Enhance your Pottery Vocabulary
Bat - Any slab used as a base for throwing or hand-building clay: also applies to a trough used to dry slurry clay to the plastic state: usually made of plaster, press board, plywood, or other porous material.
Bisque, Biscuit – Unglazed, but fired ware, usually accomplished in a low temperature firing prior to a glaze fire; also applies to unglazed ware fired high, as in porcelain bisque.
Body – A combination of natural clays and non-plastics, especially formulated to have certain workability and firing characteristics.
Burnishing – Polishing with a smooth stone or tool on leather-hard clay or slip to make a surface sheen; the surface will not stay shiny at temperatures above 2000 F (1100 C)
Ceramics – Art and science of forming objects from earth materials containing or combined with silica, produced with the aid of heat treatment at 1300 F (700 C) or more.
Clay- Earth materials formed by the decomposition of igneous rock; when combined with water, clay is plastic enough to be shaped: when subject to red heat or above, it becomes dense and rock-like.
Coiling, Coil Building – Age-old method of constructing hollow forms by rolling and attaching ropes of soft clay.
Firing – Heating in a kiln to the required temperature for clay or glaze, at least to red heat, 1300 F (700 C). Bonfiring in a pit or on the ground.
Foot – Base or bottom of a piece.
Glaze – Glassy melted coating developed by chemicals and heat on a clay or metal surface. Glaze provides decoration and color, prevents some penetration of liquids or acids, and yields a matt or glossy, functional surface.
Grog – Crushed or ground-up fired clay, purchased commercially or made by the potter; used to reduce shrinkage, it yields texture; aids in even drying and firing.
Kiln – Furnace for firing clay, slumping glass, or melting enamels; studio kilns can achieve temperatures up to 2500 F (1370 C). They can be fueled carbonaceously, organically, or electrically.
Pinching – Moving and shaping clay with the fingers.
Pottery – A loosely used term; often means earthenware or just any clay piece that has been fired.
Resist – Wax, varnish, latex, or other substance applied in pattern on a clay or glaze surface to cover an area while the background is treated by another material or color.
