Pottery clays and ceramic clays, also called moist clays, are virtually the same; they are all made with a water base and need to be fired in a kiln to vitrification to become permanent.  The primary types of clay bodies are earthenware and stoneware which turn red, brown or white when fired. 

Clay used for pottery is indigenous to only certain regions of the world and every manufacturer uses the same base clay. United States clay body formulas are generally a mixture of several different types of clay, derived primarily from clays mined in Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio. Small amounts of darker clays that make up a formula, such as Van Dyke Brown, are found in New Mexico. Clay mined in California has a gritty coarse texture and therefore, is not usually used in formulas. Fine grolegg clays from England are used for making porcelain clay bodies.

The earthenware clays generally vitrify at a lower temperature than the stoneware or porcelain clays. (Vitrification is the process whereby a clay body is heated until it becomes non-porous.)  Stoneware clays fire to a higher temperature and is, therefore, a harder material than earthenware.

 There are types of firing: bisque firing and glaze firing, both done in kilns at temperatures ranging from cone 014 to cone 10. Bisque firing is the initial of first firing of a dried piece of pottery or ceramic, also known as greenware, performed before glaze firing. Glaze firing is the second firing; glaze is a colored liquid material that can be matte, gloss, or speckled.  It is a silica that when heated fuses together and forms a glass-like coating.

Most of the tools that are used for clay modeling can be used for ceramics and pottery, but there are also ceramic tools specifically designed for ceramics and pottery.  They include: loop tools. sharpened steel tools used during the trimming and footing process; the needle tool used to level the excess clay from the top of a pot.  Fettling knives are great for scraping, cutting and removing dried clay from seams and other areas.  Toggle clay cutters, a 36-inch wire attached to a wooden handle at both ends, is essential to cut sections of clay in the wedging process and for removing thrown pots from the wheel.  Other essential ceramic tools are the elephant ear sponge and potter ribs.

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