Serving a salad in a beautiful stoneware bowl is an expression of pride. Each piece of carefully crafted wheel-thrown pottery is unique. I am always excited to open the kiln and behold the results. Making pottery is a journey. Most would think it starts with throwing the shapes on the wheel, then modifying and assembling the piece. Some pieces, like tea pots take several individually thrown parts which are carefully assembled and dried before bisque firing. Bisque firing is done at a lower temperature, typically cone 04, which is 1950 degrees Fahrenheit. The purpose of the bisque firing is to vitrify the pot and make it strong and ready to accept the glaze. At this point the pot is still porous and not as strong as it will be when complete. \
After bisque firing, the piece is cleaned and waxed to prepare for application of the glaze. Most of our pieces are glazed with a multi-step process using different glazes to achieve an appealing and engaging look. At this point the pot is cleaned, touched up and prepared for glaze firing. We typically glaze fire our pots and cone 5 or cone 6 which is around 2200 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the glaze and the look we are going for. Next, the exciting part which is unloading the kiln, hopefully results in lots of oohs and aahs. Since we love variations, runs, and drips sometimes require some post firing work. Actually, there is a lot of work before you begin to throw the piece on the wheel. For example we do a lot of studying and experimenting to perfect our glazes and glaze combinations. Also, selecting and preparing the clay is important. We also do a lot of tool building to perfect the process and get the final results that will please.
