1 as requiredPlaceholder
- 0.5 kgPlaceholder
- 2 litersPlaceholder
- 0.05 literPlaceholder
- 1 kgPlaceholder
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