Su Jing picked a basin of very delicate slag from Spirit Soil. In fact, most of the clay in the slag was quite delicate. Only a few of them were mixed with stone sand, and most of them seemed to be suitable for making ceramics on the surface.
There are several main steps in making ceramics: mud drilling, drawing, printing, billet, sun-drying, engraving, glazing, kiln burning, and color painting. Now Su Jing is only trying the first and second steps.
The so-called mud drilling generally starts from the mining area to take porcelain stone, they are first manually broken with a hammer to the size of the egg-shaped block and then use the water shovel to make a powder, panning and remove impurities, then it is precipitated into a brick-like mud piece. Then mix the mud with water, remove the slag, rub it with your hands, or step on it with your feet, squeeze out the air in the mud, and make the water in the mud even.
Su Jing doesn’t have to go to the trouble of quarrying porcelain stones. Instead, he uses Spirit Soil slag and pours it into water. Then he begins to rub it like dough. Of course, Su Jing hasn’t rubbed the dough, so he can only draw the gourd according to what he sees on TV.
“What are you doing, Mr. Su?” Li Guanglei, who was sitting on the grass smoking and resting, looked at Su Jing strangely.
“Playing in the mud, haven’t you played before?” Su Jing said, letting everyone stay speechless for a while, whoever grew up in the countryside hasn’t played mud, but how old are you? They feel that Su Jing’s life is really a little unfair, not going to work, and playing around at the house all day, but it is not only about making money, but he is also very talented. What else can they say?
“Do you want to make ceramics?” Looking at it for a while, a particularly burly man asked him, he had been building since the beginning. Now he is helping to reinforce the first floor with titanium alloy plates. Su Jing trusted this man and remembers his name as Guang Jiahao.
“It was seen by you. Do you think this mud is suitable for making ceramics?” Su Jing asked.
“On the surface. It is quite white and delicate. It seems okay, but some mud bursts, so before the kiln is burned, it is not suitable. The more suitable mud for ceramic is kaolin clay. What is this soil?” Guang Jiahao asked.
“I… I’m just messing around here.” Su Jing said.
“If you want to play tricks on your own, go and buy kaolin clay. It’s very cheap for you. The pottery fired by kaolin clay will be very white, delicate and perfect.” Guang Jiahao laughed.
“I’ll do it anyway. I’ll try and see if it works.” Su Jing said. He had heard of kaolin clay, a kind of clay and clay rock mainly composed of kaolinite clay minerals, which is white and delicate, also known as dolomite.
In addition, kaolin clay is also known as Guanyin clay. Specifically, in the old society and in difficult periods of time, when the poor needed a method of survival in times of famine. The hungry people steamed kaolin clay into fake buns, which looked soft and white. It’s very similar to a real steamed bun, to satisfy hunger. But “guanyin clay” can not be digested and absorbed by the human body. A small amount of food will not be fatal, but it will cause bloating, it is difficult to stool because there is no nutrition. It can not be digested, most people who are famine will still die after eating it. In the famine years, because of eating kaolin clay, the bloating is like a drum, and it is impossible to defecate. There are countless people who died because of it.
Compared with kaolin clay, Spirit Soil mineral is obviously not white and delicate enough. Even if it can be fired, it may look a lot worse, but Su Jing does not care about the surface, but the interior is more important.
“You’re rubbing it too carefully. Let me help you.” When Guang Jiahao saw Su Jing rubbing around in the wrong way and was being careful not to stain his clothes. He looked very upset. He rolled up his sleeves and came over to help Su Jing rub up the mud. He rubbed more freely and splashed mud on his clothes but he did not care. Of course, he had been working for half a day, and his clothes were already dirty.
Su Jing had to step aside a little. In fact, he was careful not to waste Spirit Soil slag and wasn’t worrying about his dirty clothes. However, he could not refuse Guang Jiahao’s offer. In fact, he could not splash much, so it was up to him.
Guang Jiahao did not know whether he had made ceramics or dough, or whether he had rubbed mud like cement. In short, he was very efficient and soon rubbed Spirit Soil slag evenly and delicately, like dough.
“Okay, but you don’t have a windmill. How do you pull the blank?” Guang Jiahao asked, “After the mud has been drilled, the second step is to pull the blank, that is, throw the mud into the center of the turntable of the wheelbarrow, and draw the rough shape of the blank with the flexion and extension of the manipulation.”
“Do whatever I say.” Su Jing said, and then under the staring gaze of Guang Jiahao, Li Guanglei, and others, Su Jing called A’Da and A’Er to drive the basin to turn, and Su Jing began to draw blanks. Of course, A’Da and A’Er’s circle is not round and their speed is not uniform, and Su Jing’s technique is also problematic, so the things made are naturally crooked and twisted, and it’s not easy to create a bowl-like shape. However, it can be seen that the spirit soil slag is suitable for blank drawing. It is not a problem to make a ceramic shape out of it, It now mainly depends on whether there is a problem with the kiln.
“The rest is almost finished, start working.” Li Guanglei looked at his watch, then pinched his cigarette, stood up and said, he did not continue to watch Su Jing as there was not so much free time.
“Let’s go.” Guang Jiahao also stood up.
“I finished smoking this cigarette.” Several people are greedy for a little rest time and are reluctant to stand up. Sometimes the construction workers are so forced to squeeze out some time to sit down and smoke a cigarette, which is a good enjoyment. However, there is still a family to support, so they have to go back to work after smoking.
“Hey, my fingers are not hurting at all?” Guang Jiahao, who was lifting a titanium alloy sheet, was suddenly surprised.
“Didn’t you say that you went to see a doctor? Is it cured?” Li Guanglei said.
“The doctor said that this is rheumatoid arthritis. How can it be cured? The medicine that is prescribed only has a relief effect. It was also painful in the morning. Especially when moving things, how can it not hurt now?” Guang Jiahao put down the titanium alloy plate and kneaded his finger. He found that some parts of it were still a little painful, but it was much better. For Guang Jiahao, who wants to support his family and provide for his children to go to school, even if his finger hurts, even arthritis, he still has to work, as long as it doesn’t hurt too much.
“Maybe it’s the effect of medicine, but you’re not happy if it doesn’t hurt?” Li Guanglei laughed.
“Oh, no pain is certainly a good thing.” Guang Jiahao just felt a little strange that the pain suddenly disappeared. Naturally, he didn’t really like finger rehabilitation. He smiled and answered, and then he didn’t pay much attention to it.
Su Jing, who heard this conversation not far away, felt that Guang Jiahao’s arthritis could not be cured for no reason. There must be a reason. He looked down at the clay in the basin, his eyes were slightly bright, and Guang Jiahao had just rubbed the mud. Is this Spirit Soil slag is effective in treating arthritis? (to be continued ^)
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Sure, making ceramics out it totally isn’t wasteful.