Porcelain, Ceramics, Stoneware or Earthenware?

In my line of work this question comes up often.  Find a clay object in your kitchen.  Do you know what it is?  They all fall under the category of ceramics or pottery.  True ceramics are clay based; without firing they will dissolve in water.  The Yugo, Lexus & Jeep are all cars but most would agree that all cars are not created equal nor used with the same aim in mind.  So lets clear up the mystery!

Porcelain

We have all heard of Porcelain and Bone China.  The term ‘porcelain’ is derived from the word ‘kaolin’ which is a type of pure white clay. Porcelain is fired to extremely high temperatures making it perfectly vitreous or watertight.  It is translucent and ideal for delicate high-end applications.  Bone China is also a type of porcelain that is made using kaolin.  As the name suggests, Bone China also contains bone ash made from burnt, ground up cow bones. The bone ash gives this porcelain a whiter, more translucent, expensive, and refined look.  As a lifelong vegetarian I kind of like cows and tend to avoid things like ‘bone ash’, but that’s just me.

  Stoneware

All stoneware has the look and feel of hand made pottery.  It has a high firing temperature of approximately 2200F making it durable, water resistant, oven safe, and suitable as floor tile or for structural and outdoor uses.  Glaze is applied for decorative reasons but is not required to seal the clay.  Stoneware usually has a textured feel and buff or natural speckled color.  The glazes are typically warm earthy tones.  It’s chip resistant and the color of the clay is uniform through the fired piece.  It has a heavy, dense feel and the bottom of a fired piece will almost always be glaze free.  Glazes flow during firing making the ware very difficult to duplicate.





Earthenware

Also called ‘ceramic ware’ is what most of the commercial brightly colored plates, platters and cups are.  Ceramic ware is fired at the lowest firing range and must be glazed to make it water resistant.  It is the least expensive of the ceramic products. It chips easily and you will notice that the inside of the clay object is a chalky bright white.  Since ceramic ware absorbs water any unglazed or chipped area can attract bacteria.  Can you chip off more of the clay or glaze with your fingernail?  If you can you know its earthenware.  Because of the beautiful range of bright colors that can be achieved earthenware is a good choice for decorative applications.  It is not very strong and not suitable as floor or pool tile.  Most paint your own pottery studios use bisque fired earthenware.

Different folks gravitate towards different forms of ceramics and pottery. I love the earthy, artsy, and utilitarian aspects of stoneware clay.  All of my work is stoneware.  The finished pieces after firing are not always perfect but they are certainly unique.  Even my self-classified ‘duds’ that will never be sold are beautiful in their own way.