CERAMICS 1A VOCABULARY
MRS. BROWN
Ceramics, the process of forming and firing clay for aesthetic and functional purposes,
has been around since the dawn of civilization. Some of the earliest pieces ever made are
still in existence today.
STAGES OF CLAY
1. green ware: any clayware which has not been bisque fired
 plastic: clay which is easily manipulated without sagging or cracking
 leather hard: the state of clay when most of the moisture has left but the clay is still
plastic enough to be joined or carved.
 bone dry: clay which contains no moisture. Bone dry ware is ready for firing.
2. bisque ware: unglazed ware fired to a temperature sufficient to harden and mature the
body.
3. glaze ware: clay which has been bisque fired and re-fired after applying glaze.
HANDBUILDING TECHNIQUES
1. coiling: a hand building method of forming pottery with rope likes coils
 slab coils: rectangular thin strips cut from a slab and used like coils for construction
2. slab: clay rolled and cut into shapes before assembling. Lends itself to building geometric
forms
3. pinching: to squeeze the clay between the fingers and thumb; used to form pinch pots
4. gourds: two pinch pots are sealed at the rims to form a hollow sphere. Commonly used in
clay sculpture. Gourds must have a hole or another way to allow trapped air to escape during
firing, otherwise the piece will explode.
5. molds: pinched, thrown, liquid or slab clay is laid or poured inside or outside a defined
form and allowed to dry while taking on the same form
CLAY TERMS
1. bat: a disk or slab of plaster of paris on which pottery is formed or dried. It is also used to
remove excess moisture from plastic clay.
2. bisque fire: preliminary firing to harden the body prior to glazing
3. centering: positioning the clay on the wheel so that the clay is in position for throwing
4. combing: a method of decoration developed by dragging a coarse comb or other tools over
wet clay
5. dipping: glazing pottery by immersing it in a large pan or vat of glaze.
6. dry foot: to clean the bottom of a glazed piece before firing.
7. extruder: pushes clay through a chamber to make coils or other shapes, depending on the
screen used (spaghetti fun factory)
7. foot: the ring like base of a ceramic piece, usually formed by tooling the excess clay.
9. glaze: a liquid suspension of finely ground minerals that is applied by brushing, pouring,
or spraying on the surface of bisque-fired ceramic were. After drying the ware is fired to the
temperature at which the glaze ingredient will melt together to form a glassy surface coating.
10. glaze fire: a firing cycle to the temperature at which the glaze materials will melt to form
a glasslike surface coating. This is usually at the point of maximum body maturity and it is
considerably higher than the bisque fire
11. kiln: a furnace made of refractory clay materials for firing ceramic products.
12. kiln furniture: refractory shelves and posts used to support ceramic ware inside the kiln
13. kiln wash: a protective coating of refractory materials applied to the surface of the
shelves and the kiln floor to prevent excess glaze from fusing the ware to the shelves.
14. matte glaze: a non-shiny glaze usually developed by the addition of barium carbonate or
alumina.
15. maturity: the point during firing when bisque ware reaches maximum non-porosity and
hardness or when the glaze fuses completely developing a strong bond with the body, a stable
structure, maximum resistance to abrasion, and a pleasant surface structure.
16. molds: a form on which clay is laid or pressed against, giving it shape or a box usually
made of plaster of paris, containing a hollow negative shape. The positive forms are made by
pouring either wet plaster or slip into this hollow.
17. casting (slip casting): a reproductive process of forming clay objects by pouring a clay
slip into a hollow plaster mold and allowing it to remain long enough for a layer of clay to
thicken on the mold wall. After hardening, the clay object is removed.
18. plasticity: the quality of clay that allows it to be manipulated and still maintains its shape
without cracking or sagging.
19. pug mill: a machine for mixing plastic clay.
20. reclaiming: process of recycling the clay by adding water and kneading. All clay can be
reclaimed, unless it has been fired.
21. rib: a flat curved tool made of wood metal or plastic used for refining the form of a clay
piece.
20. sgrafitto: a decorative technique of scratching the surface of pigmented clay to the clay
below
21. slip: clay in liquid suspension.
23. slip, score, and blend: process of joining to pieces of clay together
22. throwing: forming plastic clay on a potter’s wheel.
23. turning or tooling: trimming the walls and foot of a pot on the wheel while the clay is
leather hard.
24. under glaze: colored decoration applied to the bisque ware before the glaze coating.
25. ware: pottery or porcelain in the raw, bisque or glazed state.
26. warping: distortion of a pot in drying because of uneven wall thickness or a warm draft of
air, or in firing when the kiln does not heat uniformly.
27. wax resist: a method of decorating pottery by brushing on melted wax or drawing on
pottery with wax crayon. The wax acts as a resist by preventing glaze or stain to adhere to the
coated areas. Wax can be applied raw or bisque ware, over or between two layers of glaze.
28. wedging: kneading plastic clay with the heels of the hands in a rocking spiral motion to
force out trapped air pockets and develop a uniform texture.