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This section gives you an in-site into how we produce our products, the
different clay types, and what happens to your pot before you buy it.
This may help you understand why some of our custom work takes the time it
takes to produce.
Mermaid Enterprises is a pottery / ceramics company. They produce a
variety of hand thrown (handmade) pots, glazed tiles, tile greeting cards and
ceramic gifts for all occasions, which you can buy online or offline.
Any of the products can be completely customised to your own designs,
colours, and specifications; via a free design service. This service is commonly
used for events such as weddings, births, parties, etc.
Pottery….
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Different Ways to Make Pots...
There are several ways to make pots: by making coils
and joining them to form pots; or to pour liquid or plastic clay into
moulds; or by hand building from slabs of clay; or by ‘throwing’ pots
under centrifugal force.
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| Our
Pot Making Process at Mermaid Enterprises:
We make thrown pots using an electric wheel. We hand make all our pots from
scratch - from a lump of clay to the end result. We use both Earthenware and Stoneware Clays to make our
products. Earthenware at the
finished stage is still porous, where stoneware is non-porous.
Another difference is the temperature that they are ‘fired’ to in
a kiln – a super-hot type of oven. Finished
Earthenware generally can have more vibrant and brighter colours – for
example our wedding range, where as our pet bowls are made from Stoneware as
more functional everyday items. The
making process from start to finish is not a quick one!
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| Preparing the Clay...
The Making process constitutes of different stages. First the clay is "wedged", which is basically to
align the clay particles and de-air it and make it homogenous (evenly
mixed).
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| Then the
'Wedged' Clay is Thrown...
First the ball of clay is placed centrally on the wheel head.
Then with the wheel head revolving, the clay is centred, which means
that it is running true (perfectly balanced in height and width in the
centre of the wheel head and the centrifugal forces are equal on all sides
of the clay).
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| Then the centred clay is shaped into the required styled pot, whether it
be a bowl shape, plate etc.
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| Drying...
The wet shaped pot is then left to dry out completely in the atmosphere; the
moisture loss causes the pot to shrink in size. If one were to place the dried bowl in water, it would
dissolve at this stage even though it is dry!
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| ‘Biscuit’
Firing...
The atmosphere-dried clay is then placed in a kiln, which is heated to
between 1000°C
and 1150°C,
depending on whether it is Earthenware or Stoneware. When the kiln has cooled, the pots are removed.
At this stage the pots are pots; they are insoluble, permanent and
porous, and now known as ‘biscuit ware’.
During this firing, the pots will shrink once again as they approach
600°C!
The kiln firing for this process means that the pot is in the kiln
for about 18-20 hours.
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| Decoration by Glazing...
We hand paint / decorate all our products, which is why we can customise
your pots, also in the making of our products.
The pots are then painted, dipped or sponged with liquid or powder
glaze, which is powdered glass or the ingredients of glass, and then fired again in the kiln to a
specific temperature, this is what we call a hardening on firing, it burns
of gasses of the glaze, and bonds the coloured glazes to the pot. This
firing takes about 15 hours. When the kiln has cooled, the pots are
then applied with a clear glaze, which dries on the pot opaque.
In the kiln, in this final firing cycle is where the clear glaze
opaque powder on the
pot melts and re-solidifies as clear glaze upon cooling – the glass like finish.
This firing reaches between 1125°C
to 1250°C
depending once again whether it is earthenware or stoneware.
This firing takes about 20-22 hours.
Once the kiln has cooled, the pot is now finished!
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| Now the pot either goes into our online shop, or if it is a custom pot,
gets shipped directly from us to you.
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We hope that you have enjoyed reading this, and gives you an insight to how
we make our products.
Visit our HQ, the studio of Mermaid Enterprises
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