clay that has been fired in a kiln once is called

The correct term is bisque.

It's literally the "half-baked" stage, which is kind of what the word means, I think it comes from French? It's the point where it's tough enough to handle and dip into a liquid glaze without falling apart, but it's still porous so it can soak up the water from the glaze solution. If you didn't do the bisque firing first, the clay would just dissolve when you tried to dip it into the wet glaze. It's the sweet spot before the final, full-temp fire.

It's called bisque! It's one of those pottery terms you gotta know. It’s what you get after the first, usually slow, firing that drives out all the water. The piece is still unglazed and is ready to be decorated and then go into the second, high-temperature glaze firing. That's how you get your final, finished product.

Clay that has been fired in a kiln once is called bisque.Here's a breakdown of the terms used in the ceramic firing process:Greenware: This refers to unfired clay that has been shaped and dried.Bisque: Clay that has gone through its first firing, typically at a lower temperature. Bisque ware is still somewhat porous but is harder and more durable than greenware. It's often decorated with glazes or paints before a second firing.Glaze Firing: This is the second firing, usually at a higher temperature, that melts the glaze and creates a smooth, protective, and often decorative surface on the ceramic piece.

It's bisqueware. I remember being taught that the bisque firing is a lower temperature than the glaze firing. The lower temp makes the clay rigid enough to be handled and glazed without breaking, but it doesn't melt the clay particles enough to make it non-porous (vitrified), so it still soaks up the glaze nicely. It's a totally different material than the greenware you start with.

It's bisqueware or just bisque. That's the stage where it becomes permanent pottery but is still unglazed and kind of chalky looking. The initial fire, the bisque fire, gets rid of all the water so the piece won't explode later and makes it sturdy enough for glazing. I always call it 'bisque' at the studio.

That's known as biscuit ware. We used that term a lot when I was learning ceramics in school. It's the clay body after the first firing, which is specifically designed to be porous so that when you apply the glaze, the clay absorbs the moisture and leaves a good coating of glaze powder on the surface. That porosity is what you lose if you fire it too high too soon.

The key term you're looking for is bisque.

It means the clay has been fired once but not yet glazed. The whole point of the bisque fire is to change the clay's chemistry so it's a solid, permanent form (a ceramic) but also keep it absorbent. That way, the liquid glaze can be applied smoothly. If the clay wasn't porous, the glaze would just run right off or take forever to dry, which is why it's an essential first step.