Production of Pottery

Fritware paste is produced by grinding and cooking a mixture of silica, fine white clay and glass frit in special fritting furnaces. The usual collecting ground is dry river beds. Kutahya and Iznik have several suitable grounds for frit paste raw materials. It is now the potter's task to transform this formless mass , to endow it with shape utilizing a kick wheel and his hands, spoons and moulds. The forms are then air dried and fired in special frit kilns. To create a brilliant white ground on which to paint, the body is coated with a thin layer of slip. The brilliance of the colours is not visible to the potter as he/she paints. After glazing it is the heat of the furnace which transmutes them from sludge gray to a brilliant hue. The glaze is transparent except for turquoise glaze which can only be applied to specially prepared frit paste. Except for some handling and grinding equipment and the use of electricity for fuel, the production methodology has not changed much since its inception some 3000 years ago. It requires fine craftsmanship at all stages to create beautiful shapes and antique colors sought for.