Many terms are used related to ceramics. Here are the most common terms from A to C. The rest will follow later, so check back.

Ball Clay

Originally it was mined as lumps or balls, hence the name. The balls weighed up to 14kg. The clay is minedDevon and Dorset and has a plastic texture.

Bat

A flat disc made out of plaster, wood, or plastic which is affixed to the wheel head with clay or pins. Bats are used to throw pieces on that would be difficult to lift off the wheel head.

Biscuit Ware

Unglazed china that is not to be glazed but is hard-fired and vitreous. Also called bisque ware. Fired once to a temperature just before vitrification.

Body

Name used to describe the composite materials used for the production of any type of ceramic ware.

Blunger

A large vat in which raw materials in both liquid and solid form, the slip, are mixed together.

Bone China

The English form of porcelain. It is white, translucent and very strong. It consists of hard-paste porcelain plus bone-ash Bone China is famous for its translucency, strength and whiteness. The composition of bone china typically contains 45 - 50% cattle bone.

Bone Dry

Completely air dried.

Burnishing

Polishing the outside skin of a clay pot while greatly reducing its porosity. This final part of the process is done by hand, using a stone or a metal piece.

Cadogan Teapot

A lidless teapot.

Calipers

To measure the diameter of round forms this tool is used. To make the lid fit the calipher is used.

Ceramic

Originates from the Greek word “Keramos” - The art of making pottery. These days it is the general term for manufacturing articles prepared from pliable, earthy materials that are made rigid by high-temperature treatment.

China

The term originates from the country China as the Chinese were the inventors. In Britain, this usually refers to bone china but but is also used as the general term for porcelain. China consists of Hard-paste porcelain plus bone-ash (Calcium Phosphate).

China Clay

Derived from feldspar, it is the purest form of natural clay. It has a fine texture and, when fired, burns very white. In England it is mined in Cornwall.

China Stone

Also called Cornish Stone. It is feldspar less decomposed than china clay and is used as a flux.

China ware

Term used to describe the true porcelain exported from China.

Chinoiserie

Generic term used to describe wares using patterns with Chinese ornamental motifs, particularly those created by European artisans with little or no knowledge of Oriental art.

Clay

The essential raw material for ceramics. It is formed when rock breaks down under the action of the weather or by chemical processes- as in the case of china clay.

Clobbered Ware

A design produced in underglaze blue (often Chinese) to which enamel painting has been added. Designs printed with outlines for intentional painting in with either over or under glaze enamel are not considered clobbered ware.

Coil

Used in making pottery. A piece of clay rolled like a rope.

Compress

Pushing the clay down and together, forcing the particles of clay closer.

Composite Pots

Pots that were thrown or hand built in separate pieces and then assembled.

Crawling

A bare spot (from the shrinking of a glaze) on a finished piece where oil or grease prevents the glaze from adhering to pottery.

Crazing

Minute cracks in the glaze that occur upon cooling because the rate of shrinkage of the glaze is different from the rate of shrinkage of the body. It is the result of the glaze shrinking more than the clay body in cooling process.

These cracks can allow moisture and dirt to penetrate the glaze and discolour the ware.

Cross hatching

An engraving technique where thin parallel lines are used to fill areas of a transfer ware pattern. The width and spacing of the lines is used to adjust the tone of the resulting colour.