Test 1 Flashcards
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.
Clay
Alumina + silica + water
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 body
A mixture of different types of clays and minerals for a specific ceramic purpose. Example: porcelain is a translucent white clay body
Coil
A piece of clay rolled like a rope, used in making pottery.
Composite pots
Pots that were thrown or hand built in separate pieces and then assembled
Cone
Pyrometric- 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 electronic kilns it shuts off a kiln setter.
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 and white.
Engobe
Colored clay slip used to decorate greenware or leather hard pieces before bisque firing. Clay and oxide and water.
Essential properties of clay
Plasticity, porosity, and vitrification
Fire
(Verb) to heat a clay object in a kiln to a specific temperature.
Firing range
The range of a temperature at which a clay becomes mature or a glaze melts.
Foot
Base of a ceramic form
Glaze
A thin coating of glass. An impervious silicate coating, which is developed in clay ware by the fusion under heat of inorganic materials.
Glaze firing
The final firing, with glaze.
Greenware
Unfired pottery. Ready to be bisque fired.
Grog
Fired clay ground to various mesh sizes.
Kiln
A furnace of refractory clay bricks for firing pottery and for fusing glass.
Kiln furniture
Refractory posts and shelves used for stacking pottery in the kiln for firing.
Leather hard
Stage of clay between plastic and bone dry. Clay is still damp enough to join it to other pieces using slip. Example: handles applied to mugs
Maturing point
The temperature at which the clay becomes hard and durable.
Pinch
Manipulate clay with your fingers in your palm to a hollow shape. Pinch pots are a popular beginners project.
(Essential property of clay)
Plasticity
The quality of clay which allows it to be manipulated into different shapes without cracking or breaking.
Porcelain
White stoneware, made from clay prepared from feldspar, China clay, flint and whiting.
(Essential property of clay)
Porosity
The porous quality of the clay body is determined by the size of aggregate or size of pore in the clay mixture.
Pug
To mix
Pug mill
A machine for mixing clay and recycling clay.
Rib
A rubber, metal, or wooden tool used to facilitate wheel throwing of pottery forms.
Slab
Pressed or rolled flat sections of clay used in hand building.
Slake
To quench dry clay or glaze material in water.
Slip
Clay mixture with water with a mayonnaise consistency. Used in casting and decoration.
Soaking
Maintaining a low steady heat in early stages of firing to achieve a uniform temperature throughout the kiln.
Stacking
Load a kiln to hold the maximum number of pieces
Stoneware
All ceramic wear fired between 2,100 and 2,300 degrees. (What we are doing this semester)
(Essential property of clay)
Vitrification
The firing of pottery to the point of glossification.
Wedging
A method of kneading clay to make it homogenous by cutting and rolling.
Batch
A mixture of weighed materials such as a batch of glaze or slip or a clay body.
