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Ceramic Definitions
CeramicThe art or process of making articles from clay by shaping
and hardening thru firing. Transfer Printed WaresTransfer printing allowed a potter to duplicate a pattern by transferring it from a copper plate to a ceramic vessel by use of a specially treated paper. John Brooks invented the process in 1751 and it was perfected by Sadler and Green in 1756. The ceramic vessels used were Porcelain and Earthenwares. A particular type of the transferware process was the use of a single color transfer print with the addition of enamelling in bright colors in parts of the design. This process is called Polychrome Enamelling. Another process is the decoration of ceramic items with blue under-glaze designs having a smudge or blurred apparence rather than a crisp, sharp and clean pattern. The blue colors bleed or flow onto the white body of the ceramic at the time the glaze decoration is fired. The resultant wares are known as Flow Blue Wares. They are found in Semi-Porcelain, Stoneware and Porcelain.ChinaIncludes Soft Paste Porcelain, Soapstone Porcelain, Hard Paste Porcelain. From the 1750's on, all manner of wares which ressemble imported Chinese wares whether porcelain or pottery.PorcelainA translucent white substance made from paste containing
kaolin and petuntse, vitreous and extremely tough, ringing with
a metallic, echoing sound like glass when struck. Includes all
translucent paste bodies. Bone ChinaPorcelain developed by Josiah Wedgwood in 1794 from a combination of china clay, china stone and calcinated bones to a middle paste between hard and soft pastes. The mixture can also be described as that of kaolin, feldspar and bone ash.Chelsea PorcelainSoft paste wares decorated in the Oriental Style or Manner of Dresden or Sevres. Known for rich claret and dark blue colors.PotteryEarthenware, stoneware and all other bodies which do not possess the properties of porcelain. Includes all opaque bodies.Relief Moulded WaresMolded wares with the ability to cast decoration on the surface. They were molded using earthenwares and stonewares.Sprig Moulded WaresThe process consists of pressing wet clay into a shallow mold, peeling out the resulting thin impression and attaching it to the surface of an item using liquid clay or slip. It was used on both earthenware and stoneware type bodies, the later being more effective on stoneware-type bodies which required little or no surface glazing. Bodies used include Redware, Black Basalt, Caneware, Jasper and Jasper-ip. Few proved ideal for mass-produced utilitarian wares. They were better suited to ornamental pieces and were successful for teawares.EarthenwarePottery made from natural clays which remain porous after
firing and must be glazed to make them non-porous. Fired at least twice at low temperature. Aagate WareEarthenware made of clays of different colors, either natural or colored with pigments, mixed and mingled to produce a marblized effect. Developed by Thomas Whieldon about 1750.Creamware(Queensware or Queen's Ware)A combination of cream-colored earthenware and a butter- colored opaque glaze, first made by Josiah Wedgwood in the early 1760's.Ironstone ChinaA Fine-bodied white earthenware with slight translucency which was developed by Charles J. Mason in 1813 with a Patent name of "Mason's Patent Ironstone China".PearlwareEarthenware made by Josiah Wedgwood from about 1779. It contained a large proportion of calcinated flint and china clay.PrattwareEarthenware made in Staffordshire between 1790 and 1830, named after Felix Pratt. Usually made in light-colored or buff clay, decorated under the glaze with a range of high temperature colors (metallic oxides) which can stand the heat of firing.SpatterwareA crude soft paste which was highly colored with lively freehand decoration. Found on creamwares, rarely on Ironstone.Stone ChinaFirst patented by John Turner of Lane End in 1880, and made by using felspathic stone or mineral which in turn produced a finely textured, dense, opaque body, heavy and durable with a slight blue-gray color.Terra CottaUnglazed earthenware made from natural clays which were fired but still stayed porous.StonewarePottery made from natural clays with additional vitreous substances such as sand or calcinated flint. The wares are rendered non-porous when fired and do not need glazing.Bamboo WareA dry-bodied stoneware first made in circa 1787 by Josiah Wedgwood and containing Cornish china stone.BasaltesFine grained stoneware stained black with manganese dioxide, fully vitreous. Developed by Josiah Wedgwood in the 1770's as a refinement to Egyptian black. Basaltes are twice fired.CanewareA dry-bodied stoneware developed by Josiah Wedgwood at the end of the 1770's. Decorated with bright blue and green and as of 1800 with red.Jasper WareA fine-grained white vitrified stoneware with translucent properties, being developed by Josiah Wedgwood in 1774. An applied relief in white jasper was added. Solid Jasper and Jasper Dip were two methods of coloring the Jasper.Also a colored stoneware body, usually unglazed, introduced
about 1775 by Josiah Wedgwood. It is close grained and can
be highly polished and worked with lapidary's tools. Colour is
either on the surface only, called "Dip jasper" or throughout
and called "Solid jasper". It is non-porous, vitreous fine
stoneware made in several shades of blue, sage green, lilac,
yellow, black and white. Other colors were used for brief periods. Raised figures and ornaments in white adorn a large variety of jasper shapes. Three color effects started in 1786-1790. MajolicaInvented by Minton in 1851, the wares were made from a fine body dipped in tin glaze and painted in brillant colors before firing, as well as being pressed and molded in high relief decoration.Rossa AnticoWedgwood's version of Red Stoneware in a better color, often engine-tuned.Return to Ceramics Information link Return from Ceramic Definitions to Home Page link
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