Pottery/Ceramic Terms
Bisque -
Glaze Firing –
Bone Dry -
Greenware -
Clay -
Grog –
Clay body -
Handbuilding -
Coil -
Impressed (design) -.
Coiling -
Incised (design) -
Earthenware -
Firing -
Glaze -
Kiln -
Kiln Furniture Slab Construction Leather Hard Slip Maturing temperature Stoneware Pinch Throwing Plasticity Vitrification Potter Wall pocket Potters Wheel -.
Wedging Raw -
Pottery which has been fired once, without
glaze.
Completely air dried clay, ready to be
bisque fired.
The process of heating clay pottery in a kiln
to bring the glaze or clay to a specific
temperature and for a specific time.
A thin coating that has been matured to the
glassy state on a formed ceramic piece, or
the material or mixture from which the
coating is made.
A mixture of water and powder from
decomposed alumina, silica & feldspar.
Clay is the potter's basic material. When
clay is moist it is soft and plastic; when fired
becomes permanently hard.
The material used to form the body of a
piece of pottery (earthenware, stoneware or
porcelain)
A piece of clay rolled like a rope, used in
making pottery.
A hand-building method of forming pottery
by building up the walls with coils of ropelike rolls of clay.
A low fired clay body. Glazed pottery is
fired to a temperature of 1,830 - 2,010
degrees Fahrenheit. Available in red or also
white.
A firing cycle in a kiln to the temperature at
which the glaze materials
will melt to form a glasslike surface coating.
The last firing of a pot when the glaze is
applied.
Unfired pottery. Ready to be bisque fired.
Additives sometimes used in clay for texture
Constructing pots from pre-made parts. The
components might be molded, coiled or slab
construction.
Stamped into the leather-hard clay with a
object or tool
Pattern cut into the clay with a sharp tool.
The oven/furnace in which pots are fired.
Kilns can be fired by wood, coal, oil, gas or
electricity.
A device with either a manual (foot
powered) or an electric rotating wheel head
used to sit at and make pottery forms
The various items made of refractory
materials that are used in the kiln to support
or protect the pots.
unfired clay.
A construction technique where flat sheets
of clay are formed and jointed.
Stage of the clay between plastic and bone
dry. Clay is still damp enough to join it to
other pieces using slip. For example, this is
the stage were handles are applied to mugs.
Fluid clay in a creamy texture used for
joining harder pieces of clay together.
The temperature at which a clay body
reaches its optimum strength or a glaze is
fully fused.
Manipulate clay with you fingers in your
palm to a hollow shape. This kind of pot is
a popular beginners’ project.
The quality of clay which allows it to be
manipulated into different shapes without
cracking or breaking.
A person who makes pots or other ceramic
art and wares.
Pottery fired at high temperature. The clay
vitrifies during firing and the surface will
not absorb moisture. Stoneware can be left
unglazed and still be usable for holding
water, but it is more common to glaze the
inside of the vessel. Stoneware is more
durable than earthenware, and capable of
resolving finer detail. The specific
temperature for stoneware is between 2118
and 2205
The term used when referring to forming or
shaping on a potter's wheel.
The process of melting that clays and glazes
go through as they are fired to maturity. In
a fully matured clay body, the spaces
between refractory particles are completely
filled up with glass, fusing the particles
together and making the clay body
impervious to water.
A vase, usually with a flat back, that has a
hole or holes for fixing to a wall.
The cutting of clay into wedges in the
process of mixing and kneading it to an
even consistency.