Essential Question: What are the 8 requires steps in making ceramic artwork?

Vocabulary:

Wedge, Greenware, Stoneware, Porcelain, leather-hard, bone dry, bisque, glaze, fire, kiln and vitrify.

The 8 Required Steps

STEP ONE: PREPARE THE CLAY

In the past artists used to dig the clay out of the earth in order to have good clay to work with. Today we buy clay from a local supplier in Dallas. When we get clay out of the bag it is ready to use, but we will also be using recycled clay.

Bins under the plaster table are used to place clay is too wet or dry and needs to be recycled. The clay from these bins are then put into the pug mill, mixed up, and then placed on the wedging table to dry out. Clay that has been dried out to the proper consistency will be placed on the plaster table which is ready for students to grab, wedge, and use. All clay unfired clay (greenware) gets recycled.

STEP THREE: FORM THE CLAY

To create pottery or sculpture out of clay we use many techniques, but the basic ways of building are pinching, coiling, slab construction, and using the wheel. We will be using all of these techniques over the course of the year. An artwork can be made by using one of these techniques or a combination of them.

​When working on an artwork keep your piece in a plastic bag to keep it soft and write your name with a sharpie on your plastic. Do not remove the plastic from another's artwork and do not touch it if it is not yours. Your work needs to be stored in your periods cabinet.

STEP FOUR: LEATHER-HARD CLAY

As the pieces you make dry the clay will get stiffer and will allow you to carve it and use additional techniques. Leather hard clay will not bend as well as fresh clay but is easier to get smooth and apply your finishing touches. Make sure to put your Initials and period on the bottom of your piece at this stage of the process.

STEP FIVE: BONE DRY CLAY

When your ceramic work has lost all of its moisture it is considered Bone Dry. Bone dry clay cannot be combined with wet clay because they will not stick together, so make sure that your piece is exactly how you want it before you let it dry out.

Once your work is finished… double check that your name is on the bottom and then place your piece on the tray to be loaded in the kiln. If your name is not on the piece I will place it on the “tray of shame” and it will not be fired until there is a name.

STEP SEVEN: GLAZE YOUR WORK

After your pieces have been bisque fired they are ready to glaze. You can think of glaze as liquid powdered glass and it is very different from paint. Once glaze is fired it will change color and become a glass like surface on your pieces. Read the label on the glaze bottle for the correct color. There are many different techniques used to glaze your pieces and you will learn these throughout the year. Once you are done glazing make sure the bottom is cleaned off and put it on the tray to be glaze fired. If the bottom is not clean I will not fire it and I will put it on the “reject glazeware” shelf.

STEP EIGHT: GLAZE FIRE

Once your piece is placed on the glazeware shelf I will load it into the kiln for firing. Remember… if the bottom is not clean I will not fire it and I will put it on the “tray of shame.” I will fire your pieces up to about 2300 degrees which will turn the glaze into glass and will “vitrify” your pieces.Vitrify is the process of turning ceramics into a stone-like non porous state by using heat. Once out of the glaze firing there is little we can do to change the appearance of your piece.