This is our glossary to help provide a foundation for beginners looking to understand glaze and clay chemistry terms. By familiarizing yourself with these terms, you can navigate the world of pottery with greater confidence.
Glaze Chemistry Terms
- Batch: A mixture of raw materials in specific proportions, prepared for a glaze recipe or clay body
- Bisque: Clay that has undergone the first firing to bisque temperatures
- Brushing: Applying glaze with a brush. (Explain more here…)
- Celadon: A Chinese glaze known for its jade-green color.
- Crystalline: Glazes that develop visible crystals during firing.
- Dipping: Applying a glaze by Immersing the pottery in a bucket of glaze.
- Fit: The ability of a glaze to match the expansion and contraction of the clay body.
- Flux: A material that lowers the melting point of a glaze.
- Glaze: A glassy coating applied to pottery to add color, texture, and durability.
- Glaze Flaw: Any unintended defect or imperfection that appears in the glaze after firing
- Glass Former: The primary component that forms the glassy matrix.
- Glossy:Â Glazes that reflect light in a mirror-like way, creating a shiny, smooth surface
- High-fire: Glazes fired at cone 6 or higher.
- Low-fire: Glazes fired at cone 06 or lower.
- Map (Stull’s map): A graphical tool used in ceramics to predict the behavior of glazes based on their chemical composition
- Matte: Glazes with a dull, non-reflective finish.
- Maturity: The degree to which a glaze has melted and vitrified.
- Opacifier: A material that makes a glaze opaque.
- Oxidation:Â The chemical process where a glaze reacts with oxygen during firing.
- Oxide: A compound made of oxygen and another element (like iron oxide, copper oxide). In glazes, oxides provide color and can affect melting behavior.
- Pouring: Applying a glaze by pouring glaze onto the pottery.
- Raku: A low-fire glaze removed from the kiln hot and cooled rapidly.
- Reduction:Â Refers to the chemical process where a glaze reacts with a reducing atmosphere during firing.
- Salt Glaze: A glaze formed by introducing salt vapor into the kiln.
- Shino: A Japanese glaze with an iron-rich composition and matte finish. (Learn more…)
- Silica to Alumina Ratio: The ratio of silica to alumina, which affects glaze properties.
- Spraying: Applying glaze with a spray gun.
- Test tile: A small piece of clay used to test glaze formulas and firing conditions (Try out CMW’s now!)
- Thermal Expansion: The rate at which a glaze expands or contracts with temperature changes.
- Underfired: Clay or glaze that has not been fired to a high enough temperature in a kiln
- Viscosity: The resistance of a glaze to flow.
- Vitrification: The process of a glaze melting and becoming glassy.
- Woodfire Glaze: A glaze developed in a wood-fired kilnÂ
Master ceramics terminology Ceramics Terms (downloadable flashcards)
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Loved learning about ceramic glazes? Want to go even deeper? Check out our Workshops & Courses, now available in Spanish, or YouTube Channel where Matt breaks it all down, myth-busting and Stull chart included!
