"Look carefully, there is a trick here, it can also be said to be a secret recipe. This is the secret recipe of our workshop. Don't spread it out randomly."
When preparing the glaze for the Xizi pot, Chen Wenzhe specifically reminded me.
"Look clearly, don't be stubborn. Not only do they use natural ruby red porcelain, but they also add something special, like this, do you recognize it?"
As he spoke, Chen Wenzhe took out a small bag of porcelain clay, and it turned out that Chen Xingchen was helping Professor Tao with logistics.
Almost all the consumables used in Professor Tao's studio were bought by him, so he was a little dumbfounded just by looking at them.
"talc?"
"Yes, how to make the elegant and crystal pink color? It is made from natural ruby red porcelain and 7501 talc, which are fused and crystallized. The work made in this way is crystal clear and has a jade-like texture.
You must know that porcelain should pay attention to the quality of the body. This is a way to bring out the intrinsic beauty of ceramics. Therefore, works made according to fixed formulas are ordinary handicrafts, but those made with secret recipes have a different kind of beauty!"
This pair of porcelain jars made by Chen Wenzhe are made of "7501" talc white porcelain clay on the top and bottom, and ruby red porcelain clay in the middle. Due to the different shrinkage of these two types of porcelain clay, the production process requirements are very high.
With Chen Xingchen's current level, he definitely can't do it, because this is an authentic master level craftsmanship.
I have pointed out some tips. As long as Chen Xingchen is determined and slowly does it by himself, he will eventually be able to do it.
After the painting is completed, the glaze can be applied.
As for applying glaze, it should be regarded as the simplest step for both Chen Wenzhe and Chen Xingchen.
Underglaze pastel, the most important thing is pastel, and the white glaze on top is definitely simple to apply.
After finishing it step by step, it is finally fired in the kiln. In fact, the most difficult process is firing.
No matter how good you are at what you did before, if you don't control the temperature well and don't know how to bake, you will ultimately fall short.
After finishing one piece, he made another one again. This time, Chen Xingchen saw it more clearly.
One sentence of truth is worth thousands of fake words, and if the secret is explained clearly, Chen Xingchen will naturally gain more.
After all, he has an extraordinary foundation, so he can already help a little when making this piece.
He can also do the initial embryonic repair, and it's not like he hasn't practiced the butterfly knife technique before.
However, the final touches definitely still need to be completed by Chen Wenzhe.
And this is already very good, it can speed up Chen Wenzhe's speed again.
Chen Xingchen did all the odd jobs, which saved a lot of time.
After finishing the happy jar, the next step is the big peony jar.
Let’s start with a pair of big red peony jars, contrasting the white glaze and the ruby red glaze, so that the beauty of the ruby red can be fully displayed.
There are many benefits to doing this. The porcelain body shows a red and white visual effect, and the contrast between red and white is obvious.
The purpose of this is, firstly, to highlight the visual artistic effect and beauty of the ruby red porcelain body, and secondly, to make it clear at a glance that it is high-temperature porcelain.
Because the white porcelain parts of the upper and lower joints are high-temperature porcelain, they can only be fired into a whole body at the same temperature.
The third thing is that people can intuitively feel that this is a handmade work, because grouting products can only show the same color, and only handmade products can splice different colors of porcelain clay together.
After all, it is a commodity, and some advantages must be shown as much as possible, otherwise how can it be sold at a higher price?
Since you can compare better effects, make porcelain more beautiful, and let people see the extraordinary craftsmanship, why not?
The theme of peonies in the flourishing period is the overlapping peonies. There are no flower branches or green leaves, just different shades of red.
It is not easy to create layers of ruby red. This is also the direction of Chen Wenzhe's experiment.
Another pair of large jars is completed, and now we can no longer avoid the blue and white underglaze red porcelain.
After looking at it, there were still six large cans left, coming in pairs.
Let’s start with a simple large vase of peonies, this time using blue and white and underglaze red techniques.
Instead of painting peonies layer upon layer, paint a single peony with flowers, leaves and branches. This is a real blue and white with red underglaze, not a trick.
Such works that mix blue and white with underglaze red require special formulas of blue and white materials and underglaze red.
This kind of glaze had been prepared by Chen Wenzhe a long time ago, but now he still needs to add some special minerals.
This time Chen Wenzhe didn't speak, but Chen Xingchen just watched silently.
Looking at the various mineral materials being added, he couldn’t understand it!
You must know that there are various mineral materials. Even if they are of the same type and originate from different places, the composition of these natural mineral materials is also different. It can be said that the slightest difference can make a huge difference.
Since Chen Wenzhe didn't say anything, he didn't need to ask. If he needed to know, Chen Wenzhe would naturally remind him.
In fact, with the special blue and white underglaze red color material formula, the other processes are no different from ordinary porcelain.
Therefore, Chen Wenzhe worked very quickly, but for the last six large jars, he made three themes.
A pair of peony jars, a pair of red dragon jars, and a pair of sunrise oriental jars.
Not to mention the large jar of peonies, with blue flowers and green leaves.
The red dragon is the divine dragon coming out of the water. Needless to say, the water is blue.
As for the sun rising in the east, the red sun must be ruby red and the sea must be sky blue.
These are all blue and white underglaze red works, but I don’t know how many of them can be successfully fired.
You know, this is the first time Chen Wenzhe has used such a formula, and he is not sure about it.
Whether it's successful or not, it's all done, so let's go into the kiln and have a look.
The kiln-firing technology is a technology fully open to Chen Wenzhe, and Chen Xingchen also realized this.
Therefore, when he started firing the kiln again, Chen Xingchen became excited.
Looking at the time, it was already past nine in the evening, and Chen Wenzhe was already hungry.
Taking another look at the factory, there are still many people working hard.
"Finally, learning cannot be completed in one day. It must be persevered, so there is no need to do it too late. If you get bored, it will be unsightly."
Chen Wenzhe reminded him and ran to the small canteen to eat.
By the time he finished his meal and returned to the factory, there were not many people in the factory.
"You guys, don't scare the newcomers. They have just come out to work and they must love to play. Let them get used to it slowly."
After entering the factory, Chen Wenzhe reminded some classmates who were still in the factory.
"What about the voluntary principle? We don't force it!"
"You can't say that. If you all stay here and play in the mud, who can go back and check their mobile phones? You have to combine work and rest!"
"Okay, who told us to accept a disciple today!"
It must be a very proud thing for them to take on apprentices as soon as they leave school and get high wages.