Pottery
...ery is called stoneware. Stoneware is the result of heating the clay at such extreme heat that it becomes nonporous. The third is a very unique type of ware that was developed in China. It is called by the Chinese kaolin. The West calls it china clay. Regardless of time or place, basic pottery techniques have changed very little except in ancient America, where the potter's wheel was unheard-of. The factors of making a successful piece of pottery are having the correct ingredients for the clay body by using balanced materials, skill in shaping the wet clay on the wheel or pressing it into molds; and, most important, firing at the correct temperature. The last piece of directions depends greatly on the experience, judgment, and technical skill of the potter. Throughout history potters have decorated their pottery with a variety of techniques. One of the earliest and most impressing of the decorating techniques is the act of cutting into the clay also known as incising. Another one is impressing, leaving impressions in the clay. Potters of the olden days from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Northern India usually decorated pottery with pressed in designs or incised ones. A very unique incising technique began more recently was some Korean potters making wares in the Koryo period (918-1392). It began as just very carefully putting extremely complicated patterns in to the pottery, then developed into inlaying the pottery with colored slip (semi liquid clay). Decorating using this type depends on the tools, and the skills of the potter. Another extremely popular type of decorating is the “scratched” technique used by the Italians before the 15th century. This technique was thought to have been taken from China. It was thought to have been taken from their because we first find evidence of it in the Sung dynasty (960-1279). This was the process of incising designs on red or buff earthenware. They first had to be covered with a ordinary transparent lead glaze, usually colored yellow. After the ware were fired they were then dipped into white clay slip so that a dark pattern could be incised onto the surface. Then they would cut through the white slip, to produce a design on the now exposed...