MATERIALS

CLAY AND GLAZING
The main raw material used for Faience was made from a porous paste of feldspar, silica and clay, fired at a high temperature, higher than that of red clay but lower than that of stoneware and porcelain.

The main raw material used in the glazing is silica (SiO2), a network-forming or glazing agent, which is responsible for the basic vitreous structure of the glaze and therefore has a structural role in it. 

 

COLOUR PIGMENTS

The typical colours were introduced in order: first the pinks, then yellows and oranges, greens, blues, violets, browns and blacks.

In the painting of Coimbra faience, cobalt oxide pigments were used for blue tones, manganese oxide (and possibly barium oxide) for purple tones, iron oxide and hydroxide for tones between orange and brown, copper oxide for for greens and antimony for yellows. Nowadays the pigments are made in factories and 

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PENCILS

The application of paint has technical aspects that deserve a more detailed
detailed portrayal because this phase of the production process is a central theme of
work.

The pieces would be placed, as a rule, on a lathis to be painted with the help of manual rotation. Particularly useful for tracing fillets.

 

Other decorative motifs, more complex, would be produced with the help of charcoal guidelines made using perforated paper and the "Picador" and the "Boneca" 

Five different types of brushes would be used in painting:

the "Contorno" contour brush for contour lines;
the "Filar" for lines and borders;

the "Encher" for filling in motifs;
the "Esbater" smudging brush to dilute with water coarser brush strokes
and the "Bicos" brush is related to specifics of the painting
specificities of the painting technique of ratinha faience decoration.

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