How to use purple clay to make flower pots

The purple sand in Yixing, Jiangsu is very famous, and people who come here have to wait for the purple sand Flower Pot to return. Dingshu Town, Yixing, is a gathering place for manufacturers of purple sand products. When the reporter came here, looking around, he saw row upon row of factories producing purple sand products. Zhou Zhanqun is the factory director of Dingshu Art Ceramics Refractory Factory in Yixing City, Jiangsu Province, and the chairman of the Flowerpot Branch of Yixing Ceramics Association. He told reporters that there are now more than 120 flowerpot factories here, and there are more than 80 units registered in the newly established flowerpot branch.
Came to Dingshu Art Ceramics Refractory Factory, where the factory buildings and warehouses cover an area of 16 acres. When I entered the production workshop, I first saw a large pile of purple mud, that is, the ore mud used to burn the purple sand flowerpot, and there was also "cooked mud"-leftovers of the fired flowerpot. It is said that the cooked mud can be added. Reduce the shrinkage rate and strength of the mud blank. "This is equivalent to steaming steamed buns and noodles. With noodles, the noodles will be better." The workshop worker said.
Entering the mud smelting workshop, the temperature here can be high. The shirtless workers put the ore mud and other chemical raw materials into the vacuum mud smelter. The raw materials are ground with water and vacuumed to become the mud for the production of flower Pots. . Zhou Zhanqun said: "It is very important to get the air out of the mud, so as to prevent the flower pots from cracking during firing." The mud should be left for 6-7 days to be "stale". "It's like making dumplings and rolling out the noodles. The noodles are alive. They should be set aside to wake up and only need to be used after an hour or so. The noodles are so powerful." The workers in the workshop gave the reporter a vivid image. metaphor.
The "stale" mud will be taken to the blank-making workshop and made into mud sticks for use in blank-making. The working environment of the billet workshop is going to be better. Soothing music is playing in the workshop. After all, this process is a technical job. If workers do the same work for a long time, they will be more efficient by listening to music. The reporter's biggest feeling in this workshop is that although each process is manually operated, its accuracy and speed are comparable to those of machines. I saw the workers put the mud sticks in the mold to compact them, and scraped the inside of the flowerpot with wood chips as required. After a while, the flowerpot was basically formed. The flowerpot will be placed in the mold for another day, and then taken out. Special workers will rest the corners to make them more even. The flower pots that need to be carved are also carved by the master with a special carving knife. The workers here perform their duties and have their own unique skills. For example, it took only 1 minute and 20 seconds for the master to engrave a landscape painting on a flowerpot with a diameter of 50 cm.
The processed flowerpots should be sent to the firing workshop. They must be placed above the kiln for 7-8 days. The temperature near the kiln is very high and the flowerpots can be completely dried. In order to reduce air pollution, kilns now burn gas. The kiln is 34 meters long and has two openings, an inlet and an outlet. The kiln has an automatic pusher. The flower pots are placed from the entrance and automatically sent to the kiln. The speed of the push plate is 50 cm in 15 minutes. The temperature of the kiln is around 1170°C. "The most important thing for firing ceramic products is the temperature and firing time of the kiln. The temperature and time are different, the products fired will have great differences. In our factory, the temperature of the kiln and the forward speed of the push plate They are all strictly controlled." The workers said that the most important step here is to completely dry the flower pots. Otherwise, the flower pots may be broken during firing, and in severe cases, it may cause "arch kiln" (due to a The fragments of the flowerpot stuck to the push plate, and the push plate would bulge up and cause the loss of the entire kiln`s flowerpot.) [If the arch kiln is broken, the kiln must be stopped for repairs. The cost is six to seven thousand yuan." The worker in charge of the kiln said.
After running in the kiln for about 17 hours, the finished flower pots are out of the kiln.
The purple sand flowerpot has ideal moisture absorption, ventilation and drainage performance, suitable for the growth of flowers and trees, the potted flowers match, and the poetry is pleasant, and it is yearning for potted lovers. The purple sand flower pots are colorful in shape and diverse in color. Because the purple sand pots are not glazed on the surface and the back, the sintering strength is tough, the texture is dense, and the water absorption is relatively small, so it has slow drainage and maintains a certain degree of air permeability.