News

Studio Diary, Entry 1

Someone asked me recently how porcelain jewelry is made. I started explaining and realized it would take a while. So here it is, the whole process, from clay to pendant.

But first, a story. Porcelain has been around for about 2,000 years. Europeans called it "white gold" and spent centuries trying to figure out how the Chinese made it. In 1708, a German alchemist named Johann Friedrich Bottger finally cracked it, but only because Augustus the Strong locked him in a castle and told him he could not leave until he figured it out. Motivation works differently when the door is locked.

I am not locked in a castle. I work from a studio in Thailand, and my mother works from hers. Together, we make porcelain jewelry under the name CPL. Here is how that works.

Starting with clay

We work with raw porcelain clay. Not polymer, not air-dry, not resin. The real thing. It starts soft and grey-white, and we shape it by hand.

A moth gets its wings pinched out one at a time. A heart is carved and smoothed until the surface feels right under the thumb. A tiny sheep gets its wool texture pressed in with a needle tool.

Firing

Porcelain goes through the kiln more than once. The first firing is at 800 to 1000 degrees, depending on the project. This hardens the piece enough to handle but it is still porous.

Then comes glazing - or not. Some pieces get a clear high-gloss glaze. Others get colored glazes. Some we leave unglazed for a matte finish. It depends on what the piece is asking for.

The second firing is where porcelain becomes porcelain. The clay vitrifies at high temperature, fusing into a dense, glass-like material that is harder than steel on the Mohs scale. The exact temperature varies by project. Too low and it does not fully vitrify. Too high and the clay can actually melt and lose its shape. There is a window, and it is not very wide.

Opening the kiln

This is the part that never gets old. Every time we open the kiln after a glaze firing, we brace ourselves. The color might have shifted. Something might have melted and dripped. A surface might have crumbled. We are often trying new methods and combinations, so for us, opening the kiln door is basically a random page in a witchcraft spell book. Sometimes you get exactly what you wanted. Sometimes you get a happy accident that you know you will probably never be able to replicate. And sometimes you just get a mess.

Gold

Many of our pieces are painted with 12% liquid gold - actual gold suspended in liquid, applied by brush. Not gold plating, not gold leaf. This goes on after the glaze firing and requires a third trip through the kiln. The gold melts into the surface and becomes part of the piece permanently. This technique has not really changed since the 18th century. If something works for 300 years, you leave it alone.

If you have ever wondered why I look like a hazmat technician in some studio photos: liquid gold fumes are seriously toxic. Full respirator required. Every time. There is nothing glamorous about applying real gold to porcelain. You look like you are defusing a bomb.

One thing worth knowing: gold applied this way can wear down if it is constantly rubbed in the same spot over time. But it can also be reapplied and refired, so it is not gone forever.

The finished piece

After cooling, each pendant is checked, fitted with its chain or cord, and packed. The whole process from raw clay to finished necklace takes up to 12 days.

The result is a piece of jewelry that looks delicate but is structurally permanent. Fired porcelain does not degrade. It handles rain, heat, daily wear. Archaeologists keep digging up porcelain pieces that are thousands of years old, still intact. That is the material your pendant is made from.

We make everything in small batches. If you want to see what is currently available, visit our shop.

- Ira, CPL