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Kiln Rental

Firing Specification

Two electric kilns and a small test kiln, fired to cone 04 bisque and cone 6 glaze, rented by the full load or by the 18 inch half shelf. Kiln rental now fills three firings a week. Below is everything that decides a firing here: what each kiln holds and costs, how your work is checked at the door, and how long it stays inside. If you have never loaded a kiln or glazed a pot, begin with Beginner Wheel I, where your first pieces go through these same two kilns.

Drop-off and Collection Tue and Thu 10:00-13:00 · Sat 09:00-12:00

The Kilns

Three Kilns, One Ceiling at Cone 6

All three are electric and fire in oxidation. They are drawn below at their true sizes against one another, so you can see what a full load means before you book one.

The Everyday Load

Kiln A

7 CU FT
Interior
7 cubic feet
Heat
Electric, oxidation
Range
Cone 04 to cone 6
Notice
48 hours or more
$85Bisque · full load
$95Glaze · full load

The Tall Load

Kiln B

10 CU FT
Interior
10 cubic feet
Heat
Electric, oxidation
Range
Cone 04 to cone 6
Notice
48 hours or more
$110Bisque · full load
$125Glaze · full load

Tiles and Trials

Test Kiln

1.2 CU FT
Interior
1.2 cubic feet
Heat
Electric, oxidation
Range
Cone 04 to cone 6
Use
Tiles, single pieces
$30Per firing · any cone

Shared Firing · the 18 Inch Half Shelf $14 bisque · $16 glaze Fired within five working days of drop-off, alongside other potters' work.

The Firing

From the Door to the Shelf, in Eight Stations

Every rented firing follows the same order. Full loads are booked at least 48 hours ahead. Half-shelf work goes into the next shared firing and comes out within five working days.

  1. Station I

    Drop-off in the Window

    Tue and Thu 10:00-13:00 · Sat 09:00-12:00

    Work comes in through the studio door during a drop-off window and at no other time. There is no collection and no delivery. Bring it boxed, bone dry and labelled, and it is logged against your name and your shelf.

    Full loads
    Booked 48 hours ahead or more
    Half shelves
    Fired within five working days
    Write ahead to book a full load

  2. Station II

    Inspection at the Door

    Cheek, foot and label

    Each piece is lifted to the cheek. Clay that feels cold still holds water, and that water turns to steam in the kiln, so cold work goes home to dry. Then the foot is turned up: clay body and target cone written on it, glaze wiped clear, no stilts.

    Cheek
    Cold means damp, and damp goes home
    Foot
    Labelled, stilt-free, 6 mm clear

  3. Station III

    Loading

    Done by the studio

    The studio loads every firing. Half shelves are measured at 18 inches, so you know exactly what you paid for. Bisque pieces may touch and nest. Glazed pieces stand a finger's width apart on bare shelf, feet clean.

    Bisque
    Pieces may touch and nest
    Glaze
    A finger's width apart

  4. Station IV

    Bisque to Cone 04

    About 10 hours

    A slow start drives out the last chemical water before the climb. At cone 04 the clay turns to ceramic: hard enough to handle without fear, still porous enough to drink glaze evenly.

    Peak
    Cone 04, about 1,945 °F
    Leaves you
    Hard, porous bisqueware

  5. Station V

    Cooling

    24 hours, lid shut

    The kiln stays closed until it is near room temperature. Opening early cracks pots, however close a deadline is. This is why the studio closes on Sunday and Monday: the kilns are firing and cooling with nobody lifting a lid.

    Time
    24 hours
    Then
    Bisqueware ready in the next window

  6. Station VI

    Glazing by the Potter

    Your hands, your glaze

    You collect the bisqueware and glaze it yourself, then bring it back in a window with the foot wiped 6 mm clear and the label still legible. Glazes must be mid-fire, lead-free and made for cone 6. If glazing is new to you, Week Five of Beginner Wheel I covers it from the first dip.

    Bring back
    In any drop-off window
    Glazes
    Mid-fire, lead-free, cone 6

  7. Station VII

    Glaze to Cone 6

    About 12 hours, then a slow cool

    The top of the firing reaches 2,232 °F. A controlled slow cool through the upper range lets glazes mature, so mattes come out matte and glossy surfaces settle smooth. It is an electric firing in oxidation, with no flame and no reduction.

    Peak
    Cone 6, 2,232 °F
    Atmosphere
    Electric, oxidation

  8. Station VIII

    Collection Within 21 Days

    Tue and Thu 10:00-13:00 · Sat 09:00-12:00

    Fired work waits on the collection shelf for 21 days. Anything left after that goes to the studio seconds shelf, and what it sells for buys clay for the taster evenings. Nothing is wasted, but nothing is kept forever either.

    Collect
    Within 21 days
    After that
    Seconds shelf, proceeds buy taster clay

Preparation

Before It Comes Through the Door

Six rules, checked on every piece at drop-off. Work that misses one goes home with you, not into a shared kiln.

  • 1 Bone Dry Room temperature against the cheek, pale through, no cool patch at the foot. Thick bases often need another week.
  • 2 A Labelled Foot The clay body and the target cone, written on the bare foot of every piece.
  • 3 6 mm Clear, Stilt-Free Glaze wiped back six millimetres above the foot, and the piece standing on its own clean clay.
  • 4 No Glass, No Metal No glass inclusions, no wire, no embedded metal of any kind.
  • 5 No Lead No lead-bearing glaze or frit, whatever the cone and whatever the piece is for.
  • 6 Wild Clay Tested First Wild-dug or unlabelled clay goes in only after a paid test tile in the test kiln, $30 a firing.
BUFF STONEWARE CONE 6 FOOT FROM BELOW 6 MM CLEAR IN SECTION
The label on the bare foot, and the glaze line stopping short of it

Write It on the Foot

The label goes on the bare clay of the foot, where glaze will never reach: the clay body first, then the target cone. Buff stoneware, cone 6 is a complete label. An underglaze pencil or a little iron oxide on a fine brush will survive both firings.

Then wipe the glaze back. Six millimetres of clean clay above the foot is the margin that keeps a running glaze off the shelf, and a glaze that reaches the shelf can take the shelf, and the pot beside yours, with it. At cone 6, good stoneware stands on its own foot, so nothing comes in on stilts.

The Firing Schedule, Counted

  • 48hrs Notice for a full load
  • 5days Working days for a shared shelf
  • 2,232°F Peak at cone 6
  • 21days To collect fired work

Limits

What We Will Not Fire

The kilns are electric, shared and stop at cone 6. Each of these would damage them, or the work standing next to yours.

  • Wild-dug or unlabelled clay, untested Unknown clay can bloat, slump or melt onto a shelf at cone 6. A $30 test-kiln firing of one tile settles the question first.
  • Glass or metal inclusions Glass runs and fuses to the kiln shelf. Metal can spit and pit the elements.
  • Lead-bearing glazes The shelves are shared with mugs and bowls that will hold food. No lead goes in at any temperature.
  • Raku, pit or saggar firing These need flame, smoke or combustibles. The kilns are closed electric boxes.
  • High-fire or reduction work The kilns stop at cone 6 and fire in oxidation, so cone 10 clays and reduction glazes cannot mature here.
  • Damp greenware Water left in a wall turns to steam and can burst the pot and its neighbours. Work cold to the cheek goes home to dry.
  • Pickup or delivery of work Everything comes in and goes out through the studio door, in the drop-off and collection windows.

Continue

Booking a Firing

Never loaded a kiln? Start at the wheel with Beginner Wheel I, $340 for six weeks with all firings included.