All the products you see here have entirely hand painted decorations and always have a white background. In order to obtain that, they are using a white baking clay which is imported from Germany, England. This is a must, because the Dutch clay doesn't burn white but red and yellow.
The products are made with moulds. First they mix the clay with water. This liquid clay is poured into moulds. The moulds are made out of plaster of Paris which is a very porous material and it absorbs the water out of the clay. It makes that the clay dries. The clay dries quicker at the plaster wall as it does in the middle. As a result of this, a thin claywall forms itself.
After about 30 minutes the clay wall is already 4 mm thick but in the middle it is not dry yet, it's still liquid. At that moment the moulds are turned upside down to pour out this liquid centre. That's how an item is made hollow. After about 4 hours the clay is dry enough to open the moulds and the clay item can be taken out of the mould.
Then the edges are trimmed with a knife and the product is smoothed with a wet sponge. The articles are dried for 72 hours before they are put into an electric heated kiln. The firing takes 8 hours and the temperature reaches 1040 degrees Centigrade (which means about 1900 degrees Fahrenheit). The cooling down takes about 1 day. During the firing, the clay changes into stone which is called biscuit.
Directly on the biscuit the hand painting is done. Each item is entirely hand painted with very fine brushes by professional painters.On the picture above, you can see the lady paiting one product. On the other picture you can see my guide expaining the process.
To obtain the famous Delft blue color, the painter will use a black paint which will eventually change into the famous color blue during the second firing. The colors on the Delft polychrome will intensify during the firing but will not change into color.
After the hand painting the items are completely covered with a white glaze either by dipping the items in a bath of glaze or by spraying. During the second firing the glaze melts and becomes transparent.
The final result can be seen after the second firing. The name Delft is no guarantee that a piece is entirely hand painted. The name Delft has no copyright and will be found on all the mass produced Delft as well.
The products you can see here have a registered trademark which is guaranteed by the Chamber of Commerce that it stands for authentic entirely hand painted Delftware. De Delftse Pauw is proud that it exclusively produces and sells authentic Delft.
These products can be seen in the showroom and are for sale. Prices are factory prices.
Below you can see a Masterpiece. This is Vermeer’s view on Delft painted in polychrome by one of the master painters. The View of Delft is a painting made between 1659 and 1660 by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer who lived in Delft and was born in Delft. His most famous paintig is Girl with a pearl earring (Dutch: Het Meisje met de Parel) which can bee seen at The Mauritshuis in The Hague.
All the picture above were taken on the 28th of November 2008 at the Factory & in the Factory's Showroom. This is something unique, you can't see anything like this enywhere else. If you are in Delft, don't miss the opportunity of visiting Delft Pottery.
