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”