The ultimate principle is simplicity, and the simpler things are, it is really not easy to do them well.
Just like a small cup like Jian Zhan, especially when drawing the blank, you need to have a clear plan in mind and pull out the best shape of the container in one go.
If it cannot be formed at one time and needs to be drawn twice, it will be troublesome.
Often a slight movement at this time will cause the embryo to deform and become even more ugly.
Therefore, after the first drawing and forming, regardless of whether it is good or bad, it is best to start sharpening and trimming the pattern next, rather than drawing it twice.
That is to say, after the first drawing is completed, the glaze can be applied only after the processes of trimming, drying, biscuit firing, selecting the blank, and washing the blank.
The glaze water for firing Jianzhan must be collected from glaze mines in designated locations that are rich in high-iron substances. Any glaze ore collected from other places will never produce the texture of Jianzhan.
Therefore, if you want to make a qualified and beautiful lamp, the choice of materials is very important.
There are two types of materials used in building lamps, clay and glaze.
Jianzhan's fetal soil contains three types of local soil, red soil, clay and high-temperature soil.
These three kinds of soil are also found in many other places in our country, but the soil suitable for firing and building lamps is only the soil within the local Shuiji area of Jianyang, and cannot be artificially added.
Soil selection also requires some testing before you can find the right land.
Soil and mineral selection are the basic skills of making porcelain, but there are definitely not many people who can do this basic skill well now.
In the process of making jianzhan, soil selection is particularly important. It is best to choose local clay with a high iron content in Shuiji. After the porcelain ore is retrieved, it is piled in the open air to allow it to weather naturally.
Next comes the processing of the machine/water hammer. Different process requirements will lead to subtle changes in the firing process.
Some raw materials need to be processed by machine or water to make the product higher quality.
Then there are the ingredients, which are prepared according to different clay ingredients and proportions.
Then put it into a mortar for crushing, that is, put the prepared mud and glaze into a machine mortar or water mortar for crushing.
After processing, it’s time to take out the materials.
After the machine has been running for a certain period of time and the thickness of the mud or glaze is moderate, it can be taken out.
The mud treated in this way still needs to be filtered.
The mud is sieved and then put into the slurry tank, and the glaze is sieved and then put into the glaze tank.
Next is the aging, filtered mud and glaze, which need to be stored for a certain period of time to facilitate subsequent steps.
The raw materials needed at this time have basically taken shape.
Of course, there are still some steps, such as mud dehydration. These are small details, and if they are not counted as a process, they are okay.
However, Chen Wenzhe believes that details determine success or failure, so he will carefully grasp every small detail.
It can be said that only by careful step by step can we achieve perfection!
Just like dehydration, stale mud is still "mud" with water at this time and needs to be dehydrated before it can become mud with moderate hardness and softness.
Here, it is very important to have moderate softness and hardness, because this will be beneficial to subsequent clay training and embryo drawing.
Let’s talk about clay training. Clay training can be done by machine or by hand.
A vacuum mud machine is used for machine mud training, and the mud is shoveled manually for manual mud grinding.
The purpose of mud training is to remove or minimize excess air in the mud and make the mud uniform.
At this time, after the clay training is completed, you can start drawing the embryo, but before drawing the embryo, it is best to knead the clay first.
This step of kneading the mud is to knead all the mud ingredients into mud pieces of suitable size.
Only in this way can it be easier to draw the embryo. At this point, it is just a kneading process. How many steps have been carried out?
Large and small, they can be classified into one major step, which is practicing clay, or blending clay.
However, when it comes to actually doing it, there are several steps, and you must pay attention to them all and not be haphazard.
Because if the raw materials are not processed well, no matter how good your craftsmanship is, you will not be able to produce good works.
Therefore, only after kneading the mud well can the dough be drawn.
This Chen Wenzhe did too much, which was to place the kneaded clay blocks on the rotating wheel and pull out the pre-planned shape by hand.
This step requires extremely high craftsmanship, and the key to the shape of the vessel lies in this step.
It's just that the shape of the jianzhan is the same. Although there are many changes, they are only changes in the shape and size of the mouth.
With Chen Wenzhe's skills, this can be changed at will, or it can be said that he can make small tea cups of various shapes as he pleases.
After drawing, the blank still needs to be trimmed.
When making any kind of fine porcelain, trimming is essential because it is a step towards excellence.
The drawn blank is a blank, which is just a basic shape.
If you want to get a better work, you must turn the wheel on the machine wheel to spin the blank into a uniform thickness, regular and beautiful shape.
At this step, if you want to leave money or engrave a seal, you can do it.
Usually, the craftsman's signature, or other seals or words are engraved on the bottom of the circle foot and other parts.
Finally, the green body is dried and prepared for biscuit firing.
There are many things that need to be paid attention to during the biscuit baking process.
The first is the inspection of the green body. In order to avoid unnecessary biscuit firing work, the green body needs to be inspected before entering the kiln for biscuit firing. Only those who pass the test can enter the kiln.
Then there is the shed board. The shed board needs to be leveled and stabilized with pillars, and the height and shelf level of the shed board must be adjusted according to the size of the blank.
The next step is to install the kiln. At this time, the qualified blanks can be classified and installed on the shed board.
The kiln installation is completed, the kiln is sealed and the kiln firing begins.
There is a temperature rise curve for biscuit baking, follow this operation, and the fire can be stopped when the temperature reaches 750°C.
The ceasefire is followed by cooling. Just after the ceasefire, the temperature of the blank is still very high. At this time, a cold kiln is required to prevent the blank from cracking.
Wait until the kiln temperature has completely cooled down before starting the kiln.
At this time, the kiln temperature has cooled to a suitable temperature, and the kiln can be opened to take out the blank.
The blanks taken out need to be inspected one by one, and those that fail are eliminated.
And this is just making the plain embryo, that is, the fired embryo without glaze.
The plain embryo has been successfully fired and has no defects. At this time, a qualified plain embryo can be selected before glazing.
The glazing process is not completed in one step.
There are also some processes here, at least four steps.
If you include the glaze, it's five steps.
The process of matching the glaze can be done in advance, because Jianzhan is a single-color glaze, and its formula is natural iron glaze ore, which is made by adding plant ash and crushing it evenly.
Uranium ore is a local mountain stone in Jianyang. This ore is the most important coloring agent for Jianzhan glaze and the most important factor in the formation of patterns on Jianzhan.
Another raw material is plant ash, the main component of which is the ash left after burning firewood in rural earthen stoves.
Only with qualified glaze can water be applied. Qualified blanks can be cleaned and watered to facilitate the close adhesion of glaze water and blanks.
The second step is to adjust the glaze slurry, stir the glaze slurry evenly, and use a concentration meter to measure the optimal concentration.
The third is to clean the glaze water and use a basket to remove impurities in the glaze slurry to prevent the glaze water from adhering to sand, dust and other impurities, which will affect the adhesion between the glaze water and the blank.