8th grade students in ceramic class have been practicing their hand-building techniques with clay. They have made slabs with textures and created houses and boxes with lids out of slabs. They are now working on pinch pots, creating pots and bowls with an interesting lip and foot. Some of the vocabulary words they have been working with are:
Kiln: the oven that fires the kiln, can get up to 3000 degrees F.
Greenware: clay that is new and wet
Leather-hard: clay that is somewhat dry, but can still be manipulated slightly
Dry clay: clay that has been left out to air dry
Bisque: clay that has gone through the kiln once, and has been forever changed from clay to stone
Glazed: clay that has a surface decoration of glaze that gives it a glass finish. Clay has been through the kiln two times.
Slip and Score: using lines and wet slip to connect two pieces of clay
Thick as your Thumb: the maximum thickness you can make your clay without it blowing up in the kiln.
Wedge: to get the air bubbles out of clay by pushing or throwing the clay onto a hard surface
to learn more about clay techniques, go to: http://pottery.about.com/od/handbuildingtechniques/tp/basicover.htm