1. What is bone china? What is bone china made of?

The word “china” clearly shows that the country is the “home of pottery and porcelain.” while bone china is a kind of porcelain.

Bone China, also called fine bone china, bone porcelain, is a type of ceramic that uses bone ash, clay, feldspathic material and kaolin as basic material.

Bone china needs to go through two times of firing, high temperature(1250℃) firing, which is also called biscuit firing, and lower temperature(1150℃) firing, also called glaze firing. For decorated bone china products, the firing process is even more complicated, which may reach 3-5 times firing. 

Typical daily bone china tableware including bone china dinnerware, tea set, coffee set, cup and saucer set, mugs etc.

2. Bone China Features

Known as the only worldwide recognized high-grade porcelain, bone china products has the features that other ceramic ware can’t compare with.

• Transparency

Holding a bone china cup in a dark place and put a torch inside it, you can see the light go through the bone china body, which is quite impressive.

• Milky white and Light weight

Bone china is known for its high level of whiteness and translucency. With bone ash added to the raw material, the bone china tableware gives a milky white color, it is also lighter than other ceramic products, these features make bone china getting more and more popular in the modern days.

• Hardness

Yet it is light, semi-transparent, it seems fragile, while it is the strongest porcelain. It’s wear-resistant features make it a favorable and top choice for high-end hotels, Casinos & Resorts, Upscale dining establishments, Corporate & Academic dining facilities and more.

• Easy to wash

After two times of firing and glazing, the surface of bone china tableware is very smooth, which makes it very easy to wash. This feature makes bone china dinnerware and tea sets favorable by housewives.

• ZERO percent of toxic elements like lead and cadmium

It is not enough just having an attractive appearance. The safety issue is the top topic people care about. After all, tableware is something we used to serve our food, and it’s very important it is not toxic to our health.

With zero lead and cadmium content, bone china is regarded as the safest tableware, with the bone ash ingredient in its raw material, it is beneficial for people’s health too, as the bone ash contains elements that are beneficial for peoples health.

3. The key factors to differ bone china from other ceramic products

• Bone ash content.

Difference country has its own standard about the bone ash content. For China, the percentage of bone ash should reach 36% to call it bone china, this is national standard,  while for the United States, the content is 25%, and in the UK, the content is 30%, the higher the bone ash content, the harder in the making process, and the brighter the products would be. While in Tangshan, the bone ash content is usually more than 40%, which made it famous as bone china born place in China.

• Two times firing.

The firing process is what creates either porcelain or fine bone china. Porcelain is made by one-time firing, while bone china is made by two times firing. Both kinds of items are fired at the different temperatures.