At Göhler's porcelain painter's shop

The class 4 visited Göhler's porcelain painter's shop in the school year 2006/2007. There we could experience how unique the porcelain can look after it has been painted by the skilled hands of the three employees.

	The master Mrs Katrin Göhler welcomes us at the handicraft workshop founded in 1921 by Paul Göhler. In 1971, the porcelain painter's shop was taken over by his son Manfred Göhler and since 2000 Katrin Göhler has been continuing running the workshop in the third generation.
The workshop obtains the white gold (what porcelain was called in the 18th century) from Thuringia and Bavaria. The white porcelain can be painted or printed.
The assistant Mrs Wenzlaff paints the borders of the bowl with gold colour using a tiny brush. For keeping the gold clean, the colour is put on a glass plate with a spattle. The porcelain painter's right arm is lying on an armrest because she needs a still arm for painting. With a manually activated wheel an exact golden border turns out well on the vase. Every piece of porcelain gets a label with the company's emblem on the backside.
	In the workshop we marvelled at the fine and fragile porcelain articles. We admired the dexterity and the technical ability which is applied on the white porcelain.
The dragon design (indian painting) is desired by many customers. Mrs Göhler shows us the steps which are necessary for this painting. She applies the colour at the same way as her grandfather. His “recipes” still today give the brilliance to the porcelain. With a spattle of horn, the red colour is applied to the glass plate. For producing the colours, Mrs Göhler needs tTurpentine, anise oil, lavender oil, fat oil and thin oil beside of the dye powder.
We tried the painting of the dragon design.
This muffle furnace was already used by the grandfather. According to the demand, Mrs Göhler fills the oven in the evening. It reaches a temperature of 850 °C. The colours must be burned with this temperature for three hours. After the burning process the oven is cooling down slowly and around 7 o'clock the master opens the furnace. Every time Mrs Göhler is curious and expects a successful work. The smile reveals that the flower painting, the dragon painting and the colour printing are meeting her expectations.
	Mrs Göhler likes dragon painting and painting of coats of arms most. All painted and printed porcelain articles are only sold in the shop in Pretzschendorf. Even special wishes of customers are realised.
With enthusiasm we tried the colour printing. Every pupil could choose a motif and a badge was manufactured with guidance.

We are happy about the keepsake and thank the stuff for the individual guided tour and the possibility to try porcelain painting.