Porcelain

How porcelain beads are made

Not just for cups & saucers

The Trollbeads porcelain beads are outstanding, handcrafted and painted individually in stunning colours and motives. Porcelain beads were introduced for the first time as limited edition beads for Trollbeads Day in 2019. With the Harmony Harvest collection from September 2020, the first porcelain beads became part of the collection. 

The material

The art of painting on porcelain originates from China, where genuine, hard white porcelain was invented. The porcelain is made of paste and consists mainly of kaolin. Porcelain is hard, compact and fine-grained, and it cannot be scratched by a knife. When hit, it resonates with a clear, musical note.

Craftsmanship

It is complex for Trollbeads artists to make the beads. The beads are made in fluid porcelain and hereafter they are burned. When they have cooled down, they are glazed for the first time. After glazing, the beads are burned again. Next, the beads are painted by hand in stunning patterns. The beads are then glazed and burned one last time. The beads shrink in size every time they are burned, so planning the whole process is very important in order to ensure that the beads end up the right size every time. It is a long and detailed process to make porcelain beads, but the end result is absolutely stunning and magical. Our Trollbeads porcelain artists in Jingdezhen, China have their own speciality. Not only in terms of technique, but also in motives. The beads are all painted by a small group of painters, who have their speciality in painting precisely these motives and using that specific technique.

Et voilá... a new bead is born, created from craftsmanship perfected through generations.