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An in-depth guide to Hobby Ceramics

How we make Hobby Ceramics items -
and how you can learn to decorate them

You don't need any special skills or knowledge to make beautiful chinaware. With Hobby Ceramics, we do all the hard work and guide you in decorating your selected articles in the way you wish.

As a Hobby Ceramics student, you can choose from our extensive range of items. Once you have chosen which items you want, we make them using our moulds (right), so that you can then decorate them in your chosen style.

Each mould is made from several pieces, so that it can be dismantled leaving the contents intact. First, we bind together the pieces of the mould using extra-strong rubber bands. Then we stand the mould with its pouring hole at the top and fill it with slip (left). Slip is liquid clay. Unlike ordinary pottery, we do not mould solid clay with our hands. Instead, our moulds are made from a special plaster that absorbs water from the nearby slip so that it solidifies. This is called slip casting.

We leave the slip to stand inside the mould. The standing time depends on the shape of the mould and how thick we want the finished piece to be. Eventually, the clay solidifies around the inside edges. We turn the mould upside down and pour out the un-solidified slip into a reservoir for re-use.

The remaining clay lines the inside of the mould. We leave the mould upside down for several hours while the residue dries.

When the clay has become firm, we remove the binding from around the mould. Then we gentlythe mould and carefully remove the solid clay inside. The solidified clay is known as greenware (right). Once dry, greenware appears solid but it remains very fragile until it has been fired in a kiln.

This is where your Hobby Ceramics work begins.

We hand you your dried greenware item. You use our utensils to scrape off the seam lines. Using a wet sponge, you smooth any rough patches on the surface of the article.

You can then paint your greenware with under-glaze.

Next, we fire the greenware in our kilns to 1,060°C for 8 hours. The fired greenware is called bisqueware. Unlike greenware, bisqueware is not fragile.

Once your bisqueware has cooled, you can resume work on it, painting it with either a stain or a top-glaze.

A stain is a decorative paint finish, either matte or gloss, which does not need re-firing. This does not make the article impervious (unlike top-glazes). But stains are easier to work with than glazes as mistakes can be easily rectified and the final colours are more obvious as you paint them. Once your stain has dried, you spray your article with either gloss or matte finishing-spray to protect the surface from damage.

Instead of using stains, you can apply a top-glaze. This is a paint used to make the bisqueware water-resistant and durable. It can be coloured or transparent. The unfired colour is often very different from the final colour. Fortunately, we have extensive colour charts to show you how the finished result will appear. We re-fire your top-glazed article to 1,015°C.

If you have chosen a top-glaze, you can then decorate your re-fired article item with gold or mother-of-pearl paints. Alternatively, you can apply decal transfers. Decals are permanent transfers that adhere to the surface of your finished article. We have decal transfers for lettering, borders and a wide range of motifs. We fire your re-painted or transferred piece for a third time, to 805°C.

We also offer many ready-made white bone china items, regular or with gold edging. These can be personalised and decorated for dinner services or special occasions, using transfers (left) or hand painting. Our commemorative plates are especially popular for weddings, anniversaries, births, birthdays, Christmas and numerous other occasions.

See our online catalogue for examples of the many things you can learn to make.

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