For many non-potters, you probably are not aware of the process that is involved with making pottery. Every potter differs in some way but I thought I would share with you the steps I go through before I have a finished piece.Day 1 – Hand build or make a piece of pottery on the wheel.
Day 2-3 – Trim bottoms, add handles and/or spouts
Day 14 – 21 – The piece is dry enough to bisque fire in the kiln. I allow my pieces to dry slower than most to alleviate cracking. I have yet to lose a handle in this process.
Day 14 – Bisque Fire – The pieces are first fired in the kiln to cone 06 (1798 F) over an 8 to 9 hour period. Bisque is a fired piece of unglazed ceramic. Sometimes I will candle the kiln at a very low temperature the night prior to the firing keeping it under the boiling point (212 F) to ensure everything is nice and dry before the firing, then I fire the kiln for 8.5 hours. I have to wait 15 hours until the kiln is cool enough to open the lid after the bisque firing is completed, usually when the kiln is under 350 F. I have a very small kiln which is 18 square inches, so it heats up quite quickly.
Day 15 – Glaze the bisque fired pots and pack the kiln again.
Day 16 – Fire the kiln for the second time to cone 6 (versus 06) which is 2165 F over an 9 hour period with a 15 minute soak to ensure my glazes have time to move around on my piece. I slow down the cooling the first 1000 F especially with matt glazes.
Day 17 – 15 hours after the kiln has cooled off, it is ready to be opened and unpacked within the next couple of hours.
Therefore from the time something is made until it is ready for use is a minimum of 17 days.
*~* Coming soon – Tea Pots and more Shino glazes! *~*
