Porcelain originates from China. The discovery of KAOLIN in Saint Yrieix la Perche near Limoges allowed porcelain production in France. This is a vitreous product of which one of the oldest and most important place of production is located in the region of Limoges (for over 200 years).

Unlike stoneware and earthenware, there is no natural material yielding porcelain. Porcelain is made of different materials, clay (10%), kaolin (45%), feldspar (20%) and quartz (24%). This paste (Mullite) is not very plastic and has to be worked with care.

Several methods allow shaping porcelain:

• pressing
• jiggering
• casting
• throwing

We use different pastes for our products:

• pressing paste: They are used in metal molds for making round or oval buttons, barrel handles, drawer knobs.
• casting paste : for the manufacturing of different plaques, they are cast in plaster molds.

We manufacture our own plaster molds. Plaster being porous, it draws out water from the casting paste, retaining thus on the walls the material giving the desired item. For the manufacture of cylindrical objects such as pear-shaped handles, we use the technique of throwing from a tool that gives the shape of the desired object. All the pressing items are trimmed with a blade and finished with a cotton stamp.

The cast items are trimmed with a blade and finished with a sponge to remove the plaster chips from the molds. Toutes les pièces de pressage sont émaillées au pistolet alors que celles obtenues par coulage le sont au trempé (cf photo ci-contre). L'émail à porcelaine étant transparent, la blancheur obtenue est fonction de la pâte. Plus la porcelaine est blanche, plus elle contient de kaolin.

All the pressing products are sprayed with enamel while the cast pieces are dipped (as shown in the opposite picture). Porcelain enamel being transparent, the whiteness depends on the paste. The whiter the porcelain, the more it contains kaolin. Colored enamel is obtained by dipping with glazes with an oxide basis.

After the first firing (hardening) at 950 °c, the pieces are enamelled. Then comes the second cooking called great fire at 1400 °c in a reducing atmosphere that gives a beautiful white and translucent porcelain, soft and pleasant to look at. The great fire at 1400 °c has to last 8 hours to reach the stage of physical transformation of the paste and the enamel fusion.

Most of the plaques and buttons are decorated using the chromolithography process (laying decals). All the filets on round pieces are hand-made (golden filets – genuine gold – colored filets) as well as décors on plaques made to measure.