Ceramics Terms and Definitions

Bat - A flat disc made out of plaster, wood, or plastic which is affixed to the wheel head
with clay or pins. Bats are used to throw pieces on that would be difficult to lift off the
wheel head.

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.

Burnishing - The ancient rubbing process of burnishing polishes the outside skin of a
clay pot while greatly reducing its porosity.

Centering - Technique to move the clay in to a symmetrical rotating axis in the middle of
a wheel head so you can throw it.

Clay body - A mixture of different types of clays and minerals for a specific ceramic
purpose. For example, Porcelain is a translucent white clay body.

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

Compress - Pushing the clay down and together, forcing the particles of clay closer.

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
electric kilns it shuts off a kiln setter.

Crazing - The cracking of a glaze on a fired pot. It is the result of the glaze shrinking
more than the clay body in cooling process.

Crawling - A bare spot (from the shrinking of a glaze) on a finished piece where oil or
grease prevents the glaze from adhering to pottery.

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 or also white.

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

Foot - Base of a ceramic form.

Glaze - A thin coating of glass. An impervious silicate coating 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.

Kiln - A furnace of refractory clay bricks for firing pottery and for fusing glass.

Kiln Wash - Mixture of Kaolin, flint and water. It is painted on one side of the kiln
shelves to separate any glaze drips from the shelf.

Leather Hard - Stage of the clay between plastic and bone dry. Clay is still damp
enough to join it to other pieces using slip. For example, this is the stage handles are
applied to mugs.

Pinch - Manipulate clay with your fingers in your palm to a hollow shape. Pinch pots are
a popular beginners project.

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.

Potters Wheel - A device with either a manual (foot powered) or an electric rotating
wheel head used to sit at and make pottery forms.

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.

Slip - Clay mixed with water with a mayonnaise consistency. Used in casting and
decoration.

Slurry - A thick slip.

Stacking - Load a kiln to hold the maximum number of pieces.

Stoneware - All ceramic wear fired between 2,100 and 2,300 degrees.

Throwing - Creating ceramic shapes on the potter’s wheel

Vitrification - The firing of pottery to the point of glossification.

Wedging - A method of kneading clay to make it homogenous by cutting and rolling.

Ceramics Glossary of Terms
Absorbency- the ability of a material to soak up water.

Ball clay- an extremely fine-grained, plastic, sedimentary clay. It is usually added to

clay bodies to increase plasticity.

Bisque- unglazed ware fired to a temperature sufficient to harden but not mature the
body.

Bisque fire- preliminary firing to harden the body, usually at about cone 010, prior to
glazing and subsequent glaze firing.

Clay- a decomposed granite-type rock. To be classified as a clay, the decomposed rock

must have fine particles so that it will be plastic. Pure clay is expressed chemically as
Al2O3:2SiO2:2H2O.

Coiling- a hand method of forming pottery by building up the walls with rope like rolls
of clay and then smoothing over the joints.

Crawling- separation of a glaze coating from the clay body during firing resulting in
exposed areas of unglazed clay.

Crazing- an undesirable and excessive crackle in the glaze, which penetrates through the
glaze to the clay body. (see crackle glaze)

Dipping- glazing pottery by immersing it in a large vat of glaze.

Dryfoot- to clean the bottom of a glazed piece before firing.

Earthenware- low-fire pottery (below cone 03), usually red or tan in color with an
absorbency to from 5 to 20 percent.

Flux- lowest melting compound in a glaze, such as lead, borax, soda ash, or lime, and
including the potash or soda contained in the feldspar. The flux combines easily with
silica and thereby helps higher-melting alumina-silica compounds to form a glass.

Foot- the ring like base of a ceramic piece, usually formed by tooling the excess clay.

Glaze- a liquid suspension of finely ground minerals, that after being applied to the
bisque-fired clay form and heated to the proper temperature, melt to form a glassy
coating on the clay surface.

Glaze fire- a firing cycle to the temperature at which the glaze materials will melt to
form a glasslike surface coating. This is usually at the point of maximum body maturity,
and is usually considerably higher than the bisque fire.
Greenware- pottery that has not been bisque fired.

Grog- hard-fired clay that has been crushed or ground to various particle sizes. It is used
to open up a clay body and to reduce shrinkage. it is added to throwing bodies to help the
clay stand up.

Kaolin- pure clay, also known as china clay. It is used in glazes and clay bodies and fires
pure white.

Kiln- a furnace made of refractory clay materials for firing ceramic products.

Kiln furniture- refractory shelves and posts upon which ceramic ware is placed while
being fired in the kiln.

Leather hard- the condition of the clay when most of the moisture has left the body but
when it is still plastic enough to be carved or joined.

Oxidation- a firing which takes place with sufficient oxygen for complete combustion.

Plasticity- the quality of clay that allows it to be manipulated and still maintain its shape
without cracking or sagging.

Porcelain- a hard, non-absorbent clay body, white or gray in color, that rings when
struck.

Pyrometer- an instrument for measuring heat at high temperatures.

Pyrometric cones- small triangular cones made of ceramic materials that are
compounded to bend and melt at specific temperatures, thus enabling the potter to
determine when the firing is complete.

Reduction- a firing using insufficient oxygen which results in color changes in the clay
body and glazes.

Refractory- the quality of resisting the effects of high temperatures; also materials, high
in alumina and silica, used for making kiln insulation and furniture.

Sgraffito- decoration achieved by scratching through a colored slip or a glaze to show the
contrasting body color beneath.

Short- descriptive of a clay or clay body lacking in plasticity.

Shrinkage- contraction of the clay in either drying or firing.

Slab construction- a hand-building method in which forms are created by joining flat
pieces of clay which have been rolled with a rolling pin or slab roller.
Slip- a clay in a liquid suspension.

Stoneware- a high-fire ware (above cone 6) with slight or no absorbency.

Terra-cotta- an earthenware body, generally red in color and containing grog. It is the
common body type for ceramic sculpture.

Throwing- forming plastic clay on the potter's wheel.

Vitreous- pertaining to the hard, glassy, non-absorbent quality of a body or glaze.

Warping- distortion of the form in drying or firing.

Wedging- kneading plastic clay with the hands in a rocking spiral motion which forces
out trapped air and develops a uniform texture.
Elements of Art:
Line: the path of a point made by a drawing utensil: also the quality of a line (thick or thin, mechanical or
whimsical)

Color: element that identifies natural or manufactured objects as being red, yellow, blue or a mixture of
these colors

Value: the lightness or darkness of an area in a work of art

Shape: 2D objects (circle, square, etc.)

Form: 3D objects (sphere, cube, etc.)

Space: indicates areas in a drawing (positive and negative), or the feeling of depth in a 2D work of art

Texture: refers to the surface of a work of art, whether it is rough, smooth, soft, etc.

Principles of Design:
Balance: refers to the equalization of elements in a work: 3 types:
Symmetrical: (formal) same or similar on each side
Asymmetrical: (informal) two sides are equally weighted but not identical
Radial: design based on a circle; with features radiating from a central point.

Unity: relates to the sense of oneness or wholeness

Contrast: differences in value, colors, texture, and other elements in a work to achieve

Emphasis: using size, shape or contrasting colors or other means to place attention on certain areas or
objects

Pattern: repetition created by combinations of elements such as lines, colors, shapes, etc.

Movement: the arrangement of parts in a work to lead the viewers eye around a work of art.

Rhythm: a type of movement in a work, often created by repeated elements such as shape or color.