Banding (or Lining): a dinnerware decoration, either machine-or-hand applied, consisting of one or several parallel lines running around the outer edge of a plate.
Luster: a ceramic glaze coating, metallic in nature, which gives the finished piece an iridescent effect.
Matte finish: a flat glaze finish without a gloss or reflective shine.
Melamine: a chemical name of the plastic compound generally considered the leading plastic for making dinnerware.
Mold: made from plaster, wood or silicone, it is a shaped cavity to create clay vessels or shapes of plates, bowls and platters.
Open stock: an approach to dinnerware retailing in which the ware is sold in individual pieces or small groups rather than in complete, predetermined compositions or sets. Implied, also, is the fact that patterns offered in open stock will be available for an indefinite period following their introduction.
Ovenware: clayware that can withstand the heat of a kitchen oven without damage, thus permitting a homemaker to prepare oven-cooked food in it and then use it for table service.
Overglaze decoration: a design applied to clayware after it has been glazed.
Place settings: Commonly four to six matched pieces of dinnerware to complete a setting a single place at a table. A place setting often includes a dinner plate, salad plate, soup/cereal bowl, cup and saucer.
Porcelain – A high-quality, fine ceramic that’s smooth, elegant, and often translucent. It’s great for fancy dinnerware.
Porosity: the ability of clay to absorb moisture.
Pottery: can be used as a generic term, much the same as "ceramic." When referring to a specific ware, pottery refers to a very durable form of clayware made of crude clay and fired at comparatively low temperatures. It lends itself best to colorful, informal decoration and simple shades.
Potter's wheel: a round platform rotated either mechanically or manually upon which the potter throws, or forms, a circular shape.
Reject: a piece of ware, which, because of imperfection, does not meet certain quality standards and therefore is withheld from shipment.
Run of kiln: (or R.K. or R.K. selects): the entire production runs without quality control to separate second grades and rejects.
Salt glaze: a semi-matte or half-glossy glaze obtained by injecting salt into the kiln during the glaze firing.
Screen printing: a method of ceramic and glassware decorating in which stencil-like screens are used in applying colors to the ware.
Second grade: ware that exhibits noticeable minor defects that do not affect the ware's usefulness.
Selects: near-perfect dinnerware pieces as indicated in a process of selection in which imperfect pieces are removed from the group.
Shoulder: the raised rim of the traditionally rim shaped plate.
Silica: one of the earth's most abundant minerals and a vital ingredient in ceramic manufacture. It is the basic component of glass as well as of ceramic glazes and high-quality clayware bodies.
Slip – A liquid clay mixture used for shaping, joining, or decorating ceramics.
Stoneware – A durable type of pottery fired at high temperatures, making it strong and chip-resistant.
Terracotta: a brownish-orange earthenware commonly used for ceramic sculpture, ornament, and dinnerware. It is an Italian term meaning baked earth.
Texture glaze: a colored glaze in which dripping, eruption, or some other controlled disturbance is introduced to heighten the decorative effect.
Throwing – Shaping clay on a potter’s wheel by hand.
Translucence: that quality of fine china or melamine dinnerware that makes it semi-transparent. Placing the hand across the back of a piece and holding it up to the light may demonstrate it. A silhouette of the hand will be visible through the body of the piece.
Transfer printing: a decorating method like the one in which decal is used but permitting only one color at a time to be applied.
Tunnel kiln: a long tunnel-like oven in which clayware is fired by being carried through on flat cars that move along very slowly.
Unbreakable: literally, a dinnerware piece that will not break under any circumstances. Because such ware does not exist -- even glass, ceramic, or melamine dinnerware will break under certain conditions -- the phrase should never be used. The correct way to describe unusually strong dinnerware is "break-resistant."
Underglaze Decoration – Designs applied beneath a glaze for protection and durability.
Vitrified – A firing process that makes stoneware and porcelain harder, more durable, and less porous.