3D Design - Clay

Slab roller

Large flat table with a roller for making consistent clay slabs.

Spray bottle

Used for spraying ceramic sculptures or other works-in-progress.

Turn table

Decorating or sculpting wheel for turning work while working on it.

Glaze

A finely ground mineral solution painted on bisque ware.

Brushes for glaze

Specially designed brushes with extra stiff hair for applying glaze.

Kiln

A furnace used for firing clay.

Kiln furniture

Shelves, posts, and stilts used inside a kiln that supports clay products for firing.

Props

Kiln shelf supports.

Cone

A pyramid composed of clay and glaze, made to melt and bend at specific temperatures.

Rolling pins

Used in rolling out slab; also come with carved textures.

Elephant ear sponge

A specific shape of a fine natural sponge.

Hardwood tools

Boxwood tools with a variety of end surfaces for modeling clay.

Loop tools

Tools with ribbons of wire for shaping and trimming ceramic objects.

Scraper

Shaped piece of fine sheet steel for use in forming objects.

Potter’s ribs

Shaped pieces of wood or metal for shaping, smoothing wet clay.

Clay

Earth with special plastic quality that becomes hard when fired.

Clay body

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

Earthenware

A low fired clay body, glazed pottery fired to a temperature of 1,830 - 2,010 degrees Fahrenheit.

Slip

Clay mixed with water with a mayonnaise consistency, used in casting and decoration.

Plasticity

The quality of clay which allows it to be manipulated into different shapes without cracking.

Leather Hard

Stage of the clay between plastic and bone dry, still damp enough to join to other pieces.

Bone Dry

Completely air dried clay.

Greenware

Unfired pottery, ready to be bisque fired.

Bisque

Pottery which has been fired once, without glaze.

Glaze firing

The final firing with glaze.

Burnishing

The ancient rubbing process that polishes the outside skin of a clay pot.

Coil

A piece of clay rolled like a rope, used in making pottery.

Fire

To heat a clay object in a kiln to a specific temperature.

Glaze

A thin coating of glass that starts as liquid and hardens at a specific temperature.

Pinch

Manipulate clay with your fingers in your palm to a hollow shape.

Slab

Pressed or rolled flat sections of clay used in handbuilding.

Wedging

A method of kneading clay to make it uniform by cutting and rolling.