Ceramics Vocabulary
Stages of Clay:
Soft or Wet Clay- The clay when it is soft and cool to the touch. The clay is still flexible and moldable
Greenware- The soft/wet clay when it has completely dried. They clay is hard and very brittle and
delicate. It is ready to go into the kiln for the first time.
Bisqueware- The clay has been fired one time, and has completely hardened. It is ready to be glazed.
Glazeware- After the clay comes out of the kiln the second time completely glazed and ready to be used.
Properties of Clay:
Plasticity- The flexibility of the clay. When it can be molded and sculpted.
Shrinkage- Clay shrinks 10-12% as it dries
Texture- The feel of the surface of the clay (example: rough, smooth, etc.)
Moisture- How wet or how much water is in the clay body.
3 Hand-building construction techniques:
Pinch- Using your hand and fingers to press and shape the clay into the form you want.
Coil- Rolling the clay into logs and connecting them together and layering them on top of each other.
Slab- Flattening the clay into thick sheets that can be cut and connected into different forms.
Other terms:
•Leather hard- When the wet clay is hardening but still workable and moldable
•Bone dry- When the greenware clay is completely dry, not cold.
•Fire- To put pieces in the kiln to heat up.
•Kiln- The “oven” that the clay goes into. Kilns heat up to more than 1800 degrees fahrenheit
•Glaze- The “paint” we cover the bisque clay with and put in the kiln. Contains silica (glass).
•“Throwing” on the wheel- This means working with clay on the pottery wheel.
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Slip and Score- A method connecting 2 pieces of clay together by scratching the surface of the clay
body (scoring) and using a liquid of form of the clay (slip) as a glue to stick the pieces together.
Wedging- The process of kneading the clay to create a homogenous consistency and to expel all air
bubbles from the clay.
Earthenware (low-fire)- Clay fired at a lower temperature, between 1600-2000 F, what we will be
firing at.
Stoneware (high-fire)- Clay fired at a higher temperature, between 2000-2400 F, used for
commercial pottery.