Ceramic Terms Flashcards
Bat
A flat disc made out of plaster, wood, or plastic which is affixed to the wheel head with clay or pins. Bats are used to throw pieces on that would be difficult to lift off the wheel head.
Batch
- A mixture of weighed materials such as a batch of glaze or slip or a clay body.
Banding Wheel
A revolving wheel head which sits on a pedestal base. It is turned by hand and used for finishing or decorating pottery
Bisque
Pottery which has been fired once, without glaze, to a temperature just before vitrification.
Bisque Fire
First firing, without glaze. Slips can be used in a bisque firing.
Bone Dry
Completely air dried.
Burnishing
The ancient rubbing process of burnishing polishes the outside skin of a clay pot while greatly reducing its porosity. This finishing is done by hand, using a stone or a metal piece which is usually embedded in a wad of wet clay that perfectly fits the burnisher’s hand
Calipers
A tool used to measure the diameter of round forms, for example calipers are used to get lids to fit just right.
Centering
Technique to move the clay in to a symmetrical rotating axis in the middle of a wheel head so you can throw it.
Ceramics
objects made from clay that permanently retains their shape after being heated to specific temperatures.
Chuck
A piece used to aid the potter in trimming. A chuck is a form that can hold a pot upside-down above the wheel head while the potter trims it. Chucks are thrown and bisque-fired clay cylinders which are open on both sides
Clay
A MOIST EARTH OF DECOMPOSED ROCK; USED IN PRODUCTS SUCH AS POTTERY, BRICKS, TILES, AND SCULPTURE.
Alumina + silica + water = Al₂O₃ + 2SiO₂ + 2H₂O
Clay body
A mixture of different types of clays and minerals for a specific ceramic purpose. For example, Porcelain is a translucent white clay body
Coil
A piece of clay rolled like a rope, used in making pottery.
Compress
Pushing the clay down and together, forcing the particles of clay closer.
Composite Pots
Pots that were thrown, or hand built in separate pieces and then assembled.
Pyrometric Cone
A pyramid composed of clay and glaze, made to melt and bend at specific temperatures. It is used in a kiln to determine the end of a firing or in some electric kilns it shuts off a kiln setter.
Crazing
The cracking of a glaze on a fired pot. It is the result of the glaze shrinking more than the clay body in cooling process.
Crawling
A bare spot (from the shrinking of a glaze) on a finished piece where oil or grease prevents the glaze from adhering to pottery.
Damper
A slab of refractory clay that is used to close or partially close the flue of a kiln.
Dry-Foot
To keep the foot or bottom of a pot free from glaze by waxing or removing the glaze.
Earthenware
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.
Englobe
Colored clay slip used to decorate Greenware or leather hard pieces before bisque firing. Clay and oxide and water.
Extrusion
Clay forced through a die to form uniform shaped
Fettling Knives
These tools are useful in cutting large lumps of clay, cleaning edges of cast pieces, and in removing thrown work from the potter’s wheel.
Fire
To heat a clay object in a kiln to a specific temperature.
Firebrick
An insulation brick used to hold the heat in the kiln and withstand high temperatures
Firing Range
The range of temperature at which a clay becomes mature, or a glaze melts.
Flux
A melting agent causing silica to change into a glaze.