Pottery is the craft of making the ceramic material into pots or pottery wear using mud. Major types of pottery wears include earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. The place where such wares are made by a potter is also called a pottery. Pottery is made by forming a ceramic (often clay) body into objects of a required shape and heating them to high temperatures in a kiln which remove all the water from the clay, which includes the reaction that lead to permanent changes including increasing their strength and hardening and setting their shape. A clay body can be decorated before or after firing; however, prior to some shaping processes, clay must be prepared. Kneading helps to ensure even moisture content throughout the body! Air trapped within the clay body needs to be removed. This is called de-airing and can be accomplished either by a machine called a vacuum pug or manually by wedging.
Clay pottery India has an ancient history and is one of the most tangible and iconic elements of regional art. Evidence of pottery has been found in the early settlements of Mehargh from the Indus valley civilization. Today, it is a cultural art that is still practiced extensively In India. Apart from India, it is also practiced in some parts of Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. Until recent times, all Indian pottery has been earthenware, including terracotta.
Hindu traditions historically discourage the use of pottery for eating off, which probably explains the noticeable lack of traditions of fine luxury in South Asia, in contrast to East Asia and other parts of Eurasia.
Over time India’s simple style of molding clay went into an evolution. And a number of distinct styles emerged from this simple style. Some of the most popular forms of pottery include:
- Unglazed pottery
- Glazed pottery
- Terracotta
- Papier-mache
Now let us talk about ceramic. A ceramic is an inorganic, non-metallic, solid material comprising metal, non-metal or metalloid atoms primarily held in ionic and covalent bonds. The crystallinity of ceramic materials ranges from highly oriented to semi-crystalline, vitrified, and often completely amorphous (e.g., glasses). Most often, fired ceramics are either vitrified or semi-vitrified as in the case with earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain.
Now even that you know what these two are, many people still get confused about the two. To make things clearer, let me tell you that ceramics are made from a mixture of clay, water, and various additives that are shaped and fired. Simply speaking, the main difference between pottery and porcelain is that porcelain is translucent, or allows some light to penetrate, while pottery does not.
But if one intends to learn more about ceramics, then one must seek for online ceramics. You will find the types of ceramics and the history and utilization of it in the current times. I hope this article has all that one needed to know and the confusion you once had is not there anymore. So, now you could put this knowledge of yours to use.