The process of hand-crafting your lovely new fine bisque porcelain horse from The Lakeshore Collection, Ltd., requires a level of craftsmanship, attention to detail, precision and artistry beyond many other fine collectible mediums. But it is this hand craftsmanship and the properties of fine bisque porcelain itself, with its unique strength and longevity, that makes pieces from the Collection truly heirloom-quality and gives them their uncommon realism, elegance and beauty.
The molding process is not at all like creating, for instance, a plastic model of a horse, where molten plastic is injected into a steel mold and a formed model is created. With plastic or resins, the model can then be “cold painted”, and after drying, any little “goofs” or mistakes can be easily touched up. With fine bisque porcelain, you truly only have one chance to get everything correct - and many chances for failure.
No horse from The Lakeshore Collection, Ltd. can ever come out of the mold in one single piece - the cast but unfired fine bisque porcelain is too brittle and legs, heads, ears and tails would break off. Plastics, resins, and even earthenware “chinas” all have a little “give” which allows the craftsperson to gently move legs, for instance, back into proper position after unmolding. So the process begins by taking the sculpture and cutting it apart at strategic locations - typically around 12 individual pieces or sections per horse!
A clay mold (negative) is then made for each individual piece, body, leg, tail, etc. section. These negative molds are then used to create blocks, or master molds, which contain several various individual parts or sections of the entire piece.
Fine bisque porcelain starts as a “slip” of “fine serial” ground clay, kaolin, cobalt, etc. particles mixed with water to about the consistency of cream which captures even the tiniest details like lip wrinkles or vein detail. The actual production, or “waste” molds are made of porous clay, which is very soft, loses detail easily and can only be used a few times, then must be discarded. Therefore, the blocks, which don't lose detail, are used over and over to make MANY production mold sections, assuring that each casting retains all of the original detail of the sculpture
The slip is poured into porous clay production molds which are placed in room-sized “dryers” on racks and shelves to allow enough water to evaporate out of the castings so each section or piece can be individually removed and handled without breaking, bending, running or falling apart. Skilled craftspeople must then hand-assemble each horse from the dozen or so individual pieces. Then mold lines where the sections meet must all be laboriously and individually hand-smoothed prior to the initial firing at heat so high I'm told earthenware would only be a pile of dust in the bottom on the kiln!
Before firing, the umolded and assembled bisque porcelain is only about as hard as stiff leather. It is during the high-heat firing that fine bisque porcelain gains its unique great strength, “melting” and bonding together at a molecular level, which allows the finish pieces to survive little bumps and falls that would send many “china” pieces to the trash can!
But during this “melting” in firing, fine bisque porcelain actually gets SOFTER than stiff leather, more like stiff Jello, BEFORE it hardens! Have you ever wondered why you may see many fine bisque porcelain human, dog or cat (many times sitting or lying down or on a base) figurines but very few horses? Because of the high disproportionate weight of the body on those long, skinny legs, during firing they cannot not bear all that weight or keep it standing upright and they can collapse! Therefore specially created “stilts” of the same bisque porcelain (to allow for expansion and contraction during firing at the same rate) must be used on every horse to keep them from collapsing!
Even with this precaution, variations can still occur which are outside of our stringent inspection criteria and 15-20% of the fired pieces are scrapped and thrown away at this point!
Then each piece begins the hand-painting process. Typical “paint” generally sits on a surface and can chip or rub off and will not durably, permanently bond to the surface of fine bisque porcelain, although they are fine for resins and plastics. Paints may dry a tiny bit lighter or darker, with little variation. Painters can touch up any missed spots or “goofs” on a plastic or resin with a little paint from the same batch and there's usually no noticeable difference.
To give Lakeshores so much durability that you'd have to chip, break, or abrade the surface to remove color, special “china paints” and glazes are used, then heat-fired, typically in layers. These paints and glazes are not at all consistent like house paint or food coloring because they are usually made of finely ground, pulverized rocks, clays, silica, mica, natural materials, minerals and pigments and the like. These ground particles are mixed with an emulsifier, usually oil-based, so they can be hand-applied like paint.
Because of their natural composition and the heat, it's not nearly as simple as letting paint dry. It is not at all unusual that a color will change - turn more yellow, brown, red or pinkish-upon heat-firing. The same glaze can turn out a different color entirely, get darker or lighter, or even change texture just by firing it a second time or at a different temperature. This makes “touch ups” virtually impossible, as you'd end up with two noticeably different shades.
China paints may also become more or less opaque upon firing. When a piece is fired, just ridges left by a brush stroke will result in lighter/darker striations. And a tiny dark or light particle mixed and hidden in the paint may “bloom” to make a tiny pin-prick of white or black commonly seen on “china” pieces of any kind. Though variations occur due to the materials and process, any out-of specification pieces are, of course, destroyed.
No machine can match the artistry and care of skilled artisans and produce such beautifully-shaded, quality, realistic work; therefore, each and every Lakeshore piece is entirely hand-painted.
As an additional safeguard against oil absorption or other stains leeching into the surface and ensuring your heirloom-quality Lakeshore piece retains its beauty for centuries, they are sprayed with a water and oil-proof sealant that acts like a clear-coat on an automobile as a “sacrifice layer” and further protection.
All this care, hand-crafting and painting, and uncommon attention to detail ensures that your fine bisque porcelain pieces from The Lakeshore Collection, Ltd., will provide you with a lifetime of beauty and enjoyment and become heirlooms treasured for years to come.
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