Knitting and bone china - March 2012

I was very pleased with how the 3ply sample was replicated in bone china and so decided that the next step would be to knit an item and then to cast that in bone china. I decided to knit a bootie from the Sirdar pattern 298, dated 1968 as it was one of the smallest items.

I think this is a lovely little object; one that we just don't see anymore. The pattern is a nice one as there are contrasting stitches within the garment - garter stitch on the foot and the lacy stitch on the ankle.

This is the bootie after being dipped in bone china slip. I squeezed out the excess slip so that the detail wasn't 'drowned' by the slip. I packed the bootie with dry paper so that it would keep it's shape whilst drying and firing. Once completely dry it was fired to stoneware temp (1280'c).

The bootie after firing

Amazingly, the bootie survived the firing and came out in one piece. However, it was extremely fragile and on handling, part of the ribbon broke off. I like this fragility though... it ties in very well with the notion that such items are now fragile relics from the past, fragile memories. The bone china has become a fossilised version of the knitted garment.

It's worth saying that it is not a good idea to put man-made fibres in the kiln as they produce horrible fumes when burning. I am looking for a natural alternative yarn..