Spry's Quality Gifts
Phone: 276-628-4692
Fax: 530-654-5219
E-mail
Us: SprysGifts@comcast.net
Alabastrite | Bone
China | Porcelain | Jade
Porcelain | Gold | Sterling
Silver | Pearl | Diamond
| Cubic Zircon | Gemstones
Hong Tze | Stoneware
| Patchwork | Frosted
Acrylic | Gypsum | Dolomite
PRODUCT MATERIAL TYPES:
Alabastrite: Product line name for polyresin items. A stone-based material, intricately moldable with great detail. Painted items may be cleaned by dusting, but should never be washed or immersed in water as their paints are water soluble. [back to top]
Bone China: White clay with bone ash added. Bone ash content must be at least 25% by U. S. guidelines. Fired at 1800 degrees. The translucent material finished with a glaze or underglazed. Lighter, stronger, more expensive than porcelain. [back to top]
Porcelain: Fine ground white clay, molded, fired in an oven for 8 hours at 1200 degrees. Finished with a glazed, underglazed, or "bisque" finish. After finishing, the item is "cooked" for 6 hours at 800 degrees. [back to top]
Jade Porcelain: Type of porcelain made with a finer clay. Usually no glaze or only a colorless glaze at the final firing to show off the very smooth surface and preserve the translucency. Jade Porcelain is generally used for night lights. [back to top]
Gold: The ultimate precious metal. Graded by purity; in the U.S. a scale of 24 is used, 24 Karats (24K) is 100% pure. 18K is 18 parts gold and 6 parts alloy (other metals). 10K is the legal minimum for Karat-graded gold. [back to top]
Sterling Silver: To qualify as "sterling" a given piece must be composed of a least 92.5% pure silver. [back to top]
Pearl: A smooth, lustrous, variously-colored deposit formed around a grain of sand in the shell of a certain mollusk. Pearls may be formed naturally or "cultured" through an artificial implanting process. [back to top]
Diamond: Extremely hard, highly refractive colorless or white crystalline of carbon. Diamonds, like all gemstones, are judged in terms of Carats, or weight (different from Karats, as in gold purity). [back to top]
Cubic Zircon: The most successful simulated diamond. Properties such as refraction, hardness, and specific gravity are remarkably similar to diamonds. Cubic zirconia are very hard to distinguish from diamonds. [back to top]
Gemstones: Rubies, sapphires, emeralds and amethysts, often treasured as birthstones, fall under the category of gemstones. (Birthstones are listed in back of our World of Products catalog.) Gemstones are priced & graded by Carat weight. [back to top]
Hong Tze: This product line is made to emulate a special stone found in China known for its deep red color. These items are created using an alabastrite polyresin. Hong Tze pieces are highly polished, bringing out the deep, red color. [back to top]
Stoneware: White clay with fine ground stone. Working with stoneware demands great expertise, and is in fact becoming a lost art. Stoneware is safe to use in microwave and conventional ovens. [back to top]
Patchwork Items: Unique fabric or paper prints areapplied to the surface of porcelain, dolomite or polyresin items. After application, 12 layers of lacquer are added and the item is hand polished to a high gloss between each layer. [back to top]
Frosted Acrylic: Acrylic items are given the French Lilac process, (used on glass), to achieve the distinctive frosted look. The drama of frosted glass without the weight. [back to top]
Gypsum: Gypsum is a white mineral which is usually used to make Plaster of Paris. [back to top]
Dolomite: A magnesia-rich, sedimentary
rock resembling limestone, dolomite is either gray, pink or white in color.
[back
to top]