2nd Grade Clay
colorful fish
What is clay?
Clay is made of very
fine particles of
decomposed rock that
stick together. Clay
particles are smaller
than pebbles, sand &
even silt.
Clay forms through a process of weathering & erosion.
It can be found in abundance all around the world.
A great place to look for clay is along the banks of existing or dried up river beds.
An artist digging for clay
This eroding cliff shows many types of soils & rock areas of clay are circled.
Greenware to Bisque
• We can use clay to create many things including art!
• When clay is wet, it is easy to mold & form.
The pieces we create are called
greenware.
• Firing is the term for heating clay in a kiln the special oven used to bake clay.
• The heat from the kiln causes the water to
slowly evaporate from the clay, the clay
particles bond together & the clay becomes
hard.
• We call our kiln fired clay pieces bisque
KILN
We fire our clay pieces at almost 2000
degrees Fahrenheit!
• What do you think would
happen if we fired a glass
marble in our high temperature
kiln?
• The kiln temperature is so hot
it would melt that marble into a
puddle of glass!
After 48 hours in the hot kiln, bisque projects are ready
for glaze!
• Glaze is the paint used to color clay projects
• There are small particles of silica in our colorful
glazes, when they are heated in the kiln they will
melt into glass!
Bisque pieces ready to unload
from the kiln & glaze.
Vocabulary
Greenware: Unfired clay projects
Bone Dry: Completely air dried clay
Kiln: An oven used for firing clay projects
Bisque: Clay which has been fired once, without glaze
Fire: To heat clay in a kiln
Glaze: Paint used to color clay projects. Glaze turns to glass
when fired in a kiln.