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WHAT'S IT MADE OF?
A REFRESHER COURSE ON MATERIALS USED IN MANUFACTURING YOUR PRODUCTS
Alabastrite: Pulverized alabaster mixed with plasticizer.Molded and air dried, not fired,so it can only be spot glazed. Clean by dusting; do no wash with water.
Bone china: White clay with bone ash added. Bone ash content must be at least 25% by U.S.guidelines. Fired at 1800 degrees,The translucent material is finished with glaze or underglaze(matte) Lighther,stronger,more expensive than porcelain.
Porcelain: Fine ground white clay, molded and fired in an oven for eight hours at 1200 degrees.Finished with glazed,underglazed, or "bisque"finish. Glazing produces a high gloss: under glaze produces a matte finish. Bisque is a matte finish without glaze. After finishing, the item is "cooked" for six hours at 800 degrees.
Stoneware: White clay with fine ground stone. Working with stoneware demands great expertise, and is in fact becoming a lost art.Stoneware is safe to use in microwave and conventional oven.
Molded Fabric: European designer fabric is stretched over glazed porcelain fugurines,then counted with twelve layers of lacquer. Each application of lacquer is hand-polished,for a rich shine and ultra smooth finished texture.
Cubic Zircon: The most successful simulated diamond. Properties such as refraction hardeness,and specific gravity are remarkably similar to diamond.
Gold: The ultimate precious metal. Virtually indestructible, amazingly malleable,doesn't rust or tarnish.Graded by purity:in the U.S., a scale of 24 is used, so 24 Karats (24K) is 100% pure. 18K is 18 parts of gold and 6 parts alloy (other metals), and so on. 10K is the legal minimum for Karat graded gold. The word "plumb" indicates the exact purity of the piece.
Diamond: Extremely hard, highly refractive colorless or white crystalline of carbon. Diamonds,like all gemstones,are judged in terms of Carats or weight (different from Karats, as in gold purity).-
Gemstones: Rubies,saphires,emerals,amethysts, and others.Often treasured as birthstones. Gemstones are priced and graded by Carat weight.-
Pearl: Smooth,lustrous,variously colored round gemstone originally formed as a deposit around a grain or sand in the shells or certain shellfish. Pearls may be formed naturally or "cultured" through an artificial implanting process,
Sterling Silver: To qualify as "sterling" a given piece must be composed of at least 92.5% pure silver (the rest being a variety of metals alloys) a "925" or "sterling" designation is stamped on all authentic sterling silver.
WATCHES
Mechanical: Requires winding by hand .Spring driven.
Automatic: Self-winding. Weighted rotor works on gravity,and natural wrist movements keep the watch wound.
Quartz Analog: A battery activated quartz crystal vibrates 32,768 times per second,providing energy to move the hands.Usually accurate within one minute a year.
Quartz Digital: Digital display instead of moving hands.Often features additional functions such as a day/date, stop-watch.alarm and others.
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