Bone China

As the name suggests bone is indeed used in making this ceramic material. Made from 50% calcified animal bone ash, bone china is very strong, white and lightweight. It can be produced with a very fine and semi translucent finish.

Bone china takes a great deal of skill and expertise to manufacture. Specialist production techniques ensures a high quality, luxury product.

Royal Doulton, Wedgewood, Connoisseur, Spode and Aynsley are all famous brands that manufacture quality bone china.

Porcelain

Hard paste porcelain products are fired at very high temperatures to give them strength and the glaze often has a blue white look as a result of the very high glost fire temperatures used.

European porcelain is made to IS0.9001 standards. To get a consistent finish they use a dust-pressed and pressure cast process. Two firings are used, biscuit 900c - 1000c and glost 1,350c.

Poor quality porcelain will result in a thin glaze with susceptibility to metal marking, warping and less durability especially if washed in a dishwasher where alkaline solutions are used. In addition if a glaze is not fired at a high enough temperature the glaze does not shrink to the surface and leaves gaps that weaken the protection the glaze should give. When subject to an impact the glaze gets forced into any gaps left and cracks.

Fine China

Fine China is a variation of Bone China and Porcelain.

Instead of bone, man made chemical additives give vitrified earthenware a similar strength and the use of special high quality but expensive clays give it a fine white finish.

The biscuit fire process is done at 1200 degrees and the glost at 1000 degrees.

Churchill, Alchemy, Steelite Distinction and Dudsons all produce Fine China.

Vitrified Earthenware

This was developed in the UK to give English earthenware the strength to be used in the catering industry. Additives like aluminium oxide and other agents are used in the production process to bind the products together. The end result is a ceramic that is extremely strong without the need for a glaze.

Earthenware

Earthenware isn't really suitable for use in the catering trade. It is a mix of clays which has a porous finish that will over time absorb around 6-9% of their volume if used frequently. The glaze then cracks due to the pressure from the increased size of the item.

Thus health issues come into play making it unsuitable for catering use.

Stoneware

This term covers many red clay products often made from locally sourced materials. Some will be vitrified making it very tough while others like Terracotta are weak.