About BJ Ceramics

We are based in South Derbyshire in the UK and have 20 years experience working in the pottery industry.

This page shows how our items are produced.

First of all the liquid clay, which is called 'slip', is poured into the mould. It is then left to set for approx one and a half  hours. This allows the porous mould to absorb the water out of the liquid clay.

The item then becomes firm and is easy to handle and can be taken out of the mould.

Now the plaque has the screw holes put in with a hole punch and left to  dry for 24 hours.

The plaque is then wiped and smoothed off in a process known as  'fettling' in which all the rough edges and any slight imperfections are removed by our specialist casters and fettlers.

 Now your ceramic item is left to dry to become 'white  hard' after which there is no moisture left in the clay product at all. At this stage the item goes to our spraying department where it is carefully  sprayed with white glaze. Once the item is sprayed it is loaded into the  kiln where it is fired to a temperature of 1200°. This process will 'vitrify' the clay body making the item totally weatherproof and non-porous. The item will then take 2 days to cool down before the kiln  can be unloaded.

The ladies in our decorating department now receive the  item along with your order and select the image of your choice to be added to the item. The decals have to be checked by quality control  to ensure there are no air bubbles or imperfections on them.

The item is then re-fired to a temperature of 815° to allow the decals to infuse into the glaze, making them  permanent.

The items are carefully unloaded from the kiln once  again. They are now ready to be personalised with a name and/or number of  your choice. Once again they are checked before they are passed to our computerised vinyl cutting department. Here your name will be adjusted to fit the plaque. The letters are computer cut from black vinyl, the same process and equipment as used throughout the professional sign-making industry. This is totally weatherproof and  guaranteed for 20 years. You will see the same material used on most commercial vehicles.

 You can now appreciate just how much British craftsmanship goes into producing your unique ceramic product. This is the case for all our ceramic products which we are sure you will love and treasure.