Banding wheel: A pedestal disk on bearings rotated by hand, used to hold ware.
Bas-relief: low relief (slight variations in surface level)
Bat: a slab of plaster or fired clay used for dying out clay or as a platform for work in clay
Bisque: Ware which has had one firing unglazed
Bisqueware: Ware filled to an insoluble but porous state which expels all the water from the clay body; usually between cones 08 and 04.
Bone Dry: unfired and completely dry clay, brittle
Burnishing: Rubbing or polishing leather-hard or dry clay with any firm, smooth tool; tightens the clay surface and compresses the clay articles.
Coil: To make clay objects by building with rope or coils of clay
Crackle: Decorative craze lines in the glaze
Crazing: The formation of a network of cracks in a glaze
Dinnerware safe: Non-toxic, safety-tested glazes appropriate to apply to dinnerware (cups/bowls/plates). Check for “caution” labels.
Dry Foot: The foot of a pot which has cleared of glaze
Dunt: To break from strains in cooling
Earthenware: Pottery or other objects made from fired clay which is porous and permeable. Earthenware may be glazed or unglazed, and is usually but not always buff, red, or brown in color.
Engobe: A layer of slip applied to ware to change the color of the body.
Fettle: To finish or smooth the surface of leather-hard clay to trim off the spare from cast or jiggered pieces.
Frit: A material used in glazes and enamels which consists of a glass which has been melted, cooled, then ground to a powder for use.
Green Ware: Unfired pottery.
Grog: Clay which has been fired then ground into granules of more or less fineness.
High Relief: Dramatic variation in surfaces with raised areas, deep grooves, resulting in significant texture, and dramatic contrasts of highlights and dark shadows.
Kiln Wash: A refractory mixture usually kaolin or flint which is painted on kiln shelves and saggers to prevent glaze from adhering.
Leather-hard: clay which is dried sufficiently to be stiff, but which is still damp enough to be joined with other pieces with slip.
Luting: Joining leather-hard clay by slip.
Mature: fired to be a tight, hard, serviceable structure.
Pinch Pot: use finger, index finger, and palm of hand to shape a half-cyllinder
Plasticity: the property of a material enabling it to be shaped and to hold its shape.
Press-mold: clay pressed into negative relief (bowl, plaster cast)
Reduction: Firing with reduced oxygen in the kiln.
Sgraffito: the decorative process which employs a scratched line through a layer of slip to expose the clay body beneath.
Slab Construction: using sheets of clay which can be joined together to create geometric or organic forms
Slake: To moisten the clay with water
Slip: A fluid suspension of clay or other materials and water.
Throw: To make pottery by hand on a wheel
Tooth: Roughness in clay; coarse grain structure.
Vitrify: To fire to the point of glassification
Welding: Joining of 2 pieces of clay (most effective method is scoring and adding slip or water)
Wedge: To knead or mix plastic clay by cutting or rolling