POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. 457 



while the wheel is turning round, but the feet and handles are 

 made by themselves, and sot on with the hand ; and if (here be any 

 sculpture in the work, it is usually done in wooden moulds, and 

 stuck on piece by piece on the outside of the vessel. 



Handles, spouts, &c. are afterwards fixed on to the moulded 

 piece if required ; and it is then set to dry for some days in a 

 warm room, where it becomes so bard as to bear handling without 

 altering its shape. When dry enough it is inclosed along with 

 many others in baked clay cases of the shape of bandboxes, called 

 seggars, which are made of the coarse clays of the country. 

 These are next ranged in the kiln or furnace so as to fill it except 

 a space in the middle for the fuel. Here the ware is baked till it 

 has remained fully red hot for a considerable time, which in the 

 larger kilns consumes ten or fifteen tons of coals: after which the 

 fire is allowed to 'go out, and when all is cooled, the seggars are 

 taken out, and their contents unpacked. 



The ware is now in a state of biscuit, perfectly void of gloss, 

 and resembling a clean egg-shell. In order to glaze it, which is 

 the next process, the biscuit ware is dipped in a tub containing a 

 mixture of about sixty parts of litharge, ten of clay, and twenty 

 of ground flint, diffused in water to a creamy consistence, and 

 when taken out, enough adheres to the piece to give an uniform 

 glazing, when again heated ; for which pnrpose the pieces are re. 

 packed up in the seggars, with small bits of pottery interposed 

 between each, and fixed in the kiln as before. The glazing mix- 

 ture fuses at a very moderate heat, and gives an uniform glossy 

 coating, which finishes the process for common white ware j though 

 the painting and gilding require subsequent attention. 



[Pantologia. D'Entrecollet. Letlres Edifiuntet 

 et Curieuses. 



