Pottery types

What is pottery and how many types are there. Objects that are shaped of wet clay that is hardened by baking or drying. Pottery types include both decorative and practical items. It includes works of art, dinnerware, vases, and other types of household items. Pottery ware is part of a larger product group called ceramics that encompasses bricks, cement, sewer pipes, and other industrial products.

There are three major pottery types:
Earthenware, Stoneware, and porcelain. Each type is known by its clay mixture and the temperature at which it is baked or fired.

                 
Earthenware types of pottery are made from a clay mixture that is fired at a lower temperature. The low baking temperature allows for the use of colorful glazes, but also produces a pottery that cracks and chips more easily than other types.

 
Stoneware types of pottery are made of a heavier clay mixture that gives it greater strength. Stoneware is fired at a much higher temperature to give a harder finish.

Porcelain types of pottery are formed from kaolin, this is a fine white clay, that is combined with controlled amounts of feldspar and flint and then fired at a low temperature.  Porcelains are the purest and the most delicate types of pottery.