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oven
The typical pottery factory oven was a bee-hive shaped structure. Pottery was placed into saggars (protective ceramic containers) which were stacked inside the oven in tall columns. Flames and smoke were directed from fire mouths or hearths through the oven and out the top through a chimney. Ovens were protected from the elements by either being built into a workshop with a strategically placed chimney emerging from the rooftop, or a “hovel” or protective shell was built from the ground at a distance from the oven wall to allow convenient workspace, the shape tapered above the dome of the oven into the neck of a chimney giving it a characteristic bottle shape. Most factories had separate ovens for firing biscuit and gloss and for subsequent enamel decoration firing.
overglaze printing
The simplest process is to apply prints onto a glazed surface either by the bat printing or hot-press printing method. The printed designs are then secured to the surface by a firing slightly softening the glaze which fuses with the printed color. Over-glaze decoration may be subject to abrasion and wear.