Ceramic - Pottery Dictionary

by Susan Mussi

CLAY - Stages.

ca: ARGILA - Etapes.

es: ARCILLA - Etapas.

Clay Stages
Cheese hard is clay in a plastic state that has dried sufficiently to be formed into a shape that does not alter or change when working on a wheel or lathe without the force of your hands and can be handled or moved, with care, without deformation.
Leather hard is when the clay is hard and the basic shape cannot be altered but still soft enough to give it textures, such as burnishing, scratching, scraping and piercing.
Dry clay is when the clay has dried completely; it is as dry as the air surrounding it.
Bone-dry occurs in the first stages of firing at 120º C and continues until it reaches 600º C when it changes to become bisque.