Ceramics Vocabulary
Bat - a disc or slab of plaster, wood, or tile on which pottery is formed; also used to
remove extra moisture from plastic clay
Bisque fire - the first firing of unglazed war; cone 06 is most satisfactory; done at a
lower temperature than the glaze firing
Burnish - to polish surface by rubbing with smooth object
Ceramics - any object that contains alumina and silica that has been heat treated
Clay - decomposed granite-type rock; to be classed as a clay, the decomposed rock must
have fine particles so that it will be free of most vegetable matter but will often contain
other impurities which will affect the color and firing temp.
Coil building - a hand method of forming pottery by building up the walls with ropelike rolls of clay called coils
Earthenware - low fired pottery (under 2000 degrees F), usually red or tan in color
with an absorbency from 5-20%
Foot - the ring-like base of a ceramic piece, usually heavier than the surrounding body
Glaze firing - a firing cycle to the temp at which the glaze materials will melt to form a
glass-like coating
Greenware - pottery which has not been bisque fired
Kiln - a furnace made of refractory clay materials for firing ceramic products
Leather hard - the condition of the raw ware when most of the moisture has left the
body but when it is still soft enough to be carved or burnished easily
Pinch pot - pot made by pinching the clay with the fingers and thumb
Plasticity - the quality of clay which allows it to be manipulated and still maintain its
shape without cracking or sagging
Rib - a tool of wood, bone, metal, plastic, or rubber which is held in the hand while
throwing to assist in shaping the pot or compact the clay
Shrinkage - contraction of the clay in either drying or firing; when a wet handle is put
onto a dry cup the clay usually shrinks away from the already shrunken dry piece as it
dries
Ceramics Vocabulary
Slip - a clay in liquid suspension; it can be colored by adding other chemicals
Stoneware - a high-fired ware (above cone- 5/6) with slight or no absorbency; usually
gray in color but may be tan or slightly reddish
Throwing - forming pottery of plastic clay on a potter's wheel
Vitrify - to fire to the point of glassification (waterproof)
Wedging - kneading and cutting plastic clay, forcibly throwing down one piece upon
the other in order to obtain a uniform texture free from air pockets; can also be achieved
by working the clay rom hand to hand
Media - refers to the materials that artists use to create their art
5 steps of throwing - wedge, center, open, pull, and shape
Stages of clay - plastic, leatherhard, greenware, bisqueware, glazeware
Cone - refers to the firing temperature of the clay; we bisque fire at cone 06 (1830
degrees); glaze fire at cone 6 (2,250 degrees)
Glazing instructions - wash; stir the glaze; spray, dip, pour, or paint on glaze; darker
colors first followed by lighter colors; clean off bottom; fire