Glossary / Terms

The following list of terms are commonly used when working with Art Clay which may be unfamiliar:

• Alloy in metallurgy, a substance that is a mixture of two or more metals, or of a metal with a nonmetallic material
• Anneal to subject an alloy, metal, or glass to a process of heating and slow cooling to make it tougher and less brittle
• Bangle a rigid bracelet or anklet, especially one with no clasp
• Bezel a groove or flange designed to hold a beveled edge, as of a watch crystal or a gem
• Binder a substance added to form dry ingredients into a solid mass or to maintain an even consistency throughout a liquid or semi liquid substance
• Bisque a fired piece of unglazed ceramic
• Doublet a fake gem made by sticking two pieces of glass together with a colored layer between them or by sticking a thin layer of a gem on a base
• Facet any of the faces of a cut gemstone
• Finding refers to jewelry components used to put together the jewelry. For example, clasps, ear wires, crimps, jump rings, and bead tips are all considered findings
• Firescale also known as firestain, is a red or purple stain that appears on mixtures of silver and copper, such as sterling silver. At high temperatures, oxygen mixes with the copper to form cuprous oxide and then cupric oxide
• Greenware dry clay pieces before they have been fired
• Keum-boo is an ancient Asian design technique. Thin sheets of pure gold are attached to fine silver through a diffusion bond (which is an atom exchange at the interface of the two metals).
• Malleable used to describe a metal or other substance that can be shaped or bent without breaking
• Mohs Hardness Scale characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer material
• Quench to cool hot metal by plunging it into cold water or other liquid
• Setting the metal fixture into which a jewel is fixed
• Sinter to use pressure and heat below the melting point to bond a partly fuse masses of metal particles or to be bonded in this way
• Vermeil is a combination of silver, gold, and other precious metals. It is commomly used as a component in jewelry. A typical example is sterling silver coated with 14-carat gold
• Wire Gauge the thickness of wire