| A | B |
|---|
| Armature | A framework used to support clay while building a sculpture |
| Ball Clay | Afine-grained clay that fires white or near whit |
| Bas-rlief | (low relief) Modeling of the clay that is raised only slightly off the surface. Can be done to give the illusion of three-dimensionality |
| Bentonite | A very plastic clay added to glazes to improve suspension and to clay bodies to timprove plasticity |
| Bisque firing | First firing of unglazed clay at low temp. |
| Bone dry | Clay that is as dry as possible and ready to fire |
| Burnishing | Rubbing leather-hard or dry clay with a smooth tool or the back of a spoon to polish it |
| Colorants | Chemical combinations (oxides and carbonates) that are used to color clays and glazes |
| Clay | A variety of earth materials formed by the breaking down of granite |
| Clay Body | A muxture of natural clay and other structurally compatible materials that make the clay workable and ideal fo rfiring at certain temps. |
| Damp | clay that is malleable and plastic. It can be shaped, bent, twisted, and sculpted |
| Deflocculant | A chemical that eases the attraction between clay particles, allowing the mixture to flow. |
| Earthenwater | Clay fired. Usually red or brown, and porous |
| Engobe | A type of colored slip applied to damp or bisqued clay |
| Fit | The act of clay and surface conponents shrinking at a similiar rate |
| Flux | A melting agent |
| Frit | A glaze that has been melted, cooled, and ground into a fine powder |
| Glaze firing | The Kiln firing that produces a vetrified or mature glaze melt |
| Glaze | A mixture of earth minerals mixed with water that produces a glassy coating on the clay surface when fired |
| Greenware | Pottery that has not been fired |
| Grog | Ground up, fired clay added to a clay body to reduce shrinkage and add strength |
| High relief | A sculpture whose forms rise so far off the flat surface as to be almost detached from it |
| Kiln | A furnace or oven built of refractory material for the purpose of firing clay |
| Leather hartd | The condition of a clay body that has lost some water but is not yet totally dry. Suitable for carving and joining |
| Matte glaze | A glaze that has a nonglossy finish |
| Maturing point (maturity) | The temp. and time in firing when clay body reaches maximum hardness and a glaze melts to the desired point. |
| Oxidation firing | A firing with an ample supply of oxygen to guarantee that complete combustion of the contents takes place. THis atmosphere allows the metals in clays and glazes to produce their ocide colors. Electric kilns produce oxidation firings. |
| Porcelain | A type of clay (or ware made from clay) that is fired very hot causeing the body to become very hard, white, and translucent where thin. |
| Pyrometric cones | Small, pyramid-shaped forms made with ceramic materials and formulated to bend and melt at specific temps. |
| Reduction firing | a firing in which the intentional reduction of oxegen results in incomplete combustion of the fuel. This causes carbon monoxide to rob the oxides in the clay and glazes of oxegen, thereby causeing them to change color |
| Sawdust firing | A type of reduction firing in which the pottery is surrounded by smoldering sawdust; a trench, an ash can, or a simple brick chamber is used |
| Sgraffito | Decoration produced on pottery by scratching through a surface of glazing to reveal a differnt color underneath |
| Slip | A finely sieved mixture of clay and water that can be applied to clay surfaces in one or more layers |
| Stoneware | A type of clay (or ware made from that clay) that has a body because of firing that becomes dence and citrified. Buff to brown in color |
| Test tiles | Tiles used to test the clay body surface and planned decoration material prior to firing the actual pieces |
| Terra cotta | A type of clay, reddi=sh in color. the name is sometimes use interchangeably with red earthenware |
| Terra sigillata | a fine slip used to coat the surface of clay. A good choice for sculpture |
| Underglazes | a material colored with stains or oxides that is usually applied under a glaze |
| Vitrification | The point at which a clay body or glaze reaches a glassy, dence, hard, and non-absorbent condition |
