Basic Vocab

Question 1

Ball Clay

Answer 1

A clay with a very fine particle size

Question 2

Bat

Answer 2

A disk made out of exterior plywood, masonite, chipboard, or plaster on which one throws shapes that are difficult to lift off the wheel

Question 3

Bisque

Answer 3

The firing in which the temperature is brought up to a point just before vitrification, usually at a low temperature to drive off water and harden where so as to facilitate glazing

Question 4

Bone Dry

Answer 4

completely air dried

Question 5

Calcine

Answer 5

To heat more or to need more heat

Question 6

Calipers

Answer 6

Tool used to measure diameter of forms

Question 7

Chuck

Answer 7

Any form that can hold a pot that Hass to be turned upside down and can’t rest on the rim; usually a part thrown for the purpose

Question 8

Clay body

Answer 8

A mixture of different types of clays and minerals for a specific ceramic purpose

Question 9

Clay

Answer 9

A nature, fine-grained earth like material, the product of geological weathering or aging of the earth. Root of the word clay is sticky soil

Question 10

Coil

Answer 10

to make clay objects by building with ropers or coils of clay

Question 11

Cones

Answer 11

A small pyramidal form made from ceramic materials and used to measure the heat work in the kin. Final firing temperature is designed by cone number

Question 12

Crackle

Answer 12

Decorative craze lines in the glaze

Question 13

Crawling

Answer 13

A glazing defect caused by dirty bisque or a glaze application that is too thick

Question 14

Crazing

Answer 14

The formation of a network of cracks in a glaze

Question 15

Deair

Answer 15

to remove the air from clay by passing it through a vacuum chamber

Question 16

Earthenware

Answer 16

pottery or other objects made from fired clay which is porous and permeable. May be glazed or unglazed and is usually buff, red, or brown in color

Question 17

Engobe

Answer 17

A slip. Usually with colorants added that is halfway between a clay and a glaze. It is usually brushed over the surface of a pot to harden the surface, change the texture, or alter the color of the clay can be fired as is or glazed

Question 18

Flashing

Answer 18

 The impingement of flame on a pot. Flashing often causes discoloration of the body or glazed

Question 19

Flux

Answer 19

Hey substance which causes or promotes melting, especially in a glaze

Question 20

Glaze Firing

Answer 20

The final firing

Question 21

Glaze

Answer 21

A liquid suspension of pine mineral particles that is applied to pottery and fired to its maturity to form a glassy surface that seals the clay and decorates the piece

Question 22

Green Ware

Answer 22

The unfired pottery also called raw ware

Question 23

Grog

Answer 23

Clay that has been fired and crushed in a variety of mesh sizes. It is added to clay to reduce shrinkage and to add texture

Question 24

Klin

Answer 24

A furnace for firing pottery made of a refractory and insulating materials

Question 25

Kiln Wash

Answer 25

A refractory mixture which is painted on kiln shelves and saggers to prevent glaze from adhering 

Question 26

Leather Hard Clay

Answer 26

Clay which is dried sufficiently to be stiff so that the piece can be lifted without distortion but is still damp enough to be worked further

Question 27

Maturity

Answer 27

The points in a firing where the clay has reached its maximum non-porosity and hardness and when the glaze has flooded and formed a strong bond with clay

Question 28

Oxidation

Answer 28

A fire in condition when the fire has sufficient oxygen to cause complete combustion free of carbon

Question 29

Plastic

Answer 29

The condition of the clay where it is neither to wet or dry to work with

Question 30

Plasticity

Answer 30

The property of a material enabling it to be worked and re-shade with crackling or crumbing and to hold its shape

Question 31

Porcelain

Answer 31

Ceramic ware made of white clay and fired above 2300F degrees. Hard and totally vitreous when fired to maturity. When thin the clay will be translucent

Question 32

Raw Ware

Answer 32

Unfired and dry pottery, also green ware

Question 33

Reconstructed Clay

Answer 33

used but unfired clay that has been allowed to dry it is then re-liquefied for reuse

Question 34

Reduction

Answer 34

The method of firing in which the incomplete combustion of the fuel produces free carbon monoxide, which in turn strips of the metallic oxide said the clay and closes of oxygen. This causes changes in color and texture of the clay a glaze.

Question 35

Refractory

Answer 35

resistant to heat and melting

Question 36

salt glaze

Answer 36

A glaze surface that forms on pots by introducing rocksalt into the kiln at a high temperature

Question 37

Shards

Answer 37

Bits of broken pottery or kiln shelf

Question 38

Slab

Answer 38

A method of hand building with a great variety of uses in which the clay is either rolled out with a rolling pin or sliced with a wire or tossed into sheets that are then used to construct a form

Question 39

slake

Answer 39

to moisten clay with water

Question 40

slurry

Answer 40

a mixture of plastic clay and water

Question 41

stoneware

Answer 41

Pottery or other ceramics fired at a relatively high temperature, objects made from fired clay which is dense and vitrified. Fired at temperatures between 2100F and 2300F degrees. May be dark or light in color, but is not translucent. Closer to porcelain than earthenware, it is more plastic and depends upon its impurities for color and texture.

Question 42

Throw

Answer 42

To form clay on the potters wheel

Question 43

tooth

Answer 43

Roughness in a clay. Course grain structure

Question 44

Viscosity

Answer 44

The relative resistance of a liquid to stirring or movement

Question 45

Vitrify

Answer 45

To fire to the point of forming a glassy structure within the clay

Question 46

Wedging

Answer 46

Freeing of clay of air and working a clay into a state of textural and moisture uniforming by an action of the hands and or cutting and pounding