soft-paste

Faux Chinese porcelain

Soft-paste refers to a type of porcelain made with a calcium-rich mixture that fires at lower temperatures than true (hard-paste) porcelain.

Developed in Europe before potters discovered Chinese porcelain-making secrets, soft-paste has a slightly granular texture and warmer appearance.

It scratches more easily than hard-paste: The chip revealed the creamy body of soft-paste porcelain.

ceramic-process

kiln

Oven for hardening clay

  • firingTerminating employment
  • glazeThin lustrous coating
  • clayMoldable earth for ceramics

frit · flux · fusible · enamel · glazing · throwing · coiling · mold · underglaze · overglaze

porcelain

Wedgwood

British luxury ceramics brand

  • faienceTin-glazed earthenware tradition
  • delftwareTin-glazed Dutch earthenware
  • fritPre-melted glaze material

glassy · translucent · biscuit · chinoiserie · gilding · majolica · creamware · kaolin · feldspar · vitreous

quality

fragile

Easily broken or damaged

translucent · luminous · creamy · warm-toned · grainy · permeable · chipping · crazing · crackled · mellow

Opposites
ceramic composition/firing temperature

soft-pastehard-paste

True fired ceramic

bone china · Chinese porcelain · stoneware · earthenware

Family

soft, paste, soften, softly, softness, softer, softest, pasted, pasting

Familiarity
Top 1,000,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Rated G