3-D Art- Essential Terminology

3-D Essentials:

Plasticity - The ability of clay to be formed into and hold various shapes. This ability is lost if the clay is too wet or too dry.

Shrinkage - All clays shrink in size as they dry and when fired. Shrinkage can be measured and planned for the fitting of separate parts of a piece. (lid on a tea pot)

Grog – Sand like particles of bisque fired clay added to clay bodies to reduce shrinkage during drying and firing.  Clay bodies that contain grog are known as Open Clay Bodies.

Ram’s Head Kneading – Method of condensing clay by tightly twisting it to equalize moisture content and remove air pockets.

Wedging- Method of condensing clay by forcing it into a cube shape to equalize moisture content and remove air pockets.

Score and Slip - Score and slip refer to a method of joining two pieces of clay together.  First moisten the area of the pieces to be joined together.  Next use a tool (fork) to rough up the area add a little more moisture and attach the pieces.  Scoring creates tiny grooves that allow the clay pieces to fit together and adhere with water.  The slip is created by moistening the clay.

Slab Making - A method in which forms are created by joining flat pieces of clay; the pieces are thinned and flattened with a rolling pin or machine roller.

 

Stages of Dryness - When speaking of clay, we refer to four basic stages of dryness: slip, plastic clay, leather hard and bone dry.

Slip – A mixture of clay and water to the consistency of cream that will not hold form but can be used as a decorative element.

Plastic Clay – Clay with balanced moisture that is plastic enough to be formed into and hold various forms.

Leather Hard - Clay which is dried sufficiently to be stiff, but which is still damp enough to be joined to other pieces.

Bone Dry - Clay that is no longer malleable because it has lost nearly all moisture also known as Green ware.

Green ware - Unfired pottery that is bone-dry, a state in which clay forms are the most fragile.