C1 · 38 words

Ceramics: from clay to kiln

Preparing, shaping, drying and firing clay, and naming what goes wrong at each stage.

One phrase in this list leaves the workshop altogether, and it catches English speakers out because it looks like an old friend. Auf tönernen Füßen stehen, to stand on feet of clay, comes from the same statue as the English idiom: the figure in the Book of Daniel with a head of gold and feet partly of iron and partly of clay. English carried the image over to a person, so that a hero with feet of clay has a hidden flaw. German carried it over to a structure. Der Plan steht auf tönernen Füßen says that a plan, a budget or an argument will not bear its own weight, and ein Koloss auf tönernen Füßen is a large firm or state that looks mighty and is not. Said of a colleague’s character, the German phrase sounds odd; said of a business plan, it is exactly right. Everything else here stays at the wheel and the kiln.

The words

Verb (11)

einsumpfento slake (dry clay)VerbC2

Trockene Tonreste sumpft man in einem Eimer Wasser ein, bis sie ganz zerfallen sind.Dry scraps of clay are slaked in a bucket of water until they have broken down completely.

Separable: sumpft … ein, eingesumpft.

magernto open up (a clay body)VerbC2

Für große Pflanzgefäße magert sie den Ton mit grober Schamotte.For large planters she opens up the clay with coarse grog.

Regular. A clay with few coarse particles is called fett.

hochziehento pull up (the wall of a pot)VerbC1

In drei Zügen zieht sie die Wand des Zylinders hoch.She pulls up the wall of the cylinder in three passes.

Separable; irregular: zog hoch, hochgezogen.

abdrehento trim (on the wheel)VerbC1

Den Fuß dreht man erst ab, wenn die Schale lederhart ist.You don’t trim the foot until the bowl is leather-hard.

Separable. Also to turn off (a tap); colloquially, abgedreht means weird or crazy.

garnierento attach (a handle or spout)VerbC2

Henkel werden garniert, solange Becher und Henkel noch gleich feucht sind.Handles are attached while the mug and the handle are still equally damp.

In the kitchen it means to garnish.

entformento release from the mouldVerbC1

Nach etwa einer Stunde lässt sich die Vase vorsichtig entformen.After about an hour the vase can be carefully taken out of the mould.

Inseparable: entformt, hat entformt.

sich verziehento warpVerbC1

Flache Teller verziehen sich leicht, wenn sie ungleichmäßig trocknen.Flat plates warp easily if they dry unevenly.

Reflexive; irregular: verzog sich, hat sich verzogen. Colloquially also to clear off.

einsetzento load (ware into a kiln)VerbC1

Beim Schrühbrand darf man die Schalen ineinander einsetzen, beim Glasurbrand nicht.For a bisque firing you can stack the bowls inside one another; for a glaze firing you can’t.

Separable. Its everyday senses are to insert and to deploy.

schrühento bisque-fireVerbC1

Geschrühte Ware ist porös und nimmt die Glasur gut an.Bisque-fired ware is porous and takes glaze well.

Mostly met as the participle geschrüht.

sinternto sinter, to vitrifyVerbC2

Steinzeug sintert im Brand so weit, dass es kaum noch Wasser aufnimmt.Stoneware vitrifies in the kiln to the point where it hardly absorbs any water.

abplatzento flake off (of glaze)VerbC1

Wenn die Glasur an den Kanten abplatzt, steht sie unter zu starkem Druck.When glaze flakes off at the edges, it is under too much compression.

Separable; takes sein in the perfect.

This list belongs to Culture, belief and taking part — 28 lists and 1048 words that can also be practised as a whole.

Practise this list

Multiple choice and gaps, drawn from exactly these 38 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.