Quality becomes crystal clear

Located at the southernmost part of Taipei County, the town of Yingko derives its name from a parrot-shaped rock standing on a mountain slope at the northern edge of the town. Its population is around 80,000 and it is home to a number of ceramics enterprises, large and small, with a rather dense concentration of ceramics stores and Taiwan's only large-scale ceramics museum -- the Taipei County Yingko Ceramics Museum (鶯歌陶瓷博物館).

Yingko kilns were established by Wu An (吳鞍), who came from Fujian Province, China in 1805. Back then, the kilns were small in size and most of their products were stoneware, like earthen jars, pans and flowerpots. Over the years, production techniques took long strides and improved kiln equipment was introduced from Japan. By 1967, the number of ceramics factories increased daily and the export market was quickly expanding to include Japan, the US, France, Australia and New Zealand.

According to Renny Lin (林瑞瑛), a researcher at the Ceramics Museum, ceramists in Yingko, instead of holding on to the traditional wood-burning kilns or "snake kilns" of the Ching Dynasty, began in 1971 to take advantage of modern technology by employing gas kilns, which burn heavy oil. Soon afterwards, a technology revolution took place and change stoneware production in Yingko to porcelain production. Moreover, she noted: "The industry changed to production that was automatic, mechanical and capital and technique-intensive. It also headed toward the development of high value-added artistic ceramics. By this time, Yingko had become Taiwan's most important ceramic town."

Among all varieties of ceramic works, crystal glaze (結晶釉) stands out as one of the most eye-catching artistic items in Yingko. It possesses a very bright and shiny glazed appearance, mostly with varied flower patterns. These types of crystalline art pieces were presented at many international exhibits in early 1990s, when the skills require to produce it matured, and was acclaimed by international ceramists as "the glory of Taiwan," owing to its brilliant and compelling colors.

Crystal glaze has many special effects. The position and size of the flowers on each artwork can never be the same. There is no way to control the pattern, which makes the result of firing unpredictable and, thus, very exciting. Sun Chao (孫超), a pioneering artist of crystal glaze in Taiwan, commented that the lack of control provides ceramists in Taiwan a way to break away from traditional Chinese porcelain artwork, where everything becomes routine after drawing or carving work is completed. It sets artists' minds free. Therefore, some patterns of flowers on the surface of a crystal glaze vase may look like coral in the sea but others may catch one's imagination as resembling stunning flowers in a secret garden.

All work with crystal glaze requires high-firing temperatures of 1,200C or more and lengthy reaction cycles. One trade practice is to import a special kind of clay, porcelain No. 26, from Japan and mix it with local clay to formulate high-fired white wares. Another key to every successful piece lies in proper temperature control. First the kiln reaches the target temperature and remains there for a required period of time. Then the artist allows the heat to drop below 1,200?C and the glaze nucleates and crystals soon emerge. The temperature at which crystalline materials grow is around 1,180?C and, as heat drops down to between 1,100?C and 1,050?C, crystalline materials gradually complete their growth process. These materials then pop off from one center point outward to form shapes like spherulites or dendrites. After cooling down, the glaze develops crystals of various sizes, shapes and colors.