EET Ceramics—is the art and technology of making objects of clay and silica (sand) affected by temperature. The word “ceramics” derives from the Greek “keramos” meaning burnt stuff. It was used to describe any material prepared by the use of fire, which included not only clay but also metal and glass (which in ancient times was regarded as a metal). During the last century, the term silicate chemistry denoted materials composed of silicate including clay, enamels, cement, glaze, glass, refractories, and abrasives. In the broadest sense the term ceramics currently covers inorganic nonmetallic materials produced by the use of heat. One of the most distinguishing characteristics of ceramics is their property of being modified but not destroyed by the action of heat and their resistance to water. Ceramic work is generally created by building with coils or slabs, pinching, casting, or throwing on the potter’s wheel. Pottery—is ceramic ware especially earthenware and stoneware. KINDS OF CLAY Earthenware—is often called “low fire” and is usually a white to red talc body fired to below 2000 degrees. This clay is popular in schools where the white body works well with bright colored glazes on decorative pots. Low fire is porous with glaze and clay body remaining in separate layers, is subject to crazing and is not as good for cooking as stoneware. Stoneware—is often called “high fire” and is colored clay that reacts well with earth- toned glazes. This clay is usually fired to about 2300 degrees making it vitreous (glasslike and non-porous). The clay body and glaze are partially fused for use as utilitian ware. Porcelain—is residual clay that is found where the parent rock, granite, decomposed into kaolin, flint and feldspar. It comes in several forms, China clay (kaolin) or hard paste first found use in China and bone China (made up of bone ash, kaolin and flint) developed in Europe. Porcelain is pure white, vitrified, and when thin, translucent. Ware is fired at a high temperature and is vitreous (glasslike and non-porous). Porcelain clay is non-plastic (short) and is difficult to work with. It is often mixed with water to become slip to be cast in plaster molds to produce shapes. Glaze—is a waterproof glossy surface applied to pots and fired to make them waterproof, sanitary, and aesthetically pleasing. Glaze is made of silica; the same material that is found in clay with a flux (a material such as lead) added that lowers the melting point of silica to below the melting point of the clay upon which it is placed. Glaze is colored with natural oxides including iron, titanium, manganese, cobalt, copper, etc. Slip-fine particle clay mixed with water that is applied on unfired clay as an under glaze decoration or polished as a finish coat. It can also be cast in plaster molds.Plastic state—is dry clay that has been mixed with water to a working consistency. ft can be thrown on the wheel or hand built using coil, slab, or pinch techniques or molded using press or hump molds. if more water is added to the clay body, the result is slip, which is used to attach pieces of leather hard clay or poured into a plaster mold, Leather hard—is the consistency of an old shoe, the first stage in the drying process and the ideal time for assembling and carving the surface. Thick slip (called slurry) is used to connect leather hard pieces together. Greenware—is the second stage in drying in which the clay is no longer plastic. Most of the water has been allowed to dry from the pot and the ware is ready to be fired. Bisque—(biscuit) is the ware after the first firing when the chemically combined water has been driven off. At about 1000 degrees, quarts inversion takes place and the clay is altered forever and can never be reconstituted to a plastic state even if soaked in water. FIRING Kiln--is the “oven in which clay is fired. It is often pronounced, “kill”. A kiln can be gas, wood, electric, or dung fired. The firing range is from about 1200 to 2400 degrees. The kiln can be a hole in the ground, a bonfire, a barre! drum, a commercial boxcar oven, or a series of chambers that climb a hillside. A regular oxidation firing is coxygen’rich with a bright, active flame. A reduction firing is produced by pulling the damper and restricting oxygen intake. This creates a lazy, cloudy flame. Colors ina reduction firing including the hard to achieve oxblood and Celadon. Pyrometric Cones are used to measure kiln temperatures that are often too high to be measured by ordinary thermometers. They are made of clay and frit that melt at a certain temperature and turn off an electric kiln or indicate when a kiln should be turned off. They range in temperature from a low of cone 022 (1121 fahrenheit) that is often used for gold and silver lusters to cone 15 (2615 fahrenheit) used for high fire utilitarian ware. At Pottery NW, bisque is fired to cone 08 (1742 degrees) and most glaze is fired to cone 6 (2246 degrees). Raku-—is pottery that is heated quickly to about 1800 degrees, tonged out when red hot, plunged into combustible materials and covered. The resulting burn creates a reduction atmosphere. The finished surface is often distressed and metallic and the clay is turned black clay by the carbon reduction. Raku ware has experienced thermo shock and is brittle and delicate. The Japanese word Raku comes from a Japanese character awarded to the first Raku master, and passed down to his heirs. Prepared by Cheryl Johnson for the Bellevue Provisional Docent Education Program