GLOSSARY

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Tacky - Not yet dry or set. A sticky state of rubber before setting or curing.

Talc - Magnesium silicate used in various ceramic and pottery formulas as a binder for plasticity. The base of soapstone ore used in carving. The base ingredient of baby powder.

Tap Drill - Tool used to make an initial hole or indentation; used in mold making or wood sculpture.

Tare Scale - Scale used to determine tare, the weight of a material found by deducting the weight of the container holding the material from the total weight. Used with polyurethane rubber mixes.

Temper - Hardness of steel when the molecular structure has been altered by heat.

Temperature - Degree of heat an object or container can withstand, as the temperature of a kiln for firing pottery or rubber for casting resin.

Tempering - Process in which steel carving tools are hardened. Under heating treatment, the molecules merge to form a hard material.

Template - Device that copies an original, used as a master form.

Tensile Strength - Strength of an object beyond which applied pressure will cause it to break. Hardness of fired clay and cast plaster objects.

Terra Cotta - An orange red color in sculpture; a red clay with grog or a base color for patina.

Texture - Visual or tactile surface of a body or substance; the feel of a certain material. One textures sculpture in a cutting fashion.

Thermal Shock - Stress or reaction caused by heating. May affect clay when firing or steel carving tools when being tempered.

Thermocouple - Used in a kiln to measure the temperature of the interior so one can adjust it as required.

Thinning - Diluting a base component part by mixing with a reducing agent, as shellac mixed with alcohol.

Throwing - Producing pottery on a potter’s wheel (electric or kick wheel) by centering and forcing the clay to take a desired shape as the wheel turns.

Tin - Low melting alloy that is malleable at ordinary temperatures. Used as a component with bronze and lead. Used as a filler and bonding agent.

Tin Oxide - Powder polishing compound that creates a deep luster finish.

Titanium - A strong metallic element used as a binder in refractory materials such as in kiln shelves and posts.

Tongs - Tool used to securely hold a material or ceramic piece while working on it when hand holding it is not feasible.

Tooth - That part of a stone carving tool that cuts a small section; also known as the cutting part on a rack or claw chisel.

Torch - Flame producing device used in wax working and bronze casting; its fuel base is alcohol or propane.

Trailing - Adding a layer or coating of slip or glaze over a ceramic or pottery piece for decorative purposes.

Translucent - Able to transmit light, as in translucent alabaster, a carving stone.

Trimming - Cutting clay away from a piece of pottery or from a footing on a bowl in the leather-hard stage before firing and glazing.

Trimming Tools - Tools designed for trimming pottery.

Triple Beam Balance - Scale used in measuring gram amounts of chemicals and glaze materials for formulas. Most accurate commercial scale used in ceramics.

Tulons - Trade name of Sculpture House, Inc. Wooden tools for burnishing and shaping clay.

Tungsten Carbide - High melting ductile metal used in hardening steel.

Turnette - Small round turntable for working with smaller ceramic objects and sculpture.

Turning - Process by which a piece of wood is shaped on an electric lathe.

Turning Tool - Long-handled high carbon steel wood working tool used to reduce wood forms to the desired effect on a lathe.

Turntable - Platform, generally round, made of wood or metal that turns as one decorates pottery or ceramics. Larger tables on ball bearings are used for large pieces of sculpture.