"What objects can you make with colored glaze?" Su Hao asked.
Hao Qing didn't understand what Su Hao meant, so he said cautiously: "This glass is generally used for three purposes. One is to make tiles, the other is to make bottles and tea cups, and the third is to make glass beads.
Anyone can make it. However, this vessel made of colored glaze, which looks very gorgeous at first glance, is not practical and is not as heat-resistant and impact-resistant as porcelain. This is something that everyone needs to know in advance."
Su Hao said: "I heard from Hao Tong that you have a colorless and transparent glass product at home. Can you let me open my eyes and appreciate it?"
Hao Qing nodded and shouted loudly to the room in front: "Little Wuzi, go to our shelf and bring the translucent glass bowl and ask Master Su to take a look."
The little boy in front agreed, and soon he came over with a transparent glass bowl. He handed the bowl to Su Hao and said, "Master, please take a look."
Su Hao took the bowl and took a closer look. He was really shocked. He saw that the bowl was indeed made of colorless and transparent glass. It looked crystal clear. The most rare thing is that the wall of the glass bowl is thin.
It is very even, reflecting the skill of the maker in blowing glass. The edge of the bowl has obviously been ground and polished, without any edges and corners, and it feels very smooth. Judging from the level of craftsmanship in the Ming Dynasty, it is really a piece of work.
exquisite products.
"Is this glass bowl made by Brother Hao?" Su Hao asked.
Hao Qing nodded and said: "It was made by Xiaoru. Xiaoru's poor skills made the master laugh."
What he said was that his skills were poor, but the look on his face was clearly one of pride. In that era, being able to make glassware was a rare skill, let alone being able to make it so good.
Qingqiu, from this point of view, he does have the capital to be proud of.
Su Hao felt a little happy, but also a little disappointed. The happy part was that it was easier to find glass, and there were very outstanding glass craftsmen, so he didn't have to think about the production process. The disappointing part was that
It was because he originally planned to make some money by burning glass, but now it seems that he still underestimated Gu Ru's ability.
"Brother Hao, what I want is some thick colorless translucent glass sheets, round, and then they need to be polished. Some should be polished to be thick in the middle and thin around the edges, and some should be polished to be thin in the middle and thin around the edges.
It looks thick. Do you think it is possible to make such a glass piece?" Su Hao asked.
Hao Qing frowned and said, "It's possible to do it, but I don't know what use Master Su wants for such glass pieces?"
Su Hao smiled and said: "I can't reveal what the purpose is for now, but I believe that after Brother Hao grinds out the glass pieces, he will be able to understand. What I want now is Brother Hao's accurate words, whether it can be used
do it."
Hao Qing turned out to be just curious about Su Hao's strange request. Hearing that Su Hao refused to disclose it, he couldn't ask further. As a craftsman, he only needs to make things according to the customer's requirements. Asking too many questions would be harmful.
Not suitable. He nodded and said: "Xiao Ru can definitely make what Master Su wants, as long as Master tells me the size. However, how many pieces does Master Su want?"
Su Hao said: "I want a set first. There are four pieces in total, two convex pieces and two concave pieces. The convex piece is three inches and the concave piece is one inch and five cents. What do you think?"
Hearing the quantity mentioned by Su Hao, Hao Qing was a little embarrassed: "Master Su, I'm afraid this quantity is a bit small. It's small enough to make a pot of colored glaze. It's not worth it just to make four pieces like this."
"Haha, I forgot about this." Su Hao smiled and patted his head, "That doesn't matter, just see how many slices a pot of colored glaze can make, I want them all."
Hao Qing said: "I use a small crucible, and I can make at least 50 pieces of glass like this in one pot."
Su Hao said: "Then I'll take them all. Brother Hao can just tell you a suitable price."
"This..." Hao Qing looked at his cousin Hao Tong, wondering how he should quote the price. Hao Tong said: "Brother, just tell Master Su how much you should charge. There is no need to have any taboos."
Hao Qing then said to Su Hao: "Master Su, to be honest, the colorless translucent colored glaze you want is actually the cheapest kind of colored glaze. However, you have to make it into a disc with uniform thickness.
It still needs polishing, and the cost of materials and labor is really not a small amount in total. I can't afford it, so I can only boldly ask Master Su for a price. For these 50 pieces of glass, Master Su will give me 50 taels.
what do you think?"
"Are you okay? Do you think I look like someone who was taken advantage of?" Su Hao stood up suddenly and stared at Hao Qing. He didn't want to show any official power, but he really felt that Hao Qing was too embarrassed.
It's too much. A piece of ordinary glass lens was sold at a high price of 1 tael of silver. What did 1 tael of silver in the Ming Dynasty mean? It was the price of a full two shi of white rice. In later generations, it can be exchanged for one.
A very high-end Yaowen telescope.
"Master, the price Xiao Ru mentioned is already the capital. If Xiao Ru is brave enough, Xiao Ru won't dare to ask Master Manyao for the price." Hao Qing explained quickly, "The raw materials for making colored glaze are in our place.
There is no output, and the price is high. Xiao Ru promised to make a pot of colored glaze for Master, but the ingredients alone will take half a month. There are some materials that even rich people cannot buy."
"Wait a minute, let me think about it..." Su Hao began to realize that he might have misunderstood something. He was a member of the county government, and Hao Tong introduced him, so it was unlikely that Hao Qing would open his mouth to him.
He offered a high price of 50 taels of silver for 50 lenses. Maybe there was something different in the production process.
It can be seen from the glass bowl made by Hao Qing that craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty have mastered the technology of firing glass, and can also make exquisite utensils from glass. But judging from the situation among the people, coupled with the mastery of Su Hao
With historical knowledge, we can know that the use of glass in ancient China was not extensive, so that many people in later generations thought that glass was an imported product. The reason must be that there was a small glitch in the glass production process in ancient China. This glitch
As a result, the production cost of glass remains high, which affects its large-scale application in the private sector.
"Brother Hao, what raw materials do you usually use to refine colored glaze?" Su Hao asked.
"This..." Hao Qing faltered. Su Hao's question was too abrupt. In this era, the skills possessed by craftsmen were always kept secret. How could he reveal all of them just by asking?
Su Hao saw Hao Qing's look and knew that he wanted to keep it secret, so he couldn't help but feel angry and funny. As a geological expert, Su Hao has searched for minerals for various industries, so he knows a lot about the applications of various minerals.
. He stretched out his hand, clasped his fingers and said to Hao Qing: "Brother Hao, I understand, you want to keep it a secret, right? I understand. However, I already know the formula of this glass, it is nothing more than quartz.
It's just sand, soda ash, feldspar and limestone, am I right?"
"What is the quartz sand that Master is talking about?" Hao Qing asked strangely.
Su Hao thought about it in his mind, vaguely recalled some knowledge about the application of ancient minerals in mineralogy, and replied: "Quartz sand is what you call glazed stone. In addition, Huo Qizhu also counts.
this kind."
Hao Qing said: "Master knows about glazed stone, so it's not surprising. It's just that in this alkaline soil, there are feldspar, limestone and the like, but Xiaorui doesn't use it. I don't know where Master heard of this formula."
"If you don't use alkaline earth, what can you use as a flux?" Su Hao asked, looking at Hao Qing's confused look, he knew that he was playing the piano to a cow. He picked up the glass bowl, knocked it in his hand, and suddenly thought:
He scraped the wall of the bowl with his nails, and then he laughed: "I know, Brother Hao, when you refine the glass, you really don't use soda ash. You should use... saltpeter. I don't have it."
Is your guess wrong?"
The main component of glass is silica, which is quartz sand. Some people say that glass is burned out of sand, which is correct. When smelting quartz sand, some chemical elements need to be added as flux, which is what happens here.
A few different options emerged.
When making glass in the West, soda ash is used as a flux. The component of soda ash is sodium carbonate. The glass fired in this way is called sodium-based glass. If the raw materials also contain limestone, that is, calcium carbonate, then the glass fired in this way is
The glass produced is called soda-lime glass. The most widely used in later generations is this soda-lime glass.
China had discovered the method of firing glass as early as the Pre-Qin Dynasty. By the Ming Dynasty, the glass-making technology had become more mature, which is why Hao Qing made glass. However, when making glass in ancient China, lead stone was always used
Or if saltpeter is used as a flux, the former is called lead-based glass, and the latter is called potassium-based glass, because the main component of saltpeter is potassium nitrate.
The characteristic of potassium-based glass is that it is harder than sodium-based glass. Su Hao scratched Hao Qing's glass bowl with his fingernails and could feel the difference in hardness. Because glass craftsmen firmly believe in firing glass
Saltpeter must be used, and the output of saltpeter is very limited, which affects the output of glass.
Su Hao has not researched the history of glass manufacturing in China, but he can guess some of the reasons from the small glass bowl in his hand. Now, he is 80% sure that what Hao Qing has is a biased one.
Glass formula, it is precisely because of this formula problem that the cost of glass cannot be reduced.
Hearing Su Hao talk about another element in the glass formula, Hao Qing began to believe that Su Hao did know some glass manufacturing techniques. He tentatively asked: "Could it be that Master Su has also made colored glaze? According to the formula you said
, can you refine suitable colored glaze?"
"Can you gather these raw materials here? Let's make a pot of colored glaze according to my recipe and try it." Su Hao said confidently.