Purple gold soil, also known as "purple gold stone", is named after its purple color. It is a kind of clay with a high iron content.
Iron-containing soil-shaped raw materials contain different amounts of impurities, so the appearance is earthy yellow, earthy red, dark red and other colors.
Purple gold soil is the raw material for preparing high-temperature glaze colors such as pink green, plum green, holly, Ge Kiln glaze, purple gold, and tea powder.
It must be crushed, sieved and washed before use.
It can be said that without purple gold soil, don’t talk about Longquan porcelain.
Purple gold soil contains all the secrets of the "blue" of celadon.
The reason why the official kilns of the Southern Song Dynasty showed the characteristics of "purple mouth and iron feet" was because of the use of purple gold soil.
Moreover, purple gold soil is also an important raw material for preparing high-temperature glazes.
Purple gold soil is added into the porcelain body. The aluminum oxide contained in the purple gold soil allows the porcelain body to be sintered at a temperature of 1260°C without significant deformation.
The carcass will also show different colors depending on the level of iron content in the purple gold soil.
The higher the iron content, the darker the tire color. The iron content in Geyao iron tires can even reach 10%.
If the iron content is controlled at about 2%, the carcass will appear off-white or even white.
When purple gold earth is used as a colorant in the glaze, the iron contained in the purple gold earth can also change the glaze color.
When the iron content of the carcass is constant, the glaze color will deepen as the iron content increases.
So there are different glaze colors such as moon white, pink green, plum green, etc.
In addition, the alkaline component in purple clay can also reduce the fluidity of the glaze, making it possible to fire thick-glazed celadon.
Purple gold soil is also widely used in celadon decoration techniques, such as exposed tire decoration.
Exposed tire decoration is a unique decorative technique in celadon.
Because the carcass contains purple gold earth powder, the exposed carcass will appear cinnabar red or reddish brown during the firing process, which contrasts with the green glaze color, thus presenting a unique aesthetic effect.
In addition to the strong exposed tire, there are also fetal color decorations. Different from the exposed tire decoration, the fetal color decoration is not actually the true color of the fetal body, but is painted with purple gold clay to increase the contrast between the fetal color and the glaze color. Make your work more colorful.
The last one is brown color decoration, which is a decoration using purple gold earth as pigment, pointillism or color painting.
During the high-temperature firing process, the purple gold clay flows in the celadon glaze, forming a halo effect like ink.
However, this is a somewhat uncontrollable factor. If you want to play well, you need rich experience.
Chen Wenzhe knew the firing process, but he didn't know how to use the purple gold clay and how to prepare the glaze.
He knew the general routine, but he was unsure of the specific results.
This is the accumulation of experience. What he has accumulated now is only basic production skills, but he has not really studied the production of Longquan kiln in depth.
At this time, Chen Wenzhe wanted to find a fine piece of Longquan kiln from the Southern Song Dynasty to use and pass it on independently.
If he were really allowed to complete such an independent inheritance, he would have everything he wanted.
Unfortunately, antiques from the Longquan Kiln of the Southern Song Dynasty are not so easy to come by.
For this, we must find a way in the Dahai City Museum, and we must rely on Professor Tao, otherwise there will be no way at all.
There is no use thinking about it now. Chen Wenzhe calmed down and made a small bowl first.
Chen Wenzhe plans to make a small pink-green bowl with a plain body. As long as the clay is mixed with such a small bowl, a utensil embryo can be easily pressed.
He is professional in clay training and can finish it quickly.
Pressing the embryos is also very simple, one at a time, and you will have seven or eight in a row in no time.
Wait for a while, let the pottery dry a little, and then you can apply glaze.
However, before glazing, he still needs to sharpen the embryo, because one of the characteristics of Longquan celadon is that the embryo is thin and the glaze is thick.
The thinner the vessel, the thicker the glaze, and the more crystal-clear it will look like jade when fired.
In this way, the pressed utensil embryo must be sharpened. Only in this way can the small bowl utensil be made thinner.
After the pressing is completed, there is actually no work to do during the drying process.
Chen Xingchen was playing with the broken porcelain pieces next to him, while Chen Wenzhe didn't want to do such boring things, so he just looked at his attribute list and wanted to make it perfect.
He is a master at practicing clay, drawing, engraving, painting, glazing, and firing kilns. He is also a master at printing and sharpening embryos.
The printing base is the printing. We don't need it now. If it doesn't work, you can use engraving instead.
Keli embryo is an unavoidable weakness.
Originally, I was thinking of challenging myself to become a master, but now it seems that I’d better upgrade my embryonic technology first!
Just do what he thought of, and Chen Wenzhe spent a hundred achievement points to upgrade the embryonic technology.
This upgrade is relatively simple, mainly about feel and control.
As long as you feel good in the hand, have strong control, and can cut tire mud sharply, it's really not difficult.
This kind of inheritance is passed down by experience. In just one moment, Chen Wenzhe digested this inheritance.
This time was the shortest inheritance, which was beyond his expectation.
After accepting the inheritance, the embryo still needs to be dried. If there is no work to do, the only choice is to select the porcelain pieces.
With Chen Wenzhe's help, the workbench was soon filled with broken porcelain pieces.
These really cannot be pieced together, and even if the two pieces are combined, they cannot be connected together.
Needless to say, the museum's restoration masters must have been through it all and were able to piece it together, and they must have left it to restore it themselves.
"There is no way. If we want to complete the restoration, we have to make do. We can't repair every piece into a complete piece of porcelain!"
Soon, Chen Xingchen became desperate.
"I'm afraid that's what the museum thinks. The work of the two of us is to make a hundred bowls!"
One hundred pieces of broken porcelain were arranged neatly. Starting from the first piece, I kept comparing it with the ninety-nine pieces that followed, but none of them could be connected together.
Then the second piece, the third piece, and so on a hundred pieces were compared with the other ninety-nine pieces, and the two of them woke up.
Don't think about good things, just treat every piece of porcelain as a remnant.
"Fire a hundred bowls. If we follow the repair method of your Chi-ear bottle, we will have to bake it a hundred times." Chen Xingchen was a little worried.
"They will have a public display on May Day, and it's already mid-February now," Chen Wenzhe said.
Chen Xingchen looked sad. Will he have to stay up late every day for the next two months?
Chen Wenzhe couldn't care less about Chen Xingchen. The embryos he made should be useful.
I picked up a small bowl and felt that it was already very thin, but compared to the Longquan kiln, it was still a little thinner.
Carefully put it on the pulley, and Chen Wenzhe took a scraper.
Turning the wheel, the pallet rotated rapidly, and he carefully used a scraper to contact the embryo.
Chen Wenzhe placed one hand against the rapidly rotating small bowl and controlled the spatula with the other.
The scraper moved up and down, and his other hand also moved up and down to determine the thickness of the receptor embryo.