Intro to Clay: Basic Concepts and Vocabulary Ceramics 9-12

Needle Tool Wood Modeling Tool Sponge Metal Rib Loop Tools Wire Cutter Wooden Rib

Hand-building Technique- PINCH Using your fingers to pinch and shape the clay.

Pinch Pot Pinching is a pottery technique fundamental to manipulating clay. Making a pinch pot consists of pressing the thumb into a ball of clay, and drawing the clay out into a pot by repeatedly squeezing the clay between the thumb and fingers.  

Pinch Pots

Hand Building Technique- COIL Rolled out, snake like, pieces of clay that are added to each other to create a larger clay form.

Coil Construction Coils are long, snake-like ropes of clay that are used in making pottery. It involves building the walls of a form with a series of coils into the required shape. The surface can either remain coil-textured or they can be smoothed.

Coil Ceramics

Hand building Technique- SLAB Using flat sheets of clay to build with clay. Can be thrown or rolled out by hand, or made with the slab roller.

Slab Construction A pottery technique in which a form is built up by joining shapes cut from thick sheets of damp clay.

Slab Ceramics

Joining Clay: Slip and Score Score- Using a tool to scratch and hatch over clay Slip - A liquid form of clay. Slip and Score- Using slip as a “clay cement” between two scored pieces of clay.

Throwing on the Wheel Clay can be “thrown” or formed on a potter’s wheel. This will generally produce cylindrical forms.

Wheel Thrown Pottery

Decorating Methods Glaze: a glass coating that is especially made to stick onto ceramic surfaces Underglaze: colored slips applied beneath a glaze layer Stain: raw pigments, can be water or acrylic base Burnishing: rearranging and compressing clay particles by rubbing the surface of a clay object until it becomes glossy

Kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, or oven, in which a controlled temperature regime is produced We have two kilns. Do not touch the kilns by yourself, and never open the lid.

Green Ware Clay that has not yet been fired

Bisque Ware A ceramic piece that has gone through a firing and has no moisture left.

Pottery Ceramic ware that serves a functional purpose

Stages of Clay Wet clay: soft/plastic clay Leather hard (greenware): clay is dry enough to maintain form and wet enough to be smoothed, carved, and added to Bone dry (greenware): clay has dried as much as possible before first firing and is extremely brittle Bisqueware: first firing where all remaining water molecules are released from the clay transforming it into ceramic (Why are air bubbles dangerous during a bisque fire?) Glazeware: second firing where glaze has melted into the ceramic surface, turning it to glass.

Clean-Up Hazards of clay dust: Solution: Silica particles = extremely tiny pieces of glass, which became airborne and easily inhaled….extremely hazardous to lungs Solution: WET clean-up prevents dust from building up and becoming airborne Use wet sponges, spray bottles, and wipe everything down.