The use of ceramics dates back as far as 11,000 BC and originated in places like Greece, Japan, Egypt, and Iran. Early uses of ceramics included carrying water, storing food and seeds, cooking food, and creating urns and sculptures to bury in tombs. Ceramics have also been used for jewelry. The document then defines various ceramic terms like kiln, clay, cone, greenware, bisque, slip, score, glaze, and tools used for shaping ceramics like the potter's wheel, turntable, and clay extruder.

1. ceramic
vocabulary

2. ceramic history
The use of ceramics is ce
ee
Gr
worldwide and dates
as far back as 11th
millenium B.C. Japan
Early uses of ceramics
were to:
• Carry water
• Store food and
seeds
• Cook food
• Create urns and Egypt
sculptures to bury
in tombs Iran
Turk &
• Jewelry ey
Check it out:
• http://ceramic-studio.net/ceramic-history
• Art of Asia: Ceramics - Innovations in Clay
at http://www.youtube.com/
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3. ceramic vocabulary
Kiln:
Oven for
baking clay
Clay:
Feldspar found
in the ground,
mixes with water
that becomes
kaolin=clay
Cone: Temperature of kiln
Pyrometric cone:
Piece of clay in the kiln that is
designed to melt when kiln
reaches desired temperature.

4. ceramic vocabulary
Greenware:
Totally
air dried
clay, unfired
Leatherware:
Clay that is
slightly rigid but
is still workable
Bisque:
Clay that
has been
fired once

5. ceramic vocabulary
Pinch:
Clay squeezed
between fingers
to form pot
Slab:
Coil: Clay rolled flat
Clay rolled into
snake-like pieces
m

6. ceramic vocabulary
Slip Score
Liquid clay in the consistency Roughen up
of heavy cream, used to surface of raw
create a bond between clay so two clay
two pieces of clay pieces adhere
to each other
Glaze Liquid glass that
is used to paint
bisque pieces

7. ceramic vocabulary
Scraiffito:
Etch into clay to
make design
Underglaze:
Glaze that
stays where
put
Overglaze:
Glaze over the piece
Matte glaze:
Dull (not shiny) glaze Crystaltex:
Glaze with
Gloss glaze: large pieces
Shiny glaze of glass
Texture glaze:
Glaze that looks like it has a texture
Stonewash glaze:
Glaze that looks like stone

8. ceramic vocabulary
sponge
steel scraper
loop tool ribbon tool
needle tool wood
modeling
tool
wire clay
cutter
wood
potters rib

9. ceramic vocabulary
Potter’s Wheel:
Machine which
spins clay as
potter works
to make a pot
Clay gun:
Clay extruder
that creates
spaghetti like
strands of clay Turntable:
Potter’s
Tool to
Pallette: spin pots
Clay tool

10. Sculpture occupies real
space like we do...
you walk around it and
relate to it almost as
another person or
another object.
— Chuck Close