1. Clay Vocabulary
Ms. Stanberry

2. Coiled Pottery
One of the oldest ways of forming pottery. Long strands of clay which are laid on top of each other and joined through blending coil to coil. Coil pieces can be almost any shape or size.

3. Pinch
To make a clay form by beginning with a ball of clay and inserting your thumb, continue to press out the form rotating the clay.

4. Slab Built
Clay slabs are cut to shape and joined together using scoring and wet clay called slip. Slabs can be draped over or into forms, rolled around cylinders or built up into geometric forms.

5. Score To mark on or roughen an area of the clay you wish to join.
Such as a place where a handle is added.

6. Wheel thrown
A piece of clay is placed on a potter's wheel head which spins. The clay is shaped by compression while it is in motion.

7. Free Form
The process of pressing and pushing the clay form around until you obtain the desired shape.

8. What Kind Of Clay Are You Using In Class?
Earthenware - A low-fire clay. Porous and not waterproof. To be functional, It must be glazed.

9. Slip
A fine, liquid form of clay applied to the surface of a vessel prior to firing.
Slip fills in pores and gives uniform color.

10. Glaze
A coating of material applied to ceramics before firing that forms a glass-like surface.
Glazes can be colored, opaque, translucent or matte.

11. Firing
Clay is hardened by heating it to a high temperature, fusing the clay particles. Primitive pottery is usually fired on the ground or in pits with whatever flammable material is available.

12. Kiln
The furnace in which ceramics are fired. Kilns can be electric, natural gas, wood, coal, fuel oil or propane. Materials used to heat the kiln can affect the work; wood ash can build up on the surfaces of a piece and form a glaze at high temperatures. Some potters introduce chemicals into the kiln to influence the effects of the firing.

13. Leather Hard
A damp condition of the clay when it is too firm to bend yet soft enough to be carved.

14. Bone dry stage No visible moisture – no dampness to touch –
Clay is ready to be fired

15. Greenware
Unfired clay ready or nearly ready for firing.

16. Bisque
Clay that has been fired once, usually at a low temperature.

17. Pyrometric Cone
The device used for measuring the temp in the kiln. Specific cones melt at specific temperatures.

18. Clay History Face Jugs from the View of Potter Matt Jones
Ms. Stanberry
Reference: Matt Jones Pottery

19. The Look
“I think people who are collecting these face jugs are collecting with a sense of humor or some romantic notion of backwoods carolina "folky" charm.  Face jug makers then respond and "play" to these notions among their clientele, and soon outlandish faces become the norm.”

20. “Personally, I find that I enjoy some of the whimsy in face jugs, but a little goes a long way.  I really like the brightly colored swirl on Charlie Lisk's face jug (previous slide) and the rather quaint notion of the devil's features on Javan Brown's face jug from ca ”

21. “The face jugs I like best are those that are restrained
“The face jugs I like best are those that are restrained.  The jug should be well turned and capable of being a nice pot without the face, and the face should not be so whacky that we forget that we are looking at a piece of pottery.”
 Burlon Craig

22. “I think Steven Abee's face pots push this right to the limit (see the pitcher at right in the group shot) His gaping mouths with fully articulated molars and bulging eyes are meant to provoke a response in the viewer.  I find them a little unsettling, but I think his potting skill is so sharp and the facial features are so consistent, that even these gruesome faces work very well.”

23. African Beginnings
“Most scholars agree that the first face jugs were made in Edgefield, South Carolina by African slaves who labored in the pottery factories there.”

24. “The exact purpose of the original face jugs is lost in time
“The exact purpose of the original face jugs is lost in time.  There are verbal accounts of slaves marking graves with face jugs, and although this information is anecdotal, it does suggest a connection with deceased ancestors.”

25. Face Jug Evolution
“In light of the anthropomorphic language we employ to describe pottery (foot, waist, belly, shoulder, neck), a jug's form seems to be a perfect abstraction of a head.  So applying the face to a jug can almost be seen as the punchline in the discussion of pottery form and human anatomy.”

26. “There is something tedious about making too many of them, yet potters who find them selling well would feel their absence financially.  Particularly in the Catawba valley of North Carolina, customers expect local potters to make face vessels, and the potters can expect to sell almost as many as they can make.  What used to be "whimsies" now drive the market with face jugs in the lead followed by roosters, ring jugs and other curios.”
Matt Jones

31. Zan Barns
at Riverwood Pottery
Sylva, NC