Pottery Vocab

slip

a creamy mixture of clay & water used to join pieces of clay together, acting as glue.

Plasticity (Plastic)

the ability of a damp clay body to yield under pressure without cracking & to retain the formed shape after pressure is released.

Leather-hard

the state of clay when shrinkage has ended, but not all the moisture has evaporated. clay can still be scored & slipped during this time.

Bone dry

the state of clay after it has lost all its moisture and is ready to be fired.

Kiln

oven used to fire ceramic pottery or sculptures.

Firing

heating pottery/sculpture in a kiln to bring the clay to its maturity. fires at 1800 degrees and fires for 18 hours.

Greenware

includes plastic, leather-hard, and bone dry. fragile pottery that is ready to be fired.

Bisque ware

unglazed pottery which has been fired once.

Glazeware

glazed pottery that has gone through the second firing process.

Coiling

hand building technique in which rolls of lcay are made by using palms of hands to form round snake-like shape (like rolling out dough)

Wedging

kneading of clay to expel air bubbles and remove lumps (kneading bread dough)

Finishing

an extremely important part of the hand building process when the clay is leather hard and when pits are filled & the surface is smoothed.

Glaze

pottery material made from ground minerals which when fired melt onto the surface of the clay (shiny or matte finish) 3 LAYERS

Scoring & Sealing

process of crosshatching texture onto clay to rough up the surface area for a better bond between two pieces of clay (scoring). and adding slip to act as glue that bonds the joining of the pieces (sealing).

Sprig

attaching cut off shapes & built shapes onto the surface of a piece by scoring & sealing method.

Incising

cutting a design into surface of leather-hard clay.

Potters Wheel

horizontal-revolving disk on which wet clay is shaped into pots or other round ceramic pieces.

Centering

an act of forcing a lump of clay by hand into the center of the potters wheel in preparation for throwing pottery.

Compress

process of comparing platelets of clay together from each direction to prevent cracks.

Foot

the base of a piece of pottery (the foot)

Bats

rough surface boards used to work on that the clay will not stick to.

Needle tool

long, skinny, stainless steel pin used to cut clay.

Rib tool

wood, metal, or rubber tool used for compressing or shaping clay.

Ribbon tool

used to trim off large amounts of clay from a leather-hard piece of clay.

Wire tool

used for cutting clay.

Modeling tool

wooden or plastic tool used for shaping, cutting, or adding patterns to pieces.

Loop Tool

smaller version of ribbon tool used to trim pieces off of leather-hard piece of clay in better detail.

Sponge

used to clean workspace, make clay surface smooth, clean up extra water, and to design with.