The Truth About Bone China: More Than Just Porcelain?

Bone China was made in England. It was a rival to Chinese Porcelain and it took nearly 2000 years of history to create this lookalike which was easier to manufacture. This clip includes interviews with the last Spode MD, Paul Wood of Spode and the last family owner of Spode, Robert Copeland as well as part of a promotional film by the British Tourist Authority. Watch all my videos about Josiah Spode and the Spode Works in Stoke at    • Josiah Spode, Master Potters from Stoke-on...   New videos every 2 weeks or so: Don’t miss future editions by clicking HERE    / @potteriesauthor   0:00 Intro, British Tourist Authority 0:43 True Porcelain 1:38 Soft-Paste Porcelain 2:24 British Tourist Authority 2:58 Paul Wood, Spode MD 6:37 Robert Copeland, Spode Owner 8:59 Today's Issues Thomas Frye and William Cookworthy get their deserved credits. Bone china is a type of vitreous, translucent pottery, the raw materials for which include bone ash, feldspar and kaolin. It has been defined as "ware with a translucent body" containing a minimum of 30% of phosphate derived from calcined animal bone or calcium phosphate. Bone china is amongst the strongest of whiteware ceramics, and is known for its high levels of whiteness and translucency. Its high strength allows it to be produced in thinner cross-sections than other types of whiteware. Like porcelain, it is vitrified, but is translucent due to differing mineral properties. In the mid-18th century, English potters had not succeeded in making hard-paste porcelain (as made in East Asia and Meissen porcelain), but found bone ash a useful addition to their soft-paste porcelain mixtures. This became standard at the Bow porcelain factory in London (operating from around 1747), and spread to some other English factories. The modern product was developed by the Staffordshire potter Josiah Spode in the early 1790s. Spode included kaolin, so his formula, sometimes called "Staffordshire bone-porcelain", was effectively hard-paste, but stronger, and versions were adopted by all the major English factories by around 1815. From its initial development and up to the latter part of the 20th century, bone china was almost exclusively an English product, with production being very largely localised in Stoke-on-Trent. Most major English firms made it, including Spode, and Royal Worcester, Royal Crown Derby, Royal Doulton, Wedgwood, and Mintons. In the 20th century it began to be made elsewhere, including in Russia, China, and Japan. China is now the world's largest manufacturer. Thanks and credit to the Transferware Collectors Club https://www.transferwarecollectorsclu... for the clip of Robert Copeland from 2008 and his image in the thumbnail. Like Pottery or Ceramics? Discover more of the legacy of the British Potteries and its world heritage on the ‪@PotteriesAuthor‬ Channel. All the links to find out more about me at https://linktr.ee/authoronthepotteries #bonechina #porcelain #history #spode #stokeontrent #cookworthy #frye #meissen #kaolin #cornish #chinaclay #cornishstone #boneash #cowbones #bowporcelain