Bacchante — in Roman mythology, also Maenad in Greek mythology, female devotee of the god Bacchus, popular motif in Roman mosaics.
BACK BUTTERING — A technique in which adhesive is applied to the underside of the tile, as well as or instead of the base, see KEY / KEYING.
BACKERBOARD — Cement-based sheet material that can be used as a substrate on floors and walls.
Barbotine — Tiles painted with a coloured slip and covered with glaze.
BASE / BACKING — Generic term for a variety of tile or mosaic supports made of a wide range of materials.
BATON or LEDGER BOARD — A straight piece of wood used as a place marker and a starting point to set wall tile.
BATTUTO — Venetian lime terrazzo floor.
BEATER OR BEATING BLOCK — A flat block of wood with a rubber coating on one side to protect tile surfaces. The block is to ''beat" the tile into the adhesive.
Bianco-sopra-bianco — Italian for 'white-on-white'. Found on tin-glazed tiles, particularly those made in Bristol and Liverpool in Britain during the 18th century.
BINDER — A substance like gypsum plaster, cement and other materials added to a mixture to bind particles together.
BISQUE / BISCUIT — A tile that has been fired once and yet to be glazed and decorated.
Body — Main structure of a tile as distinct from its decoration and glaze.
Bottle kiln — A large type of intermittent kiln, usually coal-fired, formerly used in the large scale production of pottery and tiles. It has an inner kiln surrounded by a tall brick hovel in the shape of a bottle.
BOZZETTO — a small sketch of the mosaic to be produced, with full colour design.
BRICK DUST — Red dust of various shades and weights called chamotte and obtained by grinding leftovers of brick production. It is used as a dye or an inert material in preparing mortars.
BRICK OR METRO PATTERN — A design created by setting a row of tile so it is offset by half its width relative to the previous row of tile.
BUTT JOINT — A tight joint made by setting two tiles so they touch one another without spacers between them.
BYZANTINE TECHNIQUE — Mosaic technique perfected during the Byzantine period, that is between 476 and 1425 AD.
