This document provides an overview of ceramics and the ceramic making process. It discusses the different types of clay, the seven stages of clay from wet to bisque firing, and techniques for building with clay including slab building. Key points include clay starting at 75% water when wet and becoming workable at the leatherhard stage of 50-30% water, pieces becoming ceramic and fragile in the greenware stage after all water evaporates, and firing in a kiln bringing the temperature to around 1900 degrees for the first bisque firing.

1. Ceramics

2. What is Ceramics?
• Ceramics is the art of making objects out of Clay

3. Clay
There are different types of clay
Earthenware: This is a low-fire clay that is gray when wet and is
white once fired
–This is what we will be using

4. Seven Stages of Clay
Wet
Leatherhard
Greenware
First Fire
Bisque
Glaze
Second Fire

5. Wet Clay
• What do we notice about the clay at this
stage? Describe.
Try to build a tall skinny tower that stands straight
up
• At this stage the clay is soft and flexible because
it is about 75% percent water
• We do not want to build with clay at this stage
because it is too soft.
• There is no strength or structure to this clay
(falls over and collapses, gets stuck to things)

6. Leatherhard Clay
Now that you’ve played with the clay more,
try making that skinny tower stand straight up again
•After clay has been worked with and exposed to
the air the water begins to evaporate, now it is
only 50-30% water
This is the perfect stage for
building.
The clay has structure and
strength but is still workable for
change. We love this stage and
want our project to stay in this
stage until we are finished
working on it.

7. Greenware Clay
• Greenware clay is clay that
has been exposed to the air
long enough for all the
water to evaporate from the
project. It is made of 0%
water. In other words, it’s
dry.
-Once you have completed your project you will leave it
unwrapped so it can enter the greenware stage.
-Clay at this stage will hold its shape but is very fragile.
What you have made is not just clay anymore, it is now a
ceramic piece.
*This is the last stage in which we can recycle the clay

8. First Fire
• Once clay has completely dried out and has
entered the greenware it is put into the kiln and
fired.
– A kiln is a ceramics oven.
• Firing is when the temperature inside the kiln is
brought up to about 1900 degrees
(almost 4x hotter than a kitchen oven)
This is a low fire temperature; high fire is about 2400
degrees

9. Bisque
• Clay that has been through one firing in the kiln
is called bisqued
– This is clay that is
permanently hard.
There is no going
back to workable
clay after it has been
bisqued.
– The clay is now
strong, but
remember it’s still
ceramic- be careful!

10. Glazing
• Glazing is when you paint a thin layer of
minerals and glass onto a bisqued ceramic
piece. This will give your piece color and
gloss.
– Glazes look different when the come out of the jar then
they do in the end. Look up the glaze on the tile to know
what you’re using.
– You can glaze the inside and outside of projects but not
the bottom. If glazes are on the bottom they melt and
glue themselves to the kiln.

11. Second Fire
• After the glaze is painted on your ceramic
piece it will go back into the kiln for a second
fire.
– The kiln heats up to only about 1700 degrees this
time.
– This changes the glazes to their final look.

12. Building with Clay

13. Techniques
• There are four different techniques you can
use when building with clay.
–Pinch Method
–Coil Building
–Slab Building
–Throwing/Pottery Wheel

14. Slab Building
• To slab build you must roll out a piece of clay so that it has even
thickness throughout
• Then you score and slip the different slab pieces where you want
to attach them
• Coils should be rolled out and smoothed into joined corners for
added support

15. Recycling Clay
Clay scraps and unworkable dried out clay can
be brought back to working clay by recycling it
Clay is placed in buckets and left to
soak in water
Once soaked it can be wedged to
new wet working clay
Even if clay has entered the
GREENware stage, it can be
recycled