Ceramic Studio Vocabulary

3. material that melts clay and silica in clay or glaze
4. Silica, glass former in clay or glaze, Si02
5. uneven mixture of completely dry clay broken down into small pieces and added to water
7. the preparation of plastic clay - involves mixing and compressing. used to remove air pockets, mix clay thoroughly, aligns particles
9. DRY clay that is ready to be bisqued, easily broken and crumbly a this stage
10. commercially compounded colourants made to yield other, more subtle, colours that are otherwise not obtainable with straight oxides
12. HARD describes clay that is not wet, still stiff and cannot be bent without cracking, stage in drying for handle attachment and carving
13. used in mixing and straining slips or glazes, also called a 'sieve'
14. to disintegrate into water - simplest way of breaking raw clay down for future preparation

1. chemically made up of alumina and silica but is represented by term 'alumina', Al203
2. oxidized, in the form of powders to colour slips and glazes
4. simple glaze usually containing a toxic or solution that is fired to a glass, then crushed into a powder to be used as a flux in glazes
5. Cone 5-11. high-fired vitreous ware - as hard and as durable as stone
6. resistance to melting or heat
8. Cone 04-1. usually porous ware but can be dense and hard below 2000F
11. made of three main ingredients: clay, flint, and flux, shiny covering on pottery, usually applied after ware has been bisque fired
13. or engobe - clay solution usually containing 50% water, which may be combined specially or made from the same clay as the clay body, used under glazes or alone, rarely over glazes