What day(s) do you fire the kilns?

We run both the bisque kiln and the glaze kiln every week, but we don't have a set day to run them. This is because we fire them whenever we have enough work to load them, and we find this means that we get more overall firings in than if we kept to a set schedule. This also means that we never run partially-loaded kilns, so we reduce the chances of uneven and lower-quality firing by making sure we're getting every last pot we can safely into the kiln. I'll create a section at the bottom of the montly membership page where you can see what kiln is being started what day each week. On average, you can expect that kiln to be unloaded 2 days after the start day. So, if the bisque runs on a Monday that week, it will be unloaded some time on Wednesday (so come on Thursday to glaze).

When will my piece be done?

We load like we play Tetris - with as few holes as possible. What this means is that we get as much work in, for as many people as possible, in each and every kiln load.

We load for efficiency and to get as much work through as we can each week. So, instead of it being like the seafood counter - "First come, first served" - it's a "greater good" philosophy.

Even though it might not feel like it, with the volume of work that passes through our studio, it's pretty dang fast! Even if you owned your own kiln, it would most likely take you longer to fill and fire it.

On average, you can expect your average-sized pieces to move through each stage in a week or two. There are exceptions(aren't there always?)including certain forms and larger or more irregularly-shaped pieces.

Here's a few examples of work and explanations for their expected timeline through the kilns:

• You made a mug that's 4 inches or less tall. A whole lot of folks make work in this size range, so I can fit a whole bunch of forms 4" or less on a shelf, and create a nice, even flow of heat throughout the kiln with the "matching" forms. Your turnaround time from greenware shelf to being bisqued (or get in the glaze kiln) is going to be the fastest, probably around a week or so (unless it was put on the shelf wet, with glaze chipping off, etc).

• You made a lovely, huge platter. It's the biggest and best thing you've ever made. But, it's been 4 weeks and it hasn't moved off the shelf. Why? Well, your piece takes up an entire shelf of the kiln. That means we're displacing 50 other pieces (cups/mugs/etc) for your 1. We have a whole lot of people to serve, so it's going to take longer for a wide piece, a sculptural piece, or a tall piece to go through. It will go through when it makes sense in the stack. Without geeking out on the art of loading a kiln too much, you want to regulate how the heat is distributed and plates and platters can create unevenness (areas of density vs openness) in the kiln that affects the whole kiln load. You have to wait until you have the right load to put it in, or it could impact how everyone's work fires. The same is true of sculptures and forms where you can't "tuck" a lot of work of the same height to insulate around it. We will never fire a kiln with a lot of dead space. This is to protect the quality of the firing and glaze results for everyone.

Can you do a luster firing?

For those who aren't familiar with the term, lusters are metallic overglazes that are used as decorative finishes on pottery (usually gold rims, handles, etc). We don't do luster firings for a few reasons. We would need an ENTIRE kiln load to run it, places to store work as we waited to accumulate enough pieces, luster is incredibly expensive (.5 grams of gold for about $78, so it's not accessible for most of our students), and the firing is super cool -cone 019-021- about five-hundred degrees less than our bisque firing schedule, so it would require an entirely new program for our kiln.

What temperature do you fire to? If I wanted to buy commercial glazes to have more options, what do you recommend?

The temperature that kilns heat to is measured in "cones". We fire our bisque to cone 04 and our glaze to a hot cone 6, almost 7. The cooler firings have a "0" in front of the number (so cone 06 is cooler than cone 6). The larger the number with a 0 in front of it the cooler it is (cone 021 is cooler then cone 04) and the larger the numbers without a 0 in front, the hotter it is (cone 12 is hotter than cone 6).

Our commerical glaze recommendations are for Amaco and (less so) Coyote glazes. Make sure that the glaze fires to cone 6 (not 06!). We are always happy to check out any commercial glazes you are contemplating purchasing to make sure they're compatible before you make the investment. Just send us a screenshot of the product with as much technical info as you can.

I have a birthday present/holiday gift/shop update coming up...can I request to get my piece fired by "x" date?

We do our best to get the work through in the best way possible, and we'll continue to do that. We can't take special requests and ask you to remember that at any given time we're serving between one and two hundred students and always striving to do our best by everyone. If you find that you consistently need pieces done by a certain date, we can help you get set up with your own kiln, so that you can be in control of your firing needs. We're an Olympic kiln dealer and can get you a great deal on a new kiln!

I don't like how my piece turned out...how do I re-fire it?

As a 99.99999% of the time rule, we won't refire your work. Mainly because it doesn't really work. The one situation in which it might remedy the problem is if you had something fall into your piece, you ground a small part of it out and only had to do the teensiest, tiniest patch of glaze over it...it might work.

When a piece comes out of the glaze kiln, it's vitrified, totally tight and smooth, like glass. The clay is no longer open, there's nothing for the glaze to hold on to. When it reaches melting temperature, the glaze that was already on there from the first firing will be overfired and the new glaze (if it's in any quantity), will most likely just run off the piece, onto the shelf and maybe onto someone else's work.

We won't refire if: you don't like how your glaze looks; you forgot to touch up your fingerprints; you didn't check your glazing job and have huge patches of bare clay. In ALL of the circumstances, refiring won't produce a nicer result for you and will displace someone else's work. The best thing you can do is spend time working on, and mastering, your glazing technique.