Art ceramics vocab

quiz on 3/11/2025

Plastic

The stage of clay that can be shaped and manipulated right out of the bag!

Leather hard

the stage of clay were most of the moisture has left the clay but you are still able to carve into it.

Greenware

unfired pottery-all the moisture has left the clay and it is brittle and bone dry. the most fragile state of clay.

Bisqueware

Ceramic ware that has been fired once without glaze.

Glazeware

Clay that has been fired after coating it with glaze . final stage of firing, waterproof and ready to use!

Hand building

a method of construction using only the hands and simple tools.

Pinch

A method of shaping clay by inserting the thumbs into the clay and lightly pinching around with the other fingers to shape a bowl

Coil

a method of construction where ropes of clay are rolled out and joined together.

slab

A hand building technique that is rolled out flat and can be joined together to build boxes or rolled and attached at the ends to create a cylinder shape.

wedging

A way of improving the workability of clay while also removing air bubbles by kneading the clay.

scoring

scratching the surface of clay pieces before joining them together (used with slip)

slip

liquid clay used like a glue to adhere two pieces of clay.

subtractive sculpture

to REMOVE clay by carving into it.

relief sculpture (additive)

A type of sculpture where forms project off the background by adding clay

glaze

a glass like coating for ceramics that is used to decorate

firing

the process of heating the clay to a specific temperature in order to bring about a change in the clay body, making clay hard.

Kiln

a furnace/oven built to fire clay at high temp.