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

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

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

4. 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.  

5. Pinch Pots

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

7. 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.

8. Coil Ceramics

9. 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.

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

11. Slab Ceramics

12. 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.

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

14. Wheel Thrown Pottery

15. 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

16. 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.

17. Green Ware
Clay that has not yet been fired

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

19. Pottery
Ceramic ware that serves a functional purpose

20. 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.

21. 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.