Clay Vocabulary

The art of making objects with clay and firing them in a kiln.

• pottery
• ceramics
• mudwork

Heating pottery or sculpture in a kiln or open fire at high temperatures which fuses the clay particles and hardens it.

• Kilning

• Glazing

• Baking

• Firing

Clay that has been fired once, unglazed.

• Sculpture
• Greenware
• Bisque
• Leather-hard

A furnace or oven built of heat resistant materials for firing pottery.  

• Microwave
• Kennel
• Kiln
• Forge

The process of firing at a low temperature to produce bisque ware.

• Glaze Firing
• Bisque Firing
• Pre-heating

A glassy coating that has been melted onto a clay surface by the use of heat. 

• Glaze
• Slip
• Grog
• Ceramic

Clay with a lot of water added to it that is used as a sort of glue to hold clay pieces together 

• Grog
• Glaze
• Slime
• Slip

The firing during which glaze materials melt and form a glassy coating on the clay’s surface.  

• Slip firing
• Grog firing
• Glaze firing
• Bisque firing

When long ropes of clay of equal thickness are used to build a ceramic object.

• Coil method
• Slab construction
• Greenware
• Leather-hard

Hand-building technique which involves forming slabs of clay and connecting them with scoring and slip to form a vessel. 

• Coil Method
• Slab Construction
• Greenware
• Leather-hard