Ceramic: Plastic-free lid in the fact check
How is it produced and what are the advantages over other materials? Here we have collected all the important information about the production of our ceramic lid with a swing top.
Why ceramics?
Who would have thought it - not only your grandma's dishes, but also the lid of your soulbottle drinking bottle is made of ceramic. Porcelain is a subtype of ceramic. While the lids of many other drinking bottles are still made entirely or partially (for example the rubber seal) of plastic, the soulbottles lid was plastic-free from the start. Because our goal at soulbottles is a world in which plastics are only used when there is no other option. Above all, we want products that can be used again and again and for a long time. In our search for an alternative material to plastic, we came across ceramic.
All the advantages of ceramics at a glance:
- Made from natural raw materials
- Flexible formable
- Very robust
- insulating effect
The positive properties of ceramic convinced us pretty quickly: The material is not only flexible to shape, but is also very stable and has an insulating effect. This means that the lid helps ensure that the drinks in your soulbottle retain their original temperature for longer. (Insulation? Our soulbottles stainless steel drinking bottles also have this talent!) All of these are perfect properties for a robust and durable lid.
The basic material for the production of ceramics is clay - a primary raw material of natural origin that has been used by people all over the world for over 10,000 years to produce everyday objects. Clay is created when rain grinds solid rock into small, fine-grained particles. Mixed with water, these particles can be easily shaped, for example into a lid for your soulbottle.
How is the ceramic lid made?
To produce ceramics for the lids of our soulbottles, a mixture of clay, loam and water is first prepared. The lids are then formed from the mass using the wet pressing process and dried for several hours. To achieve greater strength, the lids are then placed in the oven and pre-hardened there.
What follows could be described as the soulbottles crowning achievement: the finishing of the lids with the soulbottles logo. The printed image with the colored logo is placed on each individual lid in the finest handwork. The whole thing is glazed and then the crowned lids are put back in the oven. They are hardened at over 1,000 degrees and thus made waterproof.
Since the ceramic lid alone does not keep your soulbottle leak-proof, it is supplemented by a rubber seal made of natural rubber. Thanks to the leak-proof lid, you can also use your soulbottle on the go and keep fit with tap water all day long. And last but not least, in addition to the rubber seal, you also need the stainless steel bracket. The stainless steel wire is threaded through the holes as a straight piece and then bent downwards at the sides. This also solves the last mystery of the plastic-free soulbottles ceramic lid.
