3 Types of porcelain and why bone china is the most expensive of them all
There are three types of porcelain available in the market. Their difference is based on how they are made. The following are the 3 types of porcelain.
Hard-paste porcelain
This porcelain type is made of a very pure mixture of kaolin and petunse(it’s also known as China stone) and sometimes 20% flint is added in the mixture. Then the resultant mixture is heated in a high-temperature fire.
The clay and the glaze melt together and vitrify forming a unified body so that you won’t be able to tell which part is clay and which part is a glaze. You will see bright light can pass through porcelain.
The downside of hard porcelain is it chips easily and as it’s heated in a high-temperature fire, it’s very difficult and at the same time expensive to produce.
If you have one of them that you love but has chipped, then no need to worry as there are porcelain restoration services available at Essex in the UK
Soft-paste porcelain
Soft-paste porcelain consists of kaolin (china clay) and petuntse and frit- a glassy substance that is a mixture of white sand, nitre, alum, salt and gypsum
Lime and chalk are added in the mix to fuse the white clay and the frit. The resulted body is granular as the ingredients do not melt together to vitrify and it’s weaker than bone china and prone to chip more readily.
Bone Chinaware
Bone chinaware is said to consist of bone ash, china clay (kaolin), china stone (feldspar), silica, the remaining is a mix of alumina, alkalis, and lime (burnt limestone). Bone china is shaped into an extremely hard and intensely white porcelain that allows light to pass through it.
Producing bone chinaware is very expensive as the ingredients have to be artificially mixed and heated at the high-temperature fire. It’s very expensive to mix because you can’t just get the clay from the ground and add it in the mix. It needs intense refinement for it to reach an outstanding level of purity.
Then another factor that adds to the cost is the fact that it needs high-temperature fire for heating and there’s any failure in the production of bone chinaware.
Therefore it’s very difficult for the manufacturer to make a profit and by the time it reaches end customers, it’s sold at a high price.
Summing up all three types of porcelain has its own advantages and disadvantages: some are price-wise and some are durability wise. So you should buy the one that fits your needs most.
