Ceramics: A World Guide to Traditional Techniques

Anasazi bowls, Delft tiles, Indian shrines, Japanese Satsuma-ware teapots, English bird whistles, German hunting-scene jugs, Spanish zellij, Italian Majolica plates, Nepalese lamps, Romanian colanders, Danish stoneware teapots, French faience soup bowls, Moroccan tagines, Yemeni water pipes, Balinese roof tiles...the diversity of ceramics is astonishing.

This comprehensive survey of traditional ceramics is organized into eight main sections, with over seventy topics:

• The Raw Material—from the excavation and preparation of the materials to descriptions of the different materials available
• Forming Techniques—modeling, pinching, throwing, press molding, and many others
• Prefired Decoration—from appliqué and incising to impressing and sgraffito
• Firing—from firing in the open air to the ceramic types created
• Glazes—how glazes are applied and the varied kinds
• Unglazed Finishes—including paint, oil, polish, varnish, resin, and gilding
• Use and Function—from tiles, roofs, and bricks to lighting and food storage
• The Quality of Life—from tobacco pipes to ceremonial ceramics

Author Biography: Bryan Sentence, an inveterate traveler and educator in the fields of arts and crafts, is the author of Wood, Art of the Basket,and (with John Gillow) World Textiles.

The first worldwide survey of traditional ceramics including raw materials, techniques, types of decoration, and uses.

Anasazi bowls, Delft tiles, Indian shrines, Japanese Satsuma-ware teapots, English bird whistles, German hunting-scene jugs, Spanish zellij, Italian Majolica plates, Nepalese lamps, Romanian colanders, Danish stoneware teapots, French faience soup bowls, Moroccan tagines, Yemeni water pipes, Balinese roof tiles...the diversity of ceramics is astonishing.

This comprehensive survey of traditional ceramics is organized into eight main sections, with over seventy topics:

• The Raw Material—from the excavation and preparation of the materials to descriptions of the different materials available
• Forming Techniques—modeling, pinching, throwing, press molding, and many others
• Prefired Decoration—from appliqué and incising to impressing and sgraffito
• Firing—from firing in the open air to the ceramic types created
• Glazes—how glazes are applied and the varied kinds
• Unglazed Finishes—including paint, oil, polish, varnish, resin, and gilding
• Use and Function—from tiles, roofs, and bricks to lighting and food storage
• The Quality of Life—from tobacco pipes to ceremonial ceramics

Author Biography: Bryan Sentence, an inveterate traveler and educator in the fields of arts and crafts, is the author of Wood, Art of the Basket,and (with John Gillow) World Textiles.