The Thin Line Between Bone China and Porcelain

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The term 'china' is widely used to describe any kind of ceramic ware while talking about dinnerware. Also, we often hear the expressions bone china and porcelain being mistakenly used interchangeably although there is significant difference between porcelain and bone china. We need to know the differences to make informed and wise decisions while selecting our dinnerware.
History of china and its transition in today's world
Since the dawn of civilization, ceramic ware has been made in the Orient using a combination of clays – kaolin, feldspar and quartz. Kaolin is a kind of clay white in colour which retains its colour even when fired in kilns with high temperatures. The art, that has been perfected through the centuries, reached the West slightly more than 200 years ago. As an honour to the ancient artisans, the ware was called the china and the tradition continues to this day. Today china is the ultimate word in the world of dinnerware. They are stylish, elegant, strong and durable. China ware in the ancient days were fired in kilns with high temperatures to make them strong. Today, china ware is subjected to extremely high temperatures to vitrify them. Vitrification is the process of firing ceramic ware to such temperatures that they can absorb less than 0.2 percent of their own weight. The process turns the surface of the ware shiny and smooth and lends extra hardness and durability to it.
What is porcelain
Porcelain, also known as fine china, is a kind of ceramic ware made with kaolin. Porcelain is fired twice to ensure that it is sufficiently vitrified. The colour of the ware after two rounds of firing is a fine and cool hue of white. It is also covered with a clear glaze.
What is bone china
Bone china is a kind of ceramic ware made with translucent white ceramic clay containing 25 percent bone ash. The bone ash is mostly ox bone ash made by burning and grinding the bone into a fine powder. Bone china has a slightly translucent, refined and delicate white look.
Bone China vs Porcelain
One obvious difference is the colour. Bone china tends to have a milky or creamy white colour while porcelain has a white tone visually resembling seashells.
Another difference is the translucence of bone china. Bone china lets a small amount of light pass through it lending a translucent look, porcelain lacks that.
Bone china is more labour intensive to create as compared to porcelain

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