3. Creating the form

When the porcelain is formed, it may be thrown or moulded, depending on which type of product it is to be made into.

Throwing

The great majority of the plates and cups are thrown on machines called rollers. Whether the plates are thrown automatically on the rollers or whether most of the throwing process is controlled manually, the same principles are followed.

A plate goes through the following stages:

A slice is cut from a long ‘sausage’ of porcelain clay and placed on a plaster mould.
The mould is placed on a rotating potter’s wheel.
A template or a roller head is pressed down over the clay, forming the plate, and excess clay is removed. This forms the back and the foot of the plate, while the concave side of the plate is formed by pressing it over the plaster mould.
From there the plaster mould and the plate pass through a drying cabinet together. As it dries, the plate shrinks slightly and automatically comes away from the surface of the plaster mould, allowing it to be lifted off without damage.
When the plate is lifted off the plaster mould, the edges are trimmed (“sponged”) to remove any unevenness. The plate is then ready for the first firing.

Cups are made in a very similar manner, except that the handles are moulded separately and attached to the cups with liquid clay (slip) as the bonding material.

A fully automatic roller operated by two people can turn out about 4,000 plates per day. Flora Danica plates, which have a serrated edge and an openwork pattern on the rim, and Blue Fluted Full Lace plates are far more difficult to make, since the serrated edge and holes are cut by hand while the clay is still wet enough and the plate has the consistency of leather.

Moulding

While simple, straightforward items like plates, cups and saucers can be thrown, the shapes of a very large number of items can only be formed by moulding. This applies to the following products:

Figurines
Hollow-ware such as tureens, teapots, coffee pots and vases
Very thin items such as the cups in the White and Blue Fan services
Large items that are made up of separate parts joined together

The liquid porcelain clay (slip) is poured into a plaster mould. Because the mould is porous and absorbs water from the slip, a layer of solid clay forms and gradually becomes thicker on the inside of the mould. When this layer (the body) has reached the desired thickness (about quarter of a centimetre for a medium-sized vase), the excess slip is poured out of the mould again. The plaster mould now contains only the body layer that formed on the inside. After drying for a certain amount of time the moulded shape can be taken out of the mould. The product is now firm enough to be retouched, which means that joints and edges are trimmed and smoothed off accurately. The item is then allowed to dry. When it has dried at normal room temperature (for about 24 hours), it is ready for the first firing.

Teapots and coffee pots are moulded in five parts: the body, handle, spout, lid, and the knob or handle on the lid. The most complex service item in production is the large Blue Fluted candelabra, which measures 50 cm in height and is moulded in 50 parts.

The moulds in which parts of figurines are made are more complex than the moulds for items such as vases or bowls. Each figurine mould consists of a shell that holds a series of wedge pieces together like a three-dimensional puzzle during the moulding process. The number of wedge pieces depends on the complexity of the mould for the particular piece of the figurine. Some moulds only require two or three wedges, while others may need at least ten or twelve.

When the parts of a figurine are taken out of their moulds, they have to be retouched. Irregularities in the surface are smoothed out using a brush dipped in water, and all the details of the figure such as the feathers on a bird or fingernails, eyes and folds in clothes are touched up with a modelling stick to make sure they stand out clearly in relief on the surface. After this all the pieces are assembled with bonding material consisting of thick slip with the consistency of thick slurry. The figurine is retouched again after it has been assembled, to smooth away all traces of the joints.