Specifications

Clay - Earth that is relatively pure alumina and silica; one of the
material used in the manufacture of china and pottery.
Clay Carbon - Specially treated paper that will transfer a mark or
pattern to a piece of ware.
Clean-up Tool - Tool used to clean (fettle) the seams on
greenware.
Cold Spot - Area in the kiln that is cooler than the rest of the kiln.
Color Wheel - An arrangement of the primary, secondary and
tertiary hues and tones.
Combustion - The process of burning.
Complimentary - Those colors that are directly opposite each
other on the color wheel.
Composition - Arrangement of the parts of a design.
Cone - see pyrometric cone.
Cone Plaque - A cube of refractory material used to hold a
pyrometric cone at 8˚ angle for proper deformation.
Core Mold - This mold has two or more cavities, but all are
poured through the same pour hole.
Crackle Glaze - A glaze that has been specially formulated to
produce a pattern of hairline cracks.
Craters - Bubbles that break and set as the kiln cools. Some times
referred to as Fish Eyes.
Crawling - Glaze pulls together or beads up, leaving bare spots on
the bisque.
Crazing - Refers to a glaze defect of hairline cracks that appear in
a fired glaze. Can also be used to describe the hairline cracks
forming in a crackle glaze.
Critical Temperatures - Room temperature to 212˚F; 660˚F to
930˚F chemically combined water is driven out of the ware; 1000˚F
quartz inversion takes place; 1060˚F lowest visible red heat; 1650˚F
orange to yellow heat in a kiln.
Cross Hatch - Criss-cross scratched marks where two piece of
clay are to be joined. Also refers to the application of glaze at 45˚
angles to the previous coat.
Crystals - Specially formulated colored glazes that have been fired
and ground up into various sized bits that melt into a glaze,
forming bursts of colors.
Decal - A picture or design, usually overglaze color, sandwiched
between a backing paper and a protective coating; the decal is
slipped from the backing to the ware after a water treatment.
Decorate - To apply a design.
Deflocculate - To thin or increase the flowing quality of slip
without adding water.
Deformation - Bending of a cone or object.
Dehydration - Loss of water through drying, evaporating or firing.
Density - Proportion of plaster to water; weight of any fluid as
compared to the weight of water.
Divitrification - To take away or destroy the glassy qualities of; to
make opaque, hard and crystalline by prolonged heating. Glass
surface that has a wavy rippled quality to it.
Dominant - The most important part.
Double Pour - Casting the outside of a piece in color and the
inside in another color of slip.
Drain - To empty, as in draining a mold.
Drape Mold - A plaster over which a rolled out slab of clay is
draped to make free form dishes, bowls, etc.
Draping - To apply lace or other material to a
figurine.
Drybrushing - Producing a feathery effect by using a dry brush
with wet color; used also for animal fur. Can be done with One
Strokes or Acrylics in similar techniques.
Dryfooting - Removing glaze from the portion of a piece that
comes in contact with the kiln shelf during a glaze firing.
Dunting - Breaking of ware in the kiln from trapped air in the
piece or from thermal shock from uneven heating or cooling.
Earthenware - Non-vitreous (porous) body made from low firing
clays.
Earth tones - Buff, red, brown.
Egyptian Paste - Soluble sodium salts mixed with clay. During
drying a salt deposit is left on the surface of the clay, which makes
the clay self-glazing during firing.
Electrolyte - A substance which can have both a negative and
positive reaction; Substance which causes the deflocculation of slip.
Elements - Wires that carry the electric current that heats the kiln.
Elephant Ear Sponge - Thin, fine grained natural sponge shaped
like an elephant ear.
Embossing - Creating a raised design.
Emery Stone - An abrasive stone used to remove stilt marks from
the bottom of ware.
Emphasis - Making one portion of a design more important than
the rest of the design.
Englobe - A prepared slip which is half way between a glaze and a
clay; contains clay, feldspar, flint, flux and colorants.
Essence - Solvent used for thinning gold and lusters.
Etch -To produce a design with the use of acid or mechanical means.
Exfoliation - To come off in layers, flakes or scales.
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Glossary