Homedeco Direct - What are our products made of?
What are our products made of?
*Alabastrite
Alabastrite is Homedeco Direct's product line name for polyresin items. Alabastrite is a stone-based material which can be intricately molded producing great detail, and will allow paint to adhere. These items may be cleaned by dusting, however, they should not be washed with water as they are painted with water soluble paints.
*Pottery
Pottery is the ceramic ware made by potters. It can also refer to the material of which the potteryware is made. Major types of pottery include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The places where such wares are made are called potteries. Pottery is one of the oldest human technologies and art-forms, and remains a major industry today. Ceramic art covers the art of pottery, whether in items made for use or purely for decoration.
Pottery is made by forming a clay body into objects of a required shape and heating them to high temperatures in a kiln to induce reactions that lead to permanent changes, including increasing their strength and hardening and setting their shape. There are wide regional variations in the properties of clays used by potters and this often helps to produce wares that are unique in character to a locality. It is common for clays and other minerals to be mixed to produce clay bodies suited to specific purposes.
*Ceramic
A ceramic is an inorganic, non-metallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous (e.g., a glass). Because most common ceramics are crystalline, the definition of ceramic is often restricted to inorganic crystalline materials, as opposed to the non-crystalline glasses.
For convenience, ceramic products are usually divided into four sectors; these are shown below with some examples:
-Structural, including bricks, pipes, floor and roof tiles
-Refractories, such as kiln linings, gas fire radiants, steel and glass making crucibles
-Whitewares, including tableware, wall tiles, pottery products, and sanitary ware
-Technical, is also known as Engineering, Advanced, Special, and in Japan, Fine Ceramics. Such items include tiles used in the Space Shuttle program, gas burner nozzles, ballistic protection, nuclear fuel uranium oxide pellets, bio-medical implants, jet engine turbine blades, and missile nose cones. Frequently the raw materials do not include clays.
Examples of whiteware ceramics
-Earthenware, which is often made from clay, quartz and feldspar.
-Stoneware
-Porcelain, which are often made from kaolin
-Bone china
*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 a glaze or underglaze (matte). Lighter, stronger, more expensive than porcelain.
*See disclaimer
*Earthenware
Earthenware is a common ceramic material, which is used extensively for pottery tableware and decorative objects. Although body formulations vary between countries and even between individual makers, a generic composition is 25% ball clay, 28% kaolin, 32% quartz, and 15% feldspar. Earthenware is one of the oldest materials used in pottery. While red earthenware made from red clays is very familiar and recognizable, white and buff colored earthenware clays are also commercially available and commonly used.
Earthenware is commonly bisque, or biscuit, fired to temperatures between 1000 and 1150 °C (1800 and 2100 °F), and glost- (glaze-) fired from 950 to 1,050 °C (1,742 to 1,922 °F). However examples of the reverse — low biscuit and high glost firing — can also be found: this can be popular with some studio potters where bisque temperatures may be 900 to 1,050 °C (1,652 to 1,922 °F) with glost temperatures in the range of 1,040 to 1,150 °C (1,904 to 2,102 °F). The exact temperature will be influenced by the raw materials used and the desired characteristics of the finished ware. The higher firing temperatures are likely to cause earthenware to bloat. After firing, the body is porous and opaque with colours ranging from white to red depending on the raw materials used. Earthenware, when moist, is typically not freeze resistant.
*Porcelain
Fine ground white clay, molded and fired in an oven for eight hours at 1200 degrees. Finished with a glazed, underglazed, or "bisque" finish. Glazing produces a high gloss; underglaze produces a matte finish. Bisque is a matte finish without glaze. After finishing, the item is "cooked" for six hours at 800 degrees.
*See disclaimer
*Jade Porcelain
Jade porcelain is a type of porcelain made with a finer clay. Usually no glaze or only a colorless glaze will be applied at the final firing to show off the very smooth surface and to preserve the translucency. Jade Porcelain is used for night lights because of its high degree of translucency when lit. This material is subject to shrinkage and expansion in extreme cold or hot weather and should be brought indoors during times of peak weather variations such as cold winters.
*See disclaimer
*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 ovens.
More technically, stoneware is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic ware of fine texture made primarily from non-refractory fire clay.
Stoneware's maturation temperature ranges from about 1200 °C to 1315 °C (2192 °F to 2399 °F). In essence, it is man-made stone. One widely recognized definition is from the Combined Nomenclature of the European Communities, which states:
"Stoneware, which, though dense, impermeable and hard enough to resist scratching by a steel point, differs from porcelain because it is more opaque, and normally only partially vitrified. It may be vitreous or semi-vitreous. It is usually coloured grey or brownish because of impurities in the clay used for its manufacture, and is normally glazed."[2]
In contrast, earthenware is fired at lower temperatures and is not impervious to liquids. Porcelain, which some consider to be a type of stoneware, is distinguished as being whiter than stoneware and always vitreous. Kaolin, or china clay, has a lower content of impurities than many other clays. It is also fired to a vitreous state, transforming the constituent silica into glass. Some porcelain bodies are translucent after firing. Firing a piece of pottery to too high a temperature will result in warping or melting. Vitreous clay bodies can be made at different temperatures ranges, but they are typically fired in the stoneware/porcelain range. Fired stoneware absorbs up to 5% water, porcelain 0%, and earthenware up to 10%. Earthenware, when moist, is typically not freeze resistant.
Clay refers to group of minerals that generally exhibit plasticity when mixed with water, and which chemically primarily consist of alumina and silica. Potters refer to combinations of clays mixed with other materials as clay bodies. Different kinds of clay bodies are created by mixing additives, such as feldspar, grog, quartz, flint, many other minerals are used and these can include spodumene, wollastonite to modify clays. Clay bodies can thereby be formulated to fire at a range of temperatures. Darker clays often contain iron and other metal oxide impurities. The clay used for porcelain and white stoneware clay bodies contain very little of these impurities.
Patchwork Items
Unique fabric or paper prints are applied to the surface of porcelain, dolomite or polyresin items. After application, 12 layers of lacquer are added and the item is hand polished to a high gloss between each layer.
Cubic Zircon
The most successful simulated diamond. Properties such as refraction, hardness, and specific gravity are remarkably similar to diamonds. Cubic zirconia are very hard to distinguish from diamonds; sometimes a jewelers loop will be needed to see the difference.
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).
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 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.
Gemstones
Rubies, sapphires, emeralds and amethysts, often treasured as birthstones, fall under the category of gemstones. Gemstones are priced and graded by Carat weight.
Pearl
A smooth, lustrous, variously-colored deposit formed around a grain of sand in the shell of a certain mollusk. 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 a least 92.5% pure silver.
Hong Tze
To closely emulate a special stone found in China which is known for its deep red color, these items are created using an alabastrite polyresin. Hong Tze pieces are highly polished, further bringing out the intense, deep red color.
Frosted Acrylic
Acrylic items are given the French Lilac process, (used on glass), to achieve the distinctive frosted look. The drama of frosted glass without the weight.
Gypsum
Gypsum is a white mineral which is usually used to make Plaster of Paris.
Dolomite
A magnesia-rich, sedimentary rock resembling limestone, dolomite is either gray, pink or white in color.
Monkey Pod (Rain Tree)
Rain tree (Samanea saman) is easily recognized by its characteristic umbrella-shaped canopy. When grown in the open, the tree usually reaches 15–25 m (50–80 ft) in height with a canopy diameter wider than the tree is tall. Rain tree is most important in the Pacific as a shade tree on small farms, along roads, in parks and pastures. The wood could be developed more widely as a commercial timber, comparing favorably to black walnut. Rain tree naturalizes freely almost everywhere it has been introduced and is considered an invasive pest in Vanuatu and Fiji. In many other places naturalized rain tree is not considered a problem but a useful wood source as in Thailand.
In Asia, Monkey Pod is mainly grown in the Northern provinces along the neighboring borders providing a bountiful yet limited (time wise) source of larger wood for the carving industry. Harvested correctly the trunk is left in place and larger limbs are cut for use initially. Eventually the trunk is cut as it passes its best producing cycle. There are no lumber yards for this wood. Once we receive orders we have trees cut that fit the size we need to use. The wood must be rough cut and carved within several weeks. Otherwise the wood dries out, becomes stringy, and breaks up easily if carved too dry.
Mango Wood (fruit tree)
Mangos of many species are farmed in Thailand as it is a cultural staple crop for the nation’s food supply. Mango is used as a snack fresh dipped in dried chilies and sugar/salt, as a cooking ingredient, as a dessert with sticky rice and coconut milk, and as a dried export fruit..
As with all fruit trees there is an optimal life cycle for its fruit bearing years. Consequently the trees are replanted continuously and a supply of wood is generated mainly for the wood turning industry up North. Due to the tree type and life cycle most mango wood products are under 15” in diameter.
A little known fact is that mango trees are not grown from seed but are grafts or cuttings. The fruit bearing capacity is severely diminished in a tree grown from its seed. Perhaps next we will find a use for the seed!
Rubberwood
Rubberwood is a hardwood from the maple family of woods
Rubberwood has very little tendancy to warp or crack
Rubberwood is Eco Friendly
Rubberwood is often the most misunderstood species of wood in the furniture industry. The name rubberwood invokes a variety of misconceptions as to it's features and to it's durability. Rubberwood (also called Parawood in Thailand) is the standard common name for the timber of Hevea brasiliensis.
In fact, rubberwood is one of the more durable lumbers used in the manufacturing of today's home furnishings. As a member of the maple family, rubberwood has a dense grain character that is easily controlled in the kiln drying process. Rubberwood has very little shrinkage making it one of the more stable construction materials availabe for furniture manufacturing.
Like maple, rubberwood is a sap producing species. In the case of maple, it is sap; in the case of rubberwood, it is latex. Rubberwood produces all the latex used in the world for all rubber based products.
There is one more important feature of rubberwood that is very important in today's world. Rubberwood is the most ecologically "friendly" lumber used in today's furniture industry. After the economic life of the rubber tree, which is generally 26-30 years, the latex yields become extremely low and the planters then fell the rubber trees and plant new ones. So, unlike other woods that are cut down for the sole purpose of producing furniture, rubberwood is used only after it completes it's latex producing cycle and dies. This wood is therefore eco-friendly in the sense that we are now using what was going as waste.
Do not mistake the name rubberwood when it comes to its quality features.
Properties of Rubberwood:
· Density(kg/M3 at 16%MC ---------------------------- 560-640
· Tangential Shrinkage Coefficient (%) ------------- 1.2
· Radical Shrinkage Coefficient (%) ----------------- 0.8
· Hardness(N) ----------------------------------------------- 4,350
· Static Bending, N/mm at 12% MC ------------------ 66
· Modulus of elasticity,n/mm at 12%MC ------------ 9,700
As can be seen, these properties compare well with those of conventional hardwoods . Thus we have the ideal substitute with the major difference that Rubberwood is cheaper, more plentiful and Eco-Friendly
(information quoted from www.Oakplus.com
MATERIAL DISCLAIMERS:
* Severe Weather Disclaimer: This material may be subject to shrinkage and expansion in extreme cold or hot weather and should be brought indoors during times of peak weather variations such as cold winters and hot summers.
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