From Clay to Bead: How a Jingdezhen Ceramic Bead Is Made

People often ask how a ceramic bracelet is actually made, and why it isn't priced like ordinary costume jewellery. Here is the answer, step by step: what happens between a lump of clay and a bead you can wear.

The raw material: kaolin

Our beads are made from Jingdezhen kaolin — the white clay this town has fired for a thousand years. It is highly plastic and low in impurities, so it fires dense and doesn't take on stray colour. Each batch is washed, then left to age, which removes coarse particles and trapped air. Only once the clay has settled does it behave predictably in the hand and stop splitting as it's worked.

Shaping: one bead at a time

The beads are shaped by hand, not cast in a mould. The maker takes a small piece of clay, rolls it round, trims it, then pierces the hole through the centre with a tool. Size and hole placement are judged by feel, so every bead in a batch comes out a little different. The raw beads then dry slowly in the shade for three to five days — dry them too fast and they crack.

Two firings: bisque, then glaze

Once bone dry, the beads go into the kiln for a bisque firing at around 800°C, which sets the body and makes it ready to take glaze. After glazing they are fired again, this time up to about 1,300°C. At that temperature the glaze melts into a glassy surface, and only then does the colour truly appear. One cycle — heating and cooling — usually takes more than a full day, and the kiln cannot be opened partway through.

Where the crackle comes from

Crackle glaze isn't painted on. The glaze and the clay body shrink at different rates as they cool, and the surface naturally tensions into a web of fine cracks. No one can plan where a line will run, which is why no two beads share the same pattern — and why we couldn't make them all look alike even if we wanted to.

Choosing and caring for it

Ceramic contains no metal, so it tends to suit people who react to metal jewellery. In daily wear, avoid knocking it hard against anything solid, and take it off to shower or exercise. If it picks up sweat or lotion, wipe it gently with a slightly damp soft cloth and put it back in its box — no soaking, no detergent. Most of our bracelets are adjustable, so they sit well on slimmer and broader wrists alike.

To see the pieces themselves, browse all bracelets, or the gift sets if you're shopping for someone else.

Shop next: All ceramic bracelets →