Dinnerware Ceramics D - F

More terms used in the world of ceramics. Here are the most common terms from D to F.

Damper

A slab of refractory clay that is used to close or partially close the flue of a kiln.

Delft ware

Tin-glazed, porous bodied earthenware. Has a lead glaze made opaque by adding tin oxide.

Dry-Foot

To keep the foot or bottom of a pot free from glaze by waxing or removing the glaze.


Earthenware

Unlike china, it is fired at a relatively low temperature. It is not vitrified but is porous, opaque and not very strong. In order to hold liquids it must be glazed.


Enamelling

Enamel colours are metallic oxides made into to a fine powder with a flux added. The oxides are used for the decoration of glazed pottery.

Enamel Firing

A low temperature firing given to ware decorated on-glaze.

Englobe

Coloured clay slip used to decorate Greenwear or leather hard pieces before bisque firing. Clay and oxide and water.

Faience

A French term for any porous pottery body.

Feldspar

An ingredient of clays.

Fettle

Process where small flaws and imperfections are corrected.

Fire

The process of heating a clay object in a kiln to a specific temperature.

Filter Press

A press used to extract water from slip.

Firebrick

An insulation brick used to hold the heat in the kiln and withstand high temperatures.

Firing Range

The range of temperature at which a clay becomes mature or a glaze melts.

Firing

Baking ware in a kiln.

Flatware

Table wares that are more or less flat, Ware such as plates, saucers and platters.

Flint

Ground flint is mixed with some pottery bodies to control expansion in the kiln.

Flux

A melting agent causing silica to change into a glaze.

Foot

Base of a ceramic form.

Frit

A glaze material which is derived from flux and silica that are melted together and reground into a fine powder.

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