potteryinfo

EXTERIORGUIDE

Pottery

Pottery is a type of ceramic material, which the American Society for Testing and Materials
(ASTM) has defined as "(a)ll fired ceramic wares that contain clay when formed, except technical,
structural, and refractory products." The term pottery is also used for a technique involving
ceramic, where clay is mixed with other minerals and is formed into objects, including vessels
generally designed for utilitarian purposes.

A Pottery is a facility of any size, from a modest studio to an industrialized factory, where pottery
is made. Where resources are available - raw materials, workers, transportation - groups of
potteries may exist. Due to the large number of pottery factories, or colloquially 'Pot Banks', the
City of Stoke-on-Trent in England became known as The Potteries; one of the first industrial
cities of the modern era where as early as 1785 200 pottery manufacturers employed 20,000
workers. The Potters is the nickname of the local football club, Stoke City F.C.. The same name
is used for sports teams in the one-time "Pottery Capital of the World," East Liverpool, Ohio.

Pottery production is a process where a clay body, clay mixed with other minerals, is shaped and
allowed to dry. The shaped clay body, or piece, ware or article, may be "bisque or biscuit fired" in
a kiln to induce permanent changes that result in increased mechanical strength, and then fired
a second time after adding a glaze or a piece may be once fired by applying appropriate glaze to
the dry unfired body and firing in one cycle.

With mass production techniques having replaced the traditional role studio potters have
focused more on the aesthetic than the utilitarian

Traditionally, different regions of the world have used produced different types of clay,
sometimes mixed with other minerals, to produce regonally distinctive pottery. It is common for
different clays and minerals to be mixed to produce clay bodies suited to specific purposes.
Pottery that is fired at temperatures in the 800 to 1200 [[Celsius|°C range, which does not vitrify
in the kiln but remains slightly porous is often called earthenware or terra cotta. Clay bodies
formulated to be fired at higher temperatures, which is partially vitrified is called stoneware. Fine
earthenware with a white tin glaze is known as faience. Porcelain is a very refined, smooth, white
body that, when fired to vitrification, can have translucent qualities

Techniques
A person who makes pottery is traditionally known as a potter. The potter's most basic tool is his
or her hands, however many additional tools have been created over the long history of pottery
manufacture, including the potter's wheel, various paddles, shaping tools (or ribs), slab rollers,
and cutting tools.

Forming techniques
Pottery can be shaped by a range techniques, including:

Handwork can be considered both the most primitive and the most individualized techniques,
where pieces are constructed from hand-rolled coils, slabs, ropes, and balls of clay body, often
joined with a slurry of clay body, known as slip. No two pieces of handwork will be exactly the
same, so it is not suitable for making precisely matched sets of items such as dinnerware. Doing
handwork enables the potters to use their imagination to create one-of-a-kind works of art.
These methods are often referred to as "handbuilding

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