Vocab Quiz #4

Question 1

Air Brush

Answer 1

An atomizer that uses compressed air to spray a liquid. In ceramics, used for spraying oxides, underglazes, glaze stains, china paint, and lusters.

Question 2

Crawling

Answer 2

Crawling is characterized by bare, underglazed areas on fired ceramic ware alternating with thickened glazed areas. Usually caused by surface tension in the molten glaze pulling it away from areas of grease or dust on the surface of the bisque ware. Also may occur in glaze applied over underglazed areas, or low-fire porcelain bisque, or through use of a glaze solution containing too much gum.

Question 3

Decal

Answer 3

An image or a design printed with ceramic material on a special paper so that it can be transferred to bisque ware or glazed surface and fired to permanency.

Question 4

Dunting

Answer 4

The cracking of pots during cooling, caused by too rapid cooling of the kiln, by drafts reaching the ware as it cools in the kiln, or by removing the ware from the kiln before it is cool enough.

Question 5

Feathering

Answer 5

A method of making a decorative feather pattern with slip or glaze.

Question 6

Kaolin

Answer 6

Also called china clay. A white-firing natural clay that withstands hight temperatures. An essential ingredient in porcelain, its presence in large quantities in China allowed the potters there to develop their fine white porcelain.

Question 7

Kiln wash

Answer 7

a coating of refractory materials (half flint ad half kaolin) painted onto the kiln floor and the top side of shelves to keep the melting glaze from fusing the wear to the shelves.

Question 8

Luster

Answer 8

A thin film of metallic salts usually, although not always, applied to the glazed surface, then refired at a low temp in reduction. Modern luster mediums include a reducing material, so no further reduction is necessary, but the early lusters developed in Persia and brought to Europe by the Moors required a reducing atmosphere in the kiln to develop their characteristic sheen.

Question 9

Pinholes

Answer 9

Small holes in a glaze caused by the bursting of blisters formed by the gases as they escape through the glaze during firing.

Question 10

Pyrometer

Answer 10

A devise for measuring and recording the exact interior temperature of a kiln throughout the firing and cooling process.

Question 11

Quartz inversion point

Answer 11

The point at which the silica crystals in clay change in structure and volume during the rise and fall of the temperature in the kiln. This development influences the fit of glaze to clay body.

Question 12

Refractory

Answer 12

Resistance to heat and melting. Refractory materials are used in porcelain and stoneware. Also used for building kilns and kiln furniture, and in combination with other materials, as kiln insulation.

Question 13

Silica

Answer 13

Oxide of silicon, SiO2. Found in nature as quartz or flint sand, it is the most common of all ceramic materials.

Question 14

Slip trailer

Answer 14

A rubber syringe used to apply decorations of slip on ware.

Question 15

Thermal shock

Answer 15

The stress to which ceramic material is subjected when sudden changes occur in the heat during firing or cooling.