The S.S. Ceramic was a British passenger liner that ploughed the seas between 1913 - 1942. In 1942 it was sunk west of the Azores by the German U-boat U-515 while en route from England to Australia.

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Catalytic converters convert harmful car exhaust fumes into less harmful compounds. The catalyst is coated onto a ceramic honeycomb that is housed in a muffler attached to the car's exhaust.

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Legend has it that the 18th century Staffordshire potter John Astbury masqueraded as a 'simpleton', in order to learn the secrets of the trade from the Dutch potter emigrant brothers John and David Elers.

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Scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory have devised a method to store nuclear waste using ceramics. The scientists think that combining radioactive waste with crystalline fluorite ceramic oxides could produce a material that, while radioactive, would never contaminate the environment.

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At the 1895 International Exposition in Atlanta, George Ohr, the 'Mad Potter from Biloxi', displayed a sign that read:

"The potter said unto clay, 'Be Ware' and it was".

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One of the downsides of the success of the Harry Potter series is the effect it is having on doing pottery research on the internet. Type in a ceramist's name and the word 'potter' and you are now more likely to get hits relating to Harry Potter than the artist.

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The growth of certain plants, herbs and weeds can indicate the existence of clay deposits beneath the ground's surface. In such cases they are called indicator species or bio-indicators. Plants that point towards clay deposits include Corn Poppy, Blindweed, Coltsfoot (pictured), Lily of the Valley, Lucerne and Wild Ginger.

Source: Sven Frotscher, DTV Atlas Keramik und Porzellan, DTV Veralg 2003

The solitary Potter Wasp (Vespidae: Eumeninae), also known as the mason wasp, is named for its habit of building pot-like nests of mud or clay. The nests look strikingly like tiny coil-built pots with a neck and flared lip. The female lays a single egg and then stocks up the nest with caterpillars. The larva hatches and develops in the nest, emerging as a fully grown wasp.

The Ethiopian Jews were a sect that practiced pottery, making storage and cooking vessels. Sometimes they were referred to by the derogatory term 'Falasha', which means "stranger" in Amharic. Pottery is an occupation that the Ethiopian Coptic Christians considered debased and wouldn't engage in. Now considered one of the ten lost tribes of Israel, and referring to themselves as 'Beit Israel', most have emigrated to the Holy Land, where they make clay sculpture, mainly for the tourist market.

Apparently the Ancient Greeks were one of the first people to invent the yo-yo, which they made from terracotta and other materials from around 500 BC. It is not certain what these discs, which bear a striking similarity to the yo-yo of today, were used for. They may have been used as gifts to the gods from children coming of age, or perhaps as spools for thread. However a ancient Greek bowl seems to depict a youth playing with a yo-yo in quite a contemporary manner.

The Cave, a book by Nobel prize-winning Portuguese author Jose Saramago, depicts a Kafka-esque scenario where a ceramist must deal with the whims of a mysterious shopping mall utopia called the Centre. Saramago’s fictional nightmare may be uncomfortably close to the reality of many ceramists today, but the pleasure of making wins out in the end. "On the morning of the fourth day, as if the mischievious slippery goblins, which were the various materials he was using, had repented of their cruel treatment of this unexpected beginner in the new art, Cipriano Algor began to find softness where before he found only hardness, docilities that filled him with gratitude and secrets that willingly unveiled themselves to him."
Jose Saramago The Cave (trans. Margaret Jull Costa) London: Harvill, 2002 (orig. 2000), p. 171.

Source: Craft Victoria

Master potter Kadsuke Ichino, from the Tamba region in Japan, has built a singing kiln, the only one of its kind in the world. When fired, the kiln emits all sorts of strange and beautiful sounds. The kiln will feature in the Wataboshi International Music Festival in Australia in November 2003.

The Saggar Makers Bottom Knocker (a title which was the source of some amusement) was an English pottery worker, usually a young boy, who was the Saggar Maker's assistant. His sole job was to make saggar bases from a lump of fireclay which he knocked into a metal ring using a wooden mallet or mawl.

In 17th C Europe, blue and white Ming and Ch'ing Dynasty porcelain was called 'Kraak', after the carracks of the Dutch and British East India companies the wares were transported on. Later, they were also referred to as 'Nanking' ware.

Source: W.B.R. Neave-Hill, Chinese Ceramics, Bartholomew & Son, 1975

In the 17th & 18th centuries, English tavern drinkers would enjoy a joke with their drinking comrades. The Puzzle Mug, was designed so that if you didn't drink it in the right way, you would spill the drink down your shirt. The trick was to drink from a spout, which acted like a straw. Inscriptions read something like "Here gentlemen, come try your skill, I'll hold a wager if you will, That you can't drink this liquor all, Without you spill or let some fall."

At Luojiaba archaeological site in Xuanhan County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, archaeologists have unearthed a 2,400 year old tomb, probably belonging to a ruler of the mysterious Ba Kingdom. The Ba Kingdom encompassed Sichuan, Hunan and parts of southern China, mysteriously disappearing about 2000 years ago.

Source: China.org.cn

The saying "The Pitcher will go to the well once too often" originated in early 14th C France. The original version "tant va pot a eve qu'il brise" translates "the pot goes so often to the water that it breaks". One of the first English transcripts from 1340 reads "zuo longe geth thet pot to the wetere: thet hith comth to broke hom".

Source: J. Simpson, Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, Oxford, 1993

A group of Chinese peasants in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, discovered some pottery while digging for a well in 1974 - this led to the discovery of the Terracotta Warriors, one of the great archaeological finds of the 20th C. The artifacts are contained in three 'pits' with over a thousand warriors, horses and chariots.

The Mad Potter from Biloxi was none other than George E. Ohr (1857-1918). Ohr, a potter with reputation for eccentricity, thought of himself as the ‘world’s greatest art potter’. He grew up, lived and worked in Biloxi, Mississippi.

People have always closely related pottery to the human body.

It is not for nothing, that we speak of important parts of a vessel as being the mouth, lip, neck, shoulder, belly and foot.

Unlike other cultures of the world, Australian indigenous peoples did not develop any ceramics of their own until whites arrived on the continent. Now, some indigenous tribes have embraced that art as an expression of indigenous culture, e.g. the people of the Tiwi Islands.

A pre-columbian ceramic oddity from the Nazca-Vicus culture - closely resembling a space suited figure exhibits a striking feature: The face of the figure is seen behind a "windowed" helmet... strangely like the astronaut gear we know today... This figure was mentioned by van Daniken in his 'Chariots of the Gods' as proof of visitors from space.

Environment-conscious ceramics (ecoceramics) are a new class of materials that can be produced with renewable resources (wood) and wood wastes (wood sawdust). Environment-conscious ceramic materials, fabricated via the pyrolysis and infiltration of natural wood-derived preforms, have tailorable properties with numerous potential applications.

Source: NASA

The word 'kaolin' comes from the Chinese word 'gaoling', which means 'high ridge', where kaolin was probably originally mined. It was first introduced as a clay ingredient in Jingdezhen around the 13th - 14th C, paving the way for the formulation of porcelain bodies.

Source: Nigel Wood: Chinese Glazes, Craftsman House, 1999

The world's largest platter was unveiled by the Inatsu Town Planning Association, Mizunami, Gifu, Japan, on August 14, 1996. It measured 2.8 m (9 ft) in diameter. It dried for five months and was then painted in underglaze blue before being fired for seven days.

The Japanese perception of the craftsman is embodied in a quote from potter Fujiwara Kei (1899-1983): "It is refinement and character that distinguishes the true potter from the the man who merely works at making pots. He must be someone who experiences and recognizes what is good, whether in music, painting, literature or philosophy. By absorbing these into his being, he can put strength and character into what he makes out of clay".

Source: Edward Lucie-Smith, The Story of Craft, Phaidon, 1981

The potter's wheel was probably developed in Mesopotamia (present day Irak) by the Sumerians about 5,000 - 6,000 years ago. The first wheels were probably just turntables used for coil building. The kick wheel then developed over the next few thousands of years.

The world's most famous raku tea bowl was made early in 17th C by the potter Honami Koetsu (1558-1637), who studied under Raku II (Jokei) and Raku III (Donyu). It is called Fujisan (‘Mount Fuji’ or ‘Great One’). It gives the impression of snow lightly falling on the slopes of Mount Fuji.

Advanced ceramics is a field of ceramics influencing everyday life, without us necessarily knowing it. Highly durable, tougher than steel advanced ceramics may be found in car engines, cutting tools in metal processing, golf clubs, knives and scissors and even in laser printers and microelectronics. In fact, porcelain was first used in dentistry as early as 1780.

The Dutch East India cargo ship Geldermalsen sank in the South China Sea on January 3, 1752, laden with 200,000 pieces of porcelain and 147 gold bars bound for Europe. The sunken porcelain treasure was discovered in 1985 and sold by Christies as the "Nanking Cargo". These pieces demonstrate nicely the influence of European taste on Chinese design made for that market.

Crazing is a common glaze fault that can be reduced by adding silica to the clay body, or to the glaze, or to both. The apparent contradiction that silica may be added to both clay and glaze is due to silica's low co-efficient of expansion. By increasing the silica content, the rates of expansion and contraction converge, thus reducing, if not eliminating crazing.

Adelaide Alsop Robineau had spent over 1000 hours working on her 'Scarab Vase'. When it emerged from the bisque firing, it had many cracks that her mentor told her were impossible to repair. But Robineau persisted and filled the cracks with bisque paste and was able to finish the piece after all. The vase won the grand prize in pottery at the Turin International Exhibition in 1910.

Toby Jugs are said to have been first made by Ralph Wood. They are supposed to have been named after Toby Philpot, a character in a song from 1761, called Dear Tom, This Brown Jug.

*Source: Savage & Newman, Illustrated Dictionary of Ceramics, London 1985

Chemicals in their raw state can have different colors. Copper oxide is black, copper carbonate green and copper sulphate is blue. Cobalt oxide is black, cobalt carbonate purple, while cobalt chloride is deep pink. Manganese Dioxide is grey-black but manganese chloride is pink. Despite color differences, once fired, the color effects are usually the same (depending on concentration).

In Predynastic Egypt (5,000-3,100 BC), kilns were simple constructions of low walls in which a fire was lit. Wares were sometimes raised on blocks of fired clay called 'fire dogs'.* According to some sources, these are said to have resembled dog biscuits in shape.

*Source: Freestone & Gaimster, Pottery in the Making, London,

A joint U.S.-Bulgarian research expedition recently announced the discovery of an ancient Greek trading vessel full of amphorae, that sank in the Black Sea off the coast of Bulgaria over 2,300 years ago. Full story.

Source: National Geographic, Jan. 2003

Bernard Palissy (1510-1589) was a dedicated French potter who struggled to succeed in his experiments with faience. According to his own writings, he was at times so poor, he had to use his furniture and floor boards as kiln fuel. Falling in and out of grace with French nobility, he was eventually arrested for being a Hugenott and died in the Bastille.

Source: The World's Master Potters, C.P. Woodhouse, 1975

When making the plans for the fortress of Jiayuguan, part of the Great Wall of China, the famous Ming Dynasty architect Yi Kai Jan specified the exact number of bricks to be used in it's construction. When challenged about this, he ordered a single extra brick, to show that he had a contingency plan. But as the architect had calculated, the brick was not needed and can still be seen in situ to this day.

The potter's wheel features in early Egyptian mythology. It was written that the ram-headed God Khnum created humans on his potter's wheel, sometimes commissioned by other Egyptian gods to do so. Khnum was also called 'father of the fathers, mother of the mothers'.

The Spanish-Portuguese word for 'tile', Azulejo, is derived from the Arabic word Zuleija or Zuleich - -, meaning 'varnished tile'.

Source: Joseph Marryat, A History of Pottery and Porcelain, John Murray (publ.), London, 1857

In early 18th C France, it used to be the fashion for women to have themselves modelled in terracotta or porcelain as sphinxes, with the woman's head and breasts and a lion's body. The fashion spread to England around the middle of the 18th century.

Source: George Savage, Pottery Through the Ages, Pelican Books, 1959

High Temperature Surface Insulation Tiles or HRSIs are specially formulated ceramic tiles that are used to protect the space shuttle (also referred to as the 'orbiter') from the heat of re-entry, up to 3,000^o F (1,650^o C). They are made from low-density, high-purity silica fiber and coated with a mixture of powdered tetrasilicide and borosilicate glass.

Bernard Leach was initially a printmaker. His first experience of making pottery was at a Japanese raku ‘party’, where participants were invited to decorate bisqued pots which were then fired and ready to handle less than an hour later. Leach was mesmerized by this craft and vowed on the spot that he wanted to learn and practice it.

The Three Books of Picol Passo are one of the earliest known and most comprehensive manuals on pottery. They are not only richly illustrated but are ordered in the most logical way. They could, even now, with a little research be used as a work-shop manual.

Petuntse, or in Chinese Pai-tun-tzu is a potassium-alumino silicate rock, one of the main ingredients in porcelain. In 18th C Germany, a similar material was called 'Schnorr's white earth of Aue', named after Johann Schnorr, who is said to have discovered this white material sticking to his horse's hooves in 1711.

Source: George Savage, Porcelain Through the Ages, Pelican Books, 1954

In Japan, exaggerated reverence for the Tea Ceremony and over-inflated prices for Raku tea bowls has led to some cynacism, reflected in the poem "Who is the biggest fool, In this witless world of ours, But the connoisseur, Dropping heartfelt tears, As he feels the Raku bowl!"

Source: Jenyns Soame, Japanese Pottery, Faber & Faber, London 1971

The last great king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, recorded various messages on clay tiles, which formed part of the Ishtar Gate, now in Berlin. One of them reads "I laid the Gates of blue-glazed tiles, on which bulls and dragons were artistically formed. I installed wild bulls and scowling dragons at the front of the Gates and thus magnificently adorned them with luxurious splendour for all mankind to look at in wonder."

Source: State Museums of Berlin, Babylon and the Nerw year Festival, 1990

Tiles have such a pride of place in Spanish society, that there is a contemporary proverb that says "the poor man has a house with no tiles". Spanish tile manufacture received a technological boost when Arabs invaded the country in the 11th C.

Source: George Savage, Pottery Through the Ages, Pelican Books, 1959

In 1708, Johann Frederick Böttger, alchemist and attributed inventor of European porcelain, was so frustrated at his inability to create gold, that he wrote the rhyme "God the Creator, has made a potter from a gold maker." above his laboratory door.

Source: Janet Gleeson, The Arcanum, Bantam Books, 1999

Persian sgraffito ware of the eight to the tenth century is sometimes erroneously referred to as 'Gabri' ware, after a seventh century, pre-islamic sect of fire worhsippers.

Source: George Savage, Pottery Through the Ages, Pelican Books, 1959

Many ceramic objects discoverd in Etruscan tombs were actually imported from Greece. This led Josiah Wedgwod to call his modern copies of such wares 'Etruscan', although they were actually Greek in style.

Source: George Savage, Pottery Through the Ages, Pelican Books, 1959

Around the 15th C, many Hispano-Moresque wares made at Valencia, Spain, were shipped to Italy via the island of Majorca, at the time also known as Majorica or Majolica - hence the name Majolica or Maiolica for white tin-glazed wares. The tin-glaze technique was first used in the Middle East, as early as the 12th C.

Source: George Savage, Pottery Through the Ages, Pelican Books, 1959

The word celadon is probably a corruption of the name Sãlãh-ed-dîn (Saladin), Sultan of Egypt, who is said to have given forty pieces of celadon wares to the Sultan of Damascus in 1171. It is sometimes erroneously suggested that the name derives from the color of a costume in the 17th C French play, L'Astrée. The Chinese word for Celadon is 'Doh chin' which means 'green bean glaze', while the Japanese name is 'Seiji'.

Source: George Savage, Porcelain Through the Ages, Pelican Books, 1954