Faience - what is it? Fabrication of earthenware

Porcelain and earthenware are the most sophisticated (in terms of manufacturability) varieties of ceramic products. For more than fifteen centuries they have been used to produce dishes, souvenirs, interior items, facade parts.

What is this - faience? What kinds of porcelain exist? How far is the porcelain and faience industry in modern Russia? The answers to all these questions you will find in our article.

Faience - what is it? History of earthenware

"Faience" is a word of Italian origin. It is directly connected with the name of the city of Faenza, which for a long time was an important center of ceramic production in Europe. What is this - faience? This is a dense and finely porous ceramic product. As a rule, it has a white color and is covered with glaze (dull or transparent).

Faience (as, actually, porcelain) consists of four natural components. This is kaolin, quartz, feldspar and plastic clay. The material does not stand out with sufficient strength, so it is covered abundantly with glaze. Based on the composition, several types of faience are distinguished:

• Alumina;
• lime;
• Fireclay;
• Feldspathic (this species has the greatest distribution).

Thus, we found out what is faience. This product was first learned to make Egyptians and Chinese (around the 5th century). Later, already in the Middle Ages, faience was also produced in Korea, Japan and Iran. In Europe, the "recipe" for its manufacture came only in the 16th century.

To date, the best faience in the world produces countries such as Germany, France, Japan, Britain, China and Italy.

Porcelain and its varieties

The word "porcelain" comes from the Persian faghfur. This is a kind of ceramics, which is strong, gas and water resistant. Porcelain is produced by burning kaolin with the addition of feldspar, quartz and some other components. As a result of this process, the resulting material becomes snow-white, beautiful and sonorous.

It is commonly believed that the Chinese invented porcelain in the 6th century. And only after a thousand years the technology of its manufacture became available to Europeans. Much earlier it came to Central Asia, in many respects thanks to the Great Silk Road. At the end of the 17th century porcelain was produced in America, and in the beginning of the 18th century - in Russia.

There are three varieties of porcelain, which differ significantly in quality and basic characteristics:

• Solid (standard porcelain, obtained by high-temperature roasting, it is heavy and opaque);
• Bone (this kind of porcelain is obtained due to the addition of a burned bone into the mixture, it is light, transparent and very durable);
• Soft (a special kind of porcelain, which is distinguished by increased porosity and a beautiful cream shade).

The process of manufacturing faience

Faience, like porcelain, is made according to an almost identical scheme. Technologically, this is a rather complex process, involving about 80 different operations. In general, we can distinguish five main stages of porcelain production:

1. Preparatory stage (mixing with water kaolin and clay, crushing and grinding stone, preparation of plastic mass).
2. Formation of the product.
3. Drying is preliminary (in form) and final.
4. Firing the product (most often a double firing).
5. Glazing and decoration of the product (painting can be sub- or overglaze).

What is porcelain different from earthenware?

In general, porcelain differs little from faience. And an inexperienced person will find it difficult enough to determine what kind of ceramic product is in front of him. Here are a few key points that will help distinguish porcelain from faience:

• In the composition of the earthenware there is much more clay (about 85% of the total weight);
• When examining the material, porcelain will shine through the light, faience - no;
• Porcelain always rings even with a slight tapping, faience also produces a deaf and low sound;
• Over time, a piece of earthenware is covered with a cobweb of small cracks, for porcelain it is not characteristic;
• Earthenware is usually much heavier than a similar porcelain product;
• Porcelain is always white, but faience can have a variety of shades.

Porcelain and earthenware industry in modern Russia

Porcelain and earthenware industry is a branch of light industry and specializes in the production of fine ceramics products - dishes, figurines, services, interior items and various souvenirs. In Russia, its history began in 1744, when the first manufactory was organized in St. Petersburg. In the XIX century on the territory of the empire there were already several dozens of factories for the production of porcelain and faience. In the Soviet era, the number of such enterprises has grown three-fold.

Today, the porcelain and earthenware industry of Russia is going through not the best of its times. In the country there are only 11 enterprises of this industry. These are the plants:

• Kislovodsk "Porcelain-Phoenix".
• Andreapol porcelain factory.
• "Porcelain Sysert".
• "Kuznetsovsky porcelain".
• Gzhel porcelain factory.
• PC "Dulyovsky porcelain".
• "Bashkir porcelain".
• "Porcelain Verbilok".
• Imperial Porcelain Factory.
• Rechitsa porcelain factory.
• PKF "Kubanfarfor".

The leader of the porcelain and faience production in Russia is the Imperial Porcelain Factory (IFZ) in St. Petersburg. Its products are successfully exported to a number of countries around the world. The products of the IFZ are presented in the Hermitage, London and New York museums.