terminology Flashcards
Review terms of Ceramics class for mastery
ADOBE
a surface clay used to make sun-dried bricks. Adove is not fired.
A naturally occurring iron-bearing clay that is used as a slip glaze or in glazes.
ALBANY SLIP
ALUMINA
Aluminum oxide, 15 percent of the earth’s surface. When combined with silica and chemical water, it forms clay.
a metallic element used as a flux in low-fire glazes. Also poisonous.
ANTIMONY
BALL CLAY
A very plastic clay that is usually white or light in color. It is used in many clay bodies and high-temp glazes.
A portable turntable used to rotate pottery while it is being worked on.
BANDING WHEEL
BASIC FORMULA
The baseic makeup of all clay: alumina, silica, water with various amounts of impurities
A slab of some material, often plaster or wood and usually round in shape, upon which pottery is formed or constructed.
BAT or BATT
BENTONITE
A slab of some material, often plaster or wood and usually round in shape, upon which pottery is formed or constructed.
a first fire in which the water molecules of the basic formula are burned off and the clay is left hard but porous. Usual temp. is about 1800 deg.
BISQUE FIRE
BISQUE WARE
Pottery or ware that has been bisque fired.
Condition of unfired ware or pottery that looks and feels completely dry.
BONE DRY
CERAMIC ENGINEER
industrial engineer who compounds clay bodies for single and esoterically uses.
CERAMICS
Making products from a non-metallic mineral by firing at a high temp.
The two water molecules of the basic formula. Not wet as most of us think of as wet.
CHEMICAL WATER
CHINA, CHINAWARE
a general term applied to white dinnerware that imitates porcelain but usually fired at a lower temp. Than porcelain.
The brilliance or intensity of a color, such as bright red or dull green.
CHROMA
CLAY
A hydrous silicate of alumina that may be found in in many forms, usable or not depending on the level of impurities.
CLAY BODY
A mixture of various clays and other earthy materials combined to meet specific needs of the pottrt
CRAWLING
Glaze separating from the pot and crawling down the side leaving a bare clay surface.
Glaze shrinking more than the clay during firing, leaving small cracks in the surface of the glaze.
CRAZING
DAMPERING
Changing the size of the flue opening, which alters the flow of oxygen.
DAMP ROOM, CLOSET OR BOX
A room etc. That is fairly airtight and capable of maintaing a higher humidity. Such as for greenware.
Burning off of the chemical water from clay; begins at 660 deg. and completes at 950 deg.
DEHYDRATION
DRY FOOT
To clean the glaze (before firing) from the botton, or foot, of a pot to prevent it from sticking to the kiln shelf.
Cracking of pottery due to stress; it can be caused by glaze defects, poor construction, improper firing and cooling, or a number of other factors.
DUNTING
EARTHENWARE
one of the three general groups of clay. a low-fire (cone 8-1) clay, pours and soft after firing. examples are red flower pot and red bricks, floor tiles.
A colored clay body used to make beads and other types of jewelry.
EGYPTIAN PASTE
ENGOBE
generally, a light colored clay body that has been colored with metallic oxides. It is applied to ware that is wet to give the ware a thin coating of color.
A granite-type rock that makes up almost half of the earth’s crust. These are silicates of alumina. There are two main types: potash and soda lime. each is used in glazes.
FELDSPAR
FETTLING
Trimming away excess or unwanted clay. A special knife is a tool commonly used by potters.
A refractory (high temp) clay most often used to make firebricks.
FIRE CLAY
FIRING
Heating a clay object in a kiln to a specified temperature.
The entire process of firing ware. The steps are water smoking, dehydration, the quartz inversion, oxidation, vitrification, and cooling.
FIRING CYCLE
FLINT
see silica’ one of the 3 silicas
An opening in a kiln to allow hot air to escape.
FLUE
FLUX
A material that aids or helps cause melting.
The bottom of the pot.
FOOT
GEOLOGIC WEATHERING
The action of natural forces like wind, water, and ice that causes mountains to crumble and disintergrate into rocks, sand, dirt, and finally clay.
A thin layer of glass that is melted onto a pot for decorative or utilitarian purposes.
GLAZE
GLAZE FIRE
A second fire in which the quartz inversion takes place and the glazed ware is vitrified.
A shiny, highly reflective glaze.
GLOSSY GLAZE
GREENWARE
Pottery or other ware that has not been fired. Can be wet, leather hard, or bone dry.
Clay that has been fired and ground to powder. It is mixed into a clay body to increase porosity, decrease plasticity and shrinkage, or add texture.
GROG
HEAT SOAKING
Stage of firing when a relatively stable temperature is maintained and the glaze spreads over the pot and smooths out.
The actual color of an object or glaze, such as red, blue, or green.
HUE
HYDRATION
The natural process of chemical water molecules attaching to other mineral molecules. In the formation of clay, water molecules combine with silica and alumina molecules.
The area between a glaze and the clay surface where the two melt together, forming an interlocking bond.
INTERFACE
IRON
The most common metallic oxide impurity in clay. they cause the red color of most earthenware and act as a flux.
Also known as china clay. The purest of natural clays. A chinese word meaning “high ridge”. basic clay used in porcelain clay bodies.
KAOLIN
KILN
A box, usually constructed of refractory material in which the potter fires his or her ware.
A special mortar, sold wet or dry, that holds the bricks of a kiln together. It becomes stronger when fired.
KILN CEMENT
KILN FURNITURE
The posts and shelves used in a kiln.
A mixture of kaolin and silica that is painted on kiln shelves to protect the shelves from runny glazes and drips.
KILN WASH
LEAD
A flux used in low-fire glazes. When improperly used, it is poisonous.
Condition of clay that has dried enought to be damp but is no longer plastic or malleable. The stage when ware is best trimmed and carved and handles applied.
LEATHER HARD
MAT OR MATT GLAZES
Nonshiny, nonglossy glazes.
The initial shrinkage of ware is caused by the evaporation of ______________ water.
MECHANICAL WATER
MULLITE
Aluminum silicate; the chemical name for clay that has had the chemically bound water for molecules burned off through firing.
A metallic oxide stain that is applied over a glaze either before or after the glaze has been fired.
OVERSTAIN GLAZE
OXIDATION
Burning off of organic materials from clay. It occures at 1600 to 1700 deg. F
Chemically, when oxygen combines with another element. such as iron combining with oxygen develops rust
OXIDE
OXIDIZING FIRE
A fire in which oxygen is allowed to flow freely through the kiln during the firing cycle.
Glaze separating from the pot due usually to improper application of engobes and slips.
PEELING
PEEPHOLES
Opening is a kiln through which the potter is able to observe the rrogress of the firing cycle. Also called spyholes.
Clay pot made by pinching or working the clay with the fingers.
PINCH POT
PLASTICITY
One of the three unique and essential properties clay must have. it is the quality that alloows clay to be formed and to retain the form until dry.
The microscopic particles that make up clay. Plasticity is determined by the size and shape of a partiular clay’s __________.
PLATELETS
PORCELAIN
A shite clay body, often translucent when vitrified. The primary ingredient is kaolin and is fired at over 2350 deg. F
One of the three essential properties a usable clay must have. Allows clay to dry without cracking or warping.
POROSITY
POTTER’S WHEEL
A rotating wheel for making (throwing) pottery. The two types in general use are the kick wheel, rotated by the potter’s foo, and the electric wheel, by a moter.
Similar to clay body
PREPARED CLAY BODY
PRIMARY CLAY (RESIDUAL CLAY)
Clay that is found in the same location where the parent rock disintgrated. China is a primary example.
A thermometer to measure heat in the kiln.
PYROMETER
PYROMETRIC CONES
Small three-sided pyramids about two inches long that are used to measure the amount of work the heat in a kiln has accomplished. Cones are set in a kiln where they can be observed through a peephole.
A form of silicon dioxide. One of the three silicas.
QUARTZ
QUARTZ INVERSION
Part of the firing cycle that happens at about 1000 deg. F. the quartz crystals grow in size and dunting (cracking) can occur. Dunting happens in heating or cooling happen to rapidly.
Earthenware developed in the 1500’s by Japanese potters, used for the traditional tea ceremony.
RAKU WARE
REDUCTION FIRE
A fire that is low in oxygen. The flow of oxygen through the kiln is reduced by dampering. The fire, will take oxygen from the clay and glazes to keep burning. This is to refuce the metallic coloring oxides and change their color.
Resistant to heat; hard to melt.
REFRACTORY
RESIDUAL CLAY
Similar to primary clay.
A method of glazing by throwing salt into a hot kiln. The pots glaze themselves in this process.
SALT GLAZING
SECONDARY CLAY
Clay that has been transported from its original rocky location by the action f wind and water.
Same as secondary clay
SEDIMENTARY CALY
SGRAFFITO
A decorative process. Colored engobes and slip glazes are applied to wet greenware. when leather hard, designs are carved through the engobe or slip glaze, exposing the clay.
Broken bieces of fired pottery.
SHARDS
SHIVERING
Flaking off of a glaze while cooling, caused when the glaze doesn’t shrink einough to fit the pot.
Also flint and Quartz makes up 60% of earths crust. is the glass forming part of glaze. Fluxed with lime and soda ash to make glass.
SILICA
SLIP
A liquid clay body.
A glaze that is either clay or mostly clay and is applied over wet clay and allowed to dry and shrink with the pot.
SLIP GLAZES
SPYHOLES
same as peepholes
The procedure of loading ware into a kiln for firing.
STACKING
STAIN
Colorant brushed onto bisque fired ware, or added to plastic clay.
A three-pronged star-shaped device used to hold bottom-glazed ware above the kiln shelf.
STILT
STONEWARE
One of the three general groups of clay. It is hard, stron, nonporous, and vitreous when fired. usually fired in the 2100 to 2350 deg F range.
The individual potter and or his product.
STUDIO POTTER/POTTERY
TERRA COTTA
An earthenwear clay that is red when fired. Terra cotta is most often used as a sculptual medium.
The method of making pottery on a potter’s wheel by manipulating the clay while the wheel is rotation.
THROWING
UNDERGLAZE STAIN
A stain applied under a glaze. The glaze used is usually transparent or light.
The process of becoming glasslike. This ability is one of the three important properties a usable clay must have.
VITRIFICATION
WADDING
Small wads or balls of refractory clay that are palced on the ends of kiln posts to level the shelves when stacking.
A term used in ceramics to describe pottery or ceeramic porducts at any stage of their development.
WARE
WATER OF PLASTISITY
Water that is added to a clay or clay body to make it plastic for throwing or modeling.
beginning stage of the firing cycle. As the ware is heated, the last of the water of plasticity is driven off. At time steam can be seen coming from the kiln hence the name.
WATER SMOKING
WAXY GLAZE
A glaze with a wazy or buttery texture when fired.
same as geologic weathering
WEATHERING
WEDGING
The action of kneading clay into a homogeneous mixture, compressing out air bubbles and generally preparing the caly for use.
A sturdy, heavy bench in a potter’s studio set aside for wedging clay.
WEDGING BENCH
