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| | | | | Porcelain Beer Steins in a variety of themes |  Walzenkrug, which is the shape of most porcelain steins, probably having originated with the silver steins of the 1600's, was popularized by the faience and stoneware steins of the 1700's. Unlike those faience and stoneware steins, however, pewter mountings are rarely found on early porcelsin steins. The expense of the porcelain made silver the material of choice for lids, thumblifts, and footrings. Porcelain lids, or inlays, became increasingly common until they were used exclusively in the 1800s. In turn, these lids were finally replaced altogether by steepled pewter lids in the late 1800s. Porcelain ingredients include kaolin, feldspar, some quartz, and traces of various other materials, such as whiting. Once prepared, the materials could be worked on a potter's wheel or, for relief sections or unusual shapes, thinned to a slip and poured into a gypsum or plaster mold. Once air-dried to a leather-hard consistency, the stein bodies recived a bisque firing to about 900°C (about 1600°F). The glazes used to decorate porcelain steins are coloring agents mixed into the porcelain slips. These glazes are soaked into the porous surfaces and good decorations are done using a sure hand.
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