Ceramic mixturesThe ceramic mixture used is mainly made of white earthenware. Various components are added to reach such hardness and resistance to fire and after several firings the difficult decorations of the present ACF production can be obtained. Before coming of the white porcelain period, France and Germany were producing porcelain items. The material was called soft mixture and had similar characteristics to the material used by ACF today to reproduce items of that period. Most of ceramic components are produced with casting technique. The ceramic mixture becomes liquid using appropriate thinners and is poured into plaster molds to be shaped. Once drained, it is unmolded and dried slowly, then fired at 700° centigrade in the kiln. The piece obtained by this firing process is called "bisque". The bisque is now ready to be painted and decorated by a three time firing process. Glazing ProcessTo obtain a glossy and smooth surface on the items a glaze containing a high percentage of lead is applied. The glaze is applied either by a spraying or a dipping process on the raw item to obtain a white surface on the previously coloured item by a special firing process at 980° centigrade to obtain the classical colours of Sevrès collection: cobalt blue, red and pink with a high percentage of gold, turquoise, green and others. Three time firing processThe items often have white spaces on colored background on which floral or landscape decoration with figures are painted. This kind of decoration is called three time firing process. The firing temperature is between 670° and 730° centigrade depending on the type of colour and/or gold used in the decoration. If the decoration requires several firing, the process always starts with the highest temperature and decreasing to avoid damaging the manufacturing previously made. The decoration can be made with prints, prints touched by hand with paint brush or entirely hand painted. This process allows various types of high quality finishing to meet the market request. All prints are produced on exclusive original designs. The pure gold decorations with double engraving are mostly hand finished with 22-27% pure gold. |
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