Chapter 1,231 The making of porcelain, the kiln fire is the soul
This Yuan blue and white vase with the picture of Guiguzi going down the mountain has a rich blue and white pattern throughout. The picture is full, dense and dense, with clear priorities and seamless integration.
The characterization is smooth and natural, full of charm, the mountains and rocks are dyed heartily, and the brushstrokes are precise and perfect.
The Yuan blue and white carved ware is made in separate pieces, most of which are three to four pieces.
That is: neck, abdomen, bottom, after shaping.
They are formed by connecting with tire mud, but some utensils also have a process of not connecting the bottom.
When the wet tire splicing method is used, tire mud is often squeezed out of the interface of the device, and there are also cases where the joints are tightly integrated and there is no external fluid from the tire mud.
In order to ensure the firmness of the interface, the tire mud extruded from the inside will not be repaired, and the outer wall tire repairs will also be retained.
Therefore, a large part of the abdomen of Yuan Dynasty utensils has obvious convex marks.
The inner walls and bottoms of the utensils are often not glazed, and the large jars are glazed or simply glazed to prevent leakage.
Most of the foot walls are short and tapered internally and externally, and some of the bottom pads are burned, leaving large and small black spots.
For small utensils, there are also fine grains of sand left behind when burning on the mat.
In some small jars and bottles, you can see the clear finger marks left by the ancients when dipping the glaze.
When imitating here, you must not save labor, such as using machinery instead of labor.
There are some low-quality imitations on the market now, which are not hand-pulled, but machine-made, with visible mechanical marks.
Also, when imitating Yuan blue and white, you must use a firewood kiln.
This fact can be difficult for many people because they do not have a firewood kiln, and not everyone can build a firewood kiln.
Even if someone knows how to do it, you still need to have enough capital. Not to mention other things, the mud bricks used to build the abstract are all specially made.
Because the wood kiln has many arched designs, bricks are needed to piece it together, and such a structure requires that the size of the bricks should not be too large.
Therefore, the mud bricks used in firewood kilns are different from ordinary bricks, which requires special customization.
Customized items are the best, but more expensive.
It turns out that Chen Wenzhe knew how to burn kilns, and because of the Yuan blue and white glaze red jade pot spring vase he had previously obtained, he could see what the kiln mouths of the Yuan Dynasty looked like through the Sui Marquis Pearl.
But Chen Wenzhe never paid much attention to this. At most, he guided his men to build some small firewood kilns.
However, as he produced more and more antique porcelain, some small wood-fired kilns were no longer sufficient.
Therefore, recently he has also been researching firewood kilns and built several large-scale specialized firewood kilns.
Chen Wenzhe can build firewood kilns, but he will not build kiln entrances. Since modern times, Jingzhen has been constantly innovating and reorganizing the kilns to be more scientific and reasonable.
Therefore, the wood kiln in the current ceramics factory was not built by him, and he was not even involved in the design.
Instead, I hired a master chef from Jingzhen. There was no other way, the master chef there was the most professional.
You know, building a firewood kiln seems simple, but it is not simple at all.
Nowadays, those who know how to do this kind of craft are usually the stake masters in Jingzhen, also known as fire watchers!
Chen Wenzhe built an egg-shaped kiln, which is also called Jingzhen kiln and Chai kiln.
Generally, the kiln mouth of this kind of kiln is 18 to 20 meters long, and the entire kiln volume is 150 to 200 cubic meters.
How many bricks should be used for such a large kiln mouth?
These are all customized special bricks. How much do they cost? Hundreds of thousands are a small amount.
And this doesn’t even mention the consumption of burning a kiln, so most people can’t afford a wood kiln.
Of course, this does not include Chen Wenzhe.
Until now, among Chen Wenzhe's many skills, kiln-firing technology is still the highest.
Among all his crafts, this was the first one to break through to the master level.
And even so, Chen Wenzhe feels that his kiln-firing skills are still improving.
It was because of this discovery that Chen Wenzhe knew that after breaking through the master and becoming a grandmaster, there should be a higher level.
If he wants to reach this level, the craft that Chen Wenzhe is most likely to touch on first is kiln burning, that is, watching fire.
But if you want to be optimistic about fire, you must know something about wood kilns, or even be very familiar with them.
It is for these reasons that while he is learning various porcelain making techniques, he is also learning kiln firing techniques.
If you want to be a qualified stick master and make a breakthrough in this aspect, you must put in a lot of effort.
Of course, Chen Wenzhe's efforts are much less, after all, there are many very powerful stick masters in Jingzhen.
He doesn't need to gain experience on his own, he just needs to learn the techniques of those people.
And this is not difficult, because he has hired several experienced masters from China.
In the era of commercialization and mass production, porcelain works tend to be the same, resulting in a lack of unique beauty.
However, amidst the rapid commercial flow, there are still some craftsmen who adhere to the ancient method of making porcelain and inherit the unique ancient charm of firewood kilns.
They use complicated processes and exquisite craftsmanship to create countless exquisite porcelains, recalling the ancients and reproducing classic quality!
Especially when making antique porcelain, you must use a firewood kiln.
In ancient times, porcelain in official kilns and imperial kilns were all fired in firewood kilns, which has a history of thousands of years.
Chai kiln porcelain is a famous traditional porcelain in Jingzhen. It has always been sought after by people for its extremely high quality.
Although the price is higher, it still cannot stop everyone's enthusiasm.
According to ancient books, "The firewood kiln is the most expensive and rare in the world."
So, why are firewood kilns expensive?
Traditional handmade porcelain is the symbol of Jingzhen, and the existence of Chai Kiln continues this tradition.
It is not only the wisdom and creativity of Jingzhen craftsmen, but also the endless soul of this city.
“The kiln fire is the soul of porcelain.”
The wood kiln can produce such blue and white porcelain that looks like flowers in the mist, and it is inseparable from its fuel - pine wood.
The cost of pine wood is extremely high. One kiln consumes nearly 2,000 kilograms of pine wood and costs nearly 100,000 yuan!
Pine wood is rich in rosin and does not contain sulfur. The flame is clean when fired, which is most beneficial to the color of porcelain.
The rosin evaporated by burning can fully blend with the glaze of the porcelain.
After the porcelain is formed, the glaze surface is warm and thick, the fetal bones are delicate and oily, and the color is contained but not exposed.
The blue and white patterns seem to grow out of the porcelain surface, making them more natural and vivid. This is also the most praiseworthy aspect of Chai Kiln porcelain.
There are a total of 72 processes in Jingzhen ancient porcelain making, one of the most crucial steps is kiln firing.
If you don't have a rich theoretical foundation and experience, you can't be a master. There is a jargon in the industry: "Success is caused by fire in the kiln, and failure is caused by fire in the kiln."
The preciousness of wood kiln also lies in its difficult firing technology.
The master who handles the piles must have superb skills and extremely high ability to control the kiln fire.
A wood-fired kiln requires at least 30 hours for one kiln.
During this period, the pile master must be carefully watched at all times and never leave.
Because once the temperature in the kiln gets out of control, various problems will occur, which means total failure.