Word of the Day

Shelling- Flaking or peeling of a glaze or a glaze and slip. It is a defect in which the glaze falls from the body in flakes. It often occurs where there is a slip applied on the clay body (mostly on low-fired ware or on porous bodies).There is an insufficient bond between the glaze and the body and the glaze and some of the powdery slip flakes off after firing.

As opposed to shivering where there is a sufficient bond between the body after firing and the glaze flakes off or the glaze shear ways from the pot, sometimes taking parts of the clay body with it, creating very sharp edges.

From "Potters Dictionary 5th ed."- Hamer and Hamer