Traditional ceramics are vital to our daily lives and human evolution as a whole. Archaeologists have traced the beginnings of ceramics back thousands of years, from the use of beautiful figurines to the storage of grains in ceramic jars. Here, we’ll talk about the history of ceramics, how it can be used in the real world, the different kinds of ceramics, and how to learn them.
Combining naturally existing raw materials, such as clay, earthy minerals, and water, with handbuilding, wheel-throwing, or mold-casting procedures yields ceramic products. After being molded, the piece is fired at a high temperature in a kiln. By being fired, ceramics become hardened and resistant to heat. Ceramic artifacts are utilized as construction materials, dinnerware, and decorative sculpture, among other things.
The term “ceramic” can be used as an adjective or a noun to describe a burned clay object. There are various processes employed in ceramics, depending on the intended end product. Using slab, coiling, and pinching processes, ceramic items can be made by hand. Potters also use the wheel to make symmetrical pottery and the slip casting process to make multiples of the same object.
Common examples are earthenware, stoneware, porcelain, and bone china. Clay is one of the widely available raw materials for creating ceramic objects. Different types of clay and combinations of clay with different variations of silica and other minerals result in different types of ceramic pottery.
Earthenware is pottery that has not undergone vitrification, which is the bonding of crystalline silicate components into noncrystalline glass compounds, during the firing process. This renders the pottery more permeable and rough to the touch. Before the 18th century, earthenware was the most common type of ceramic. Terracotta, a clay-based and unglazed pottery, is a common form of earthenware. Today, terracotta planters are regularly seen alongside bricks, water pipes, and other materials.
Stoneware is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic, which means it is enameled to make it appear glassy and impermeable. Stoneware is fired at higher temperatures than other ceramics. Due to imperfections in the clay, it is typically a color similar to earth and is typically glazed.
To manufacture porcelain ceramics, materials, mainly kaolin clay, are fired between 2,200 and 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit in a kiln. In comparison to other ceramics, porcelain is exceptionally heat-resistant and durable. This is the result of vitrification and the formation of mullite, a silicate mineral, after burning. Porcelain ceramics offer a wide range of products, such as tiles for the bathroom and kitchen, kitchenware, and sculptures for decoration.
Bone china, often known as “fine china,” is a form of porcelain characterized by its translucence, great strength, and resistance to chipping. It is composed of bone ash, feldspathic material, and kaolin, and was created circa 1800 by the English ceramist Josiah Spode. Bone china ceramics can be fashioned thinner than porcelain due to the material’s superior strength. Due to the varying mineral characteristics, it is vitrified but translucent.
The earliest discovered pottery dates back to at least 25,000 B.C. These animal and human-shaped clay figures were discovered by archaeologists in Czechoslovakia. They were manufactured from a mixture of animal fat, bone, bone ash, and clay and burned at low temperatures around 1000 degrees Fahrenheit in ground kilns or simply sun-dried to solidify.
The earliest practical ceramic pots were likely used to store food, grains, and water and date back to approximately 9,000 B.C. During this time, more people in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe lived in small farming villages.
Generally simple in pattern and texture and fired without glazes, the earliest ceramics were characterized by their simplicity. In the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., Greek Attic vases displayed the earliest documented use of oxidizing and reducing atmospheres during fire to create surface patterns and a range of hues.
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