Clay Terms

2. piercing or cutting into a clay body to allow trapped air a place to escape
4. a fluid suspension of clay in water, used to join pieces together
6. when clay is stiff and slightly damp, no longer plastic; it can be carved, trimmed, cut or joined to other pieces at the same stage
7. using both hands to manually roll out ropes or coils of clay; the shape or form is built by placing coils atop each other.
9. rolling clay flat using a wooden roller and wood slats or a slab-roller
11. lightly scratching both edges, ends or surface areas before applying slip to join them together
14. squeezing the clay between your finger and thumb in even consistency
15. all of the moisture has evaporated out of the clay, cannot be carved and is very fragile
19. is de-aired, it has been mechanically kneaded to remove air bubbles

1. a clay form made by creating a ball and using the pinch method to create a 'cup' or 'bowl' shape
3. the ability of clay to withstand the high temperatures for melting glass
5. using both hands to manually knead clay to an even consistency, removing air so that it can be used again
8. while wet, it is malleable, able to be shaped or bent without breaking apart
9. clay reduces in size as it dries; the water inside it evaporates as it becomes dry and shrinks approximately 10%
10. any object made from clay, permanently retains its shape after being fired
12. after firing, it is permeable, meaning it has small cavities in the bisque fired product
13. a structure built to fire clay at high temperatures; used for both bisque and glaze firing
15. 1st firing that clay goes through; becomes solid yet remains porous
16. creating clay forms using only hands and hand held tools
17. 2nd firing; a coating of glass is painted on and the ware is fired again so that the glaze become permanently fused to the bisqueware
18. clay is malleable; easily shaped and manipulated without breaking or tearing and can be wedged to rework
20. a stiff, sticky type of soil material made mostly of finely grained.