BASIC CERAMICS VOCABULARYby Jake Allee

CLAY

• Decomposed granite

• Silica and Alumina with

impurities

WET CLAY

• Ready for use, moldable and plastic

LEATHER HARD• When clay is wet

enough to join together but stiff enough to handle without deforming

• Stage when you can facet, trim, carve, and construct hard slab forms.

GREEN WARE

• Stage at which clay can be fired because all of the water has evaporated out of the piece.

• Light grey in color

BISQUE WARE• Fired once to 1800 degrees F.

• Ready for glaze application

• Can soak up water

GLAZED WARE

• Glaze fired (final firing)

• Vitreous – Can hold water

GLAZE

• Glass like surface on the outside of a ceramic piece

• Silica, Alumina, Flux

KILN

• Box or Chamber used to bring ceramics to a permanent state

• Electric• Oil, Coal, Wood

SLIP

• Clay in liquid suspension

• Used to join pieces together

• Can be colored and applied when clay is leather hard

EARTHENWARE

LOWFIRE CLAYFIRED TO APPROXIMATELY1800 DEGREES

Usually orange in color “terracotta”

STONEWARE• High fire

clay with a range of 2200-2350 degrees

• Usually gray in color

PORCELAIN

• High fire clay capable of temperatures above 2400 degrees

• White in color

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux“Portrait of Charles, Brother of the

Sculptor”

Gianlorenzo Bernini“Angel of Superstition and Angel

with Thorns”