How to Choose Ceramic Tableware?

What is ceramic tableware?

Ceramic tableware is the dishes or dishware that is particularly made from ceramic materials. Some common examples of ceramics are pottery, terracotta, fine china, bone china, porcelain, glazed earthenware, paper clay and stoneware. Tableware mainly consists of cutlery, glasses, plates, bowls, mugs, vases and all the kitchen items that are used for cooking, serving food and decorating the table. Ceramic tableware is also known as crockery.

Every day we pay attention to how to ensure health in diet, but few people pay attention to tableware. Tableware is an indispensable tool for eating. It is closely related to our health. Let's take a look at how to choose healthy, beautiful and practical ceramic tableware!

1. From the perspective of porcelain

When purchasing daily necessities of ceramics, bone china and strengthened porcelain are better, both of which are the materials of high-quality tableware. Bone China is recognized high-end porcelain in the world. It is not pure white, but natural milky white, with high transparency and light texture. The shaping and color formation of bone ash itself mainly rely on silica, alumina and calcium oxide. The higher the content of calcium oxide, the better the color. In nature, there are not many sources of calcium oxide, so the animal bone meal is chosen as the source of calcium oxide. When the bone meal content reaches a certain proportion, the porcelain quality will be greatly improved, which is mainly reflected in the gloss and moisturization of the utensils. However, if the content exceeds a certain ratio, the porcelain will become softer, and it will be difficult to form during the production process, and it is difficult to fire. If the process is not properly controlled, it is easy to cause the amount of lead dissolution to exceed the standard, so the price is also the highest. Reinforced porcelain contains magnesia and has outstanding characteristics such as high whiteness, high strength, and high thermal stability. It is as white as jade, crystal clear and moist, and is an ideal product for various families.
2. Purchase method

One is to "look", which means to carefully observe the top and bottom of the porcelain to see if there are any major defects such as deformation and black spots, and then to look at the whiteness, light transmittance and glaze gloss of the product.

The second is "listening", that is, listening to the sound made when the porcelain is lightly tapped. If the sound is crisp and pleasant to the ear, it means that the porcelain body is fine and dense, without cracks, and is completely porcelainized when fired at high temperatures. If the voice is dumb, it can be concluded that the porcelain body is cracked or the porcelain is incomplete. This kind of porcelain is easy to crack due to changes in heat and cold.

The third is "comparison", which is comparison. To form a complete set of porcelain, want to compare each fitting, see whether its modeling and picture adornment are harmonious and consistent.

The fourth is "test", which means test cover, test assembly, and test. Some porcelains have lids, and some porcelains are made up of several components. When choosing porcelain, don’t forget to try the lids and assemble the components to see if they are suitable.
3. From the perspective of floral decoration

According to the characteristics of the flower surface, it can be divided into over-glaze, mid-glaze, under-glaze and colored-glazed porcelain, and some uncolored white porcelain. What is glaze? When the glaze is applied to the ceramic body, after the kiln, the ceramic product can obtain a shiny and non-absorbent surface, that is, water. After finishing, the surface will be rough and dull, like purple clay pottery. Our company provides high quality porcelain bowls.

On-glaze color: On-glaze color ceramics are products made by sticking decals made of ceramic pigments on the glaze or directly painted on the surface of the product with the pigments, and then firing at 700℃～850℃. Because the firing temperature does not reach the melting temperature of the glaze layer, the flower surface cannot sink into the glaze, but can only stick to the surface of the glaze layer. If you touch it with your hands, the surface of the product will have unevenness, and you can observe the unevenness with the naked eye.

In-glaze color: The baking temperature of the in-glaze color ceramics is higher than that of the over-glaze color, reaching the melting temperature of the product glaze. The ceramic pigment sinks into the glaze when the glaze is melted and is covered by the glaze layer after cooling. The surface of the product is smooth as glass without obvious unevenness.

Underglaze color: Underglaze ceramic is a traditional decoration method in our country. All the color decoration of the product is carried out on the porcelain blank, which is fired at a high temperature after glazing. This product is the same as the in-glaze color, the flower surface is covered by the glaze layer, the surface is bright and smooth, without the feeling of unevenness.

Color glazed porcelain: Color glazed porcelain is a kind of high temperature color agent added to the glaze of the ceramics, so that the glaze surface of the fired product shows a certain color, such as yellow, blue, and bean green.

White porcelain: White porcelain usually refers to ceramics that have not been decorated with any color. The sales of such products in the market are generally not large.

Compared with the above-mentioned decoration methods, the underglaze colors are mostly traditional blue and white and blue and white exquisite colors, the colors are relatively monotonous, and the price is moderate; the in glaze colors are richer than the underglaze colors, and the product grades are higher, but the craftsmanship requirements are strict The cost is high, the price is high, the on-glaze ceramics are rich in color, have a strong three-dimensional effect but have low surface smoothness, and are easy to process, so the cost is correspondingly low.

In addition to the different artistic effects of the above different decoration methods, the main difference lies in the content of heavy metal elements such as lead and cadmium. Among them, the lead and cadmium content of in-glaze, under-glaze, and most colored glaze porcelain and white porcelain are very low. If in-glaze color is used in the processing of ceramic decals, inferior pigments are used, or the flower surface is designed If the amount of pigments with high lead and cadmium content is too large, or the temperature and ventilation conditions during baking are not enough, it is easy to cause excessive lead and cadmium dissolution.