Any Sasha updates? | Page 31 | Golden Skate

Any Sasha updates?

I tend to appreciate "bulls" more than "china" so I appreciate Emily and like her enthusiasm (which seems to be missing from so many others).
Isn't it funny how we all look at bulls & china. I tend to like china more. :laugh: :laugh:
 
Isn't it funny how we all look at bulls & china. I tend to like china more. :laugh: :laugh:

How much do you like "china?"

I heard a story when I was in Trent on Stoke about how the English came to call a certain style of pottery "China."

Anyone know this story?

Since Sasha was referred to as the "little china doll" I figured this is only 98% OT :)


Hint: It has nothing to dowith Emily Hughes :laugh:
 
No, but here is another tip: Pottery-ware referred to as "China" did not originate in China.

Actually it did. Porcelain, aka china, is made from a clay known as kaolin which was first discovered and exploited in China (the country). Other types of pottery (earthenware, ironware, stoneware, jasperware, etc, are made from other types of clay and originated in many places where clay deposits are found -- pretty much all over the world.) See the Wikipedia entry for porcelain for a brief history of the origin of fine porcelain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcelain.

(And how did we get from any news about Sasha to the origins of fine china???)
 
Actually it did. Porcelain, aka china, is made from a clay known as kaolin which was first discovered and exploited in China (the country). Other types of pottery (earthenware, ironware, stoneware, jasperware, etc, are made from other types of clay and originated in many places where clay deposits are found -- pretty much all over the world.) See the Wikipedia entry for porcelain for a brief history of the origin of fine porcelain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcelain.

(And how did we get from any news about Sasha to the origins of fine china???)

Thanks for your post. OT might be better than the reading US Skating's prepared press release about Sasha retiring, right? :)

Back to OT - Sitting in the Wedgwood factory's PR auditorium in Trent on Stoke several years ago I watched a promo film about the history of Wedgwood "China."

In the "Wedgwood" version of the history of "China" the film tells a story about how popular tea drinking had become in England. Alot of the tea consumed in England came from China.

When Wedgwood and other English pottery manufacturers began producing special teapots and cups/saucers that were designed for drinking tea the people began to refer to the teapots and cups as "China" - referring to the origin of the country where the tea came from.

The name "China" stuck and according to Wedgwood that is why the English call thin, dainty cups and plates "China."

ETA: On the clip of Sasha's "Hernando's Hideway" Peggy does mention that Sasha is known as a "China doll."
That is not because people thought Sasha was Chinese - but had more to do with her being little and dainty. ;) :)
 
Last edited:
In the "Wedgewood" version of the history of "China" the film tells a story about how popular tea drinking had become in England. Alot of the tea consumed in England came from China.

That's an interesting story, but I wonder if it is really true. It's probably one of those terms where the origin is murky, though I think there are references to calling porcelain china that predate the english manufacturers of the 18th century.

According to Wikipedia, "These exported Chinese porcelains of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were held in such great esteem in Europe that in the English language china became a commonly–used synonym for the Franco-Italian term porcelain."

Chinese porcelain was imported into Engalnd and Europe for over 100 years before westerners figured out how to make it. Because fine china is transucent they first though it was a kind of glass. Eventually they figured it out, and eventually kaolin deposits were discovered in Europe, Britain and North America.

And another delightful aside, the clay kaolin was an original ingredient in the diarrhoea treatment Kaopectate -- the name coming from kaolin and pectin, the two original ingredients.

Now how can we connect this all with Sasha's comeback? Hmmmmmm.
 
Last edited:
That's an interesting story, but I wonder if it is really true. It's probably one of those terms where the origin is murky, though I think there are references to calling porcelain china that predate the english manufacturers of the 18th century. Chinese porcelain was imported into Engalnd and Europe for hundreds of years before westerners figured out how to make it. Because fine china is transucent they first though it was a kind of glass. Eventually they figured it out, and eventually kaolin deposits were discovered in Europe, Brintain and North America.

And another delightful aside, the clay kaolin was an original ingredient in the diarrhoea treatment Kaopectate -- the name coming from kaolin and pectin, the two original ingredients.

Now how can we connect this all with Sasha's comenack? Hmmmmmm.

Thanks and your posts about China are very interesting.
Trent has long been a pottery manufaturing center and I only went there because I had to keep my better half happy.

Actually it was more interesting than I thought it would be. We had stopped first to visit the Royal Doulton showroom where I bought a terrific crystal flask. I escaped for a few minutes and bought myself a nice bottle of Remy to break my new flask in properly :p

By the time the flask was empty I was in the auditorium watching the Wedgwood promo film. I may have gotten a few details wrong - but about "China" - "that is my story and I am sticking to it." ;)

I need for mm or somebody to post another clip of one of Sasha's snazzy exhibition programs to get back in proper Sasha mode. :yes:
 
Back to Sasha.... less than 2 months for nationals. My Christmas wish? That we get no regretful announcement anytime between now and then.
 
And another delightful aside, the clay kaolin was an original ingredient in the diarrhoea treatment Kaopectate -- the name coming from kaolin and pectin, the two original ingredients.

Now how can we connect this all with Sasha's comeback? Hmmmmmm.

In 2004 Kaopepctate change its formula. The new active ingrediant is bismuth subsalicylate -- exactly the same as Pepto Bismol. Which Sasha just signed a big endorsement contract with. :chorus:
 
janetfan, you are probably confusing the notion that a lot of European pottery companies manufactured "china" rather than the items being imports, as gsrossano said, after Europeans figured out how to make porcelain themselves.

My high school history teacher told us that what was most ubiquitous in Europe were the blue-and-white variety of porcelain, how the Europeans often copied that particular Chinese design and style and held it in high esteem, which was ironic because in China it was the equivalent of what you would find in Wal-Mart (common and cheap). :laugh: So cute.
 
janetfan, you are probably confusing the notion that a lot of European pottery companies manufactured "china" rather than the items being imports, as gsrossano said, after Europeans figured out how to make porcelain themselves.

My high school history teacher told us that what was most ubiquitous in Europe were the blue-and-white variety of porcelain, how the Europeans often copied that particular Chinese design and style and held it in high esteem, which was ironic because in China it was the equivalent of what you would find in Wal-Mart (common and cheap). :laugh: So cute.

Wedgwood has alot of that blue and white pattern. :o

I may have gotten my facts mixed up. The European aristocracy could afford imported porcelain but in England it wasn't until better pottery/ceramics began to get mass produced that the working class could afford such luxury.

The thing that I rememebr is that the Chinese do not call "China" by that name. They have their own name for it,,,,etc.

The English working class are the one's who began to call it "China" - and it was a term they used for alot for what came out of the English pottery works in Trent.
That is what I remember from the film I watched.

I didn't know my "China" was made with kaopectate and suddenly have lost interest in having my evening tea :)

Back to Sasha - why was it reported that Mirai cut practice the other day. Is she getting cocky?
 
Thanks for linking to that great Rachmaninoff program! She's so authoritative, even with her few bobbles. That's what's missing from nearly all of the ladies these days.

As for china, I once heard that the best of it is so delicate that you could hold a candle behind it and see the light through the china itself. I'd be terrified to touch such gorgeous pieces of artisanship, and I'm fairly sure I've never laid eyes on any china that high-grade. There's a list we could make of skaters: how many are the equivalent of fine china compared to the rest of the field? (I don't mean delicate or wispy; I mean in terms of excellence.) Right now I'd put YuNa and Mao at her best on there. Let's leave spots open on the list for others to rise to the occasion.
 
Thanks for linking to that great Rachmaninoff program! She's so authoritative, even with her few bobbles. That's what's missing from nearly all of the ladies these days.

.

Sometimes I wish Alissa had a little more of Sasha in her. Why not accept you might fall - and in the meantime just "go for it" and skate with a little fire.
 
Back
Top