Judging Chinas: Breed

I confess, the only thing I know about chinas is that they are fragile. I don't do well with fragile. Things break and then I cry...it's not a pretty picture.

However, guest blogger Melissa Gaulding knows a ton about chinas! The following was written from the judges perspective and should give you insight into what china judges are looking for:

Things to consider when judging glazed custom chinas in breed: everything that you would normally consider when judging any other halter division apply here too. Anatomy, biomechanics, and conformation should be as correct for glazed customs as for any other medium.

There are a few things restricted by the ceramic medium that should be allowed for in your judging.

• Molding and casting can limit the level of fine detail in hair texture and is to be expected. However, judge lumpish, inexpert manes, tails, or feathering as you would on a resin or customized plastic.

• Glossy glaze can enhance richness of coloring, but reduce visibility of detail, particularly in areas of pure black or pure white.

• Certain colors are difficult to achieve with fired underglazes and overglazes, especially red bays and red chestnuts; truly superior pieces should have similar saturation of color to any cold painted piece. Color shifts are also harder to achieve—where a cold-painted horse might show both golden brown and gray shades within the coat color, this is harder to do in ceramics.

• Hyper-realistic details (individual hairs, striations of color in irises, multi-colored growth rings in hooves, hair-by-hair roaning, etc.) are very difficult to do in ceramic finishes, but oafish application of details should be judged as you would with any other medium.

Laura back in: I'm declaring this week to be "china week," so tomorrow we'll continue with more insight from Melissa. Tomorrow's topic: china workmanship!