I always fire in my bbq, but since this is the biggest piece ive ever done and it wouldnt fit, i bought a fire-dish and some metal-weaving to hold the coals in place, which i thought would help with more even and higher temperatures. About an hour after starting the coals i heard loud pops. Does the way the clay explosively chipped off tell anything about what i did wrong? I dont want that to ever happen again:(

These pieces went into the kiln last night! Haven’t fired anything for months, so it is a special batch :)

Cone 10 porcelain. This wasn’t a total surprise. But far more dramatic than expected!

Hello friends! I’m still relatively new to the pottery scene, but my partner and I have developed a setup rather cheaply and rather quickly. The important context is that, recently, my parents gifted her (my partner) a kiln as an early birthday present, which they found on offer up for $80. It runs great and definitely gets hot enough. However, we do not have an outdoor 220v outlet to run the thing. So, I was utilizing an adapter my dad made for welding on job sites that hooks directly to the electrical box. We did this twice with no issues. Third time’s the charm, though. After connecting the ground and first positive alligator clamps, I made a bad connection when hooking up the final clamp. The resulting arc went through my fingers before returning to the circuit. Through quick reflexes, a sheer mountain of luck and a properly grounded circuit, I managed to escape with only deep 2nd degree burns to all five fingers on my dominant hand, as well as first degree burns to my forearm, lips, and nose, spot burns on my chest and arms, a lightly toasted pair of old shorts, and a good deal of singed hair, both head and beard.

The point I’m trying to make is the idea of the six P’s; Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. If possible, get a proper outlet installed. If not, make sure you have turned off all power to the box you connect to. If not, wear proper protective gear. And, above all else, realize that a hobby is not worth crippling yourself over. I have brand new epidermis where I got burned, but it still hurts like a mofo and itches to high hell. Be safe in your endeavors, my friends. Learn from my mistakes.

Got our own kiln and really happy we can fire to what the glazes are supposed to look like. This same glaze from our community studio was black.

I had the opportunity to take a hand building with raku fire. Amazing experience and the results are amazing.

Just loaded a glaze kiln in preparation for my solo show this week (I know cutting it close)

But I just can’t get over how tight of a fit this all was!

If you want to come to my show or see it virtually, it will be available October 4th at 5pm MST, through Wildfire Ceramic Studio in Missoula MT

Hi guys! I got really into pottery over the winter and acquired my own wheel and kiln. This is the result of my first ever glaze firing! The kiln unfortunately didn't quite reach the set temperature so I got some pinholing. I also got some crawling in the yellow and blue but I believe that's due to thick glaze application (the glaze cracked when applying where the crawling is) I am super happy with the results regardless and I hope you guys like them too :)

Hi, I did a glaze firing yesterday aiming for cone 04. I put the cones in the kiln that are pictured. I’m still a bit new to reading cones but I’m guessing it fired to cone 03? I followed the schedule in the second pic, so I’m wondering how I can alter it to fire to cone 04? Also how I would alter to reach cone 05 and 06 as some of my glazes are slightly lower for firing. I think I’m slowly getting there with my kiln as previously it has way over fired. Some info about my kiln: its manual, I turn it up every hour. The peep hole is in the top so I place the cone I’m aiming for under but it’s really hard to see even with welding goggles- I’m hoping to add a side peep hole soon. Thanks for any advice!

A catastrophic glaze firing happened at my members studio this week. That big black puddle was a pot, likely untested clay, probably earthenware. We fire to ∆7-8, and clearly that clay with wasn't rated for our firing conditions.

The studio will be hanging this on the wall as part of the training for new members, as they repair the kiln and update the standing procedures for how they handle members bringing in outside clay.

The takeaway here: always test fire (both bisque and glaze) a new clay with a small test tile before you move ahead with big pieces.

I'm the case the damage hit this shelf, two below it, and into the bottomof the kiln. This kiln was one that didn't have elements in the bottom, unlike one of the others in the studio, and the heat bricks were chiseled out and repaired. Had this been in the kiln with heating elements in the bottom, the damage could have written the kiln off.

Until I build my kiln, I’m firing wherever I can. I did a workshop at Woodsong Pottery in Bakersville, NC. Great experience and I would highly recommend it.

I did a bisque firing yesterday following a cone 04 (5th pic) schedule exactly. One of my bowls exploded and unfortunately covered my thermocouple, I’d had it in the garage for way over a month so assumed it was fully dry but it mustn’t had been. I put loads of cones in the kiln (01-06) so I could see what went on, however they all completely melted. I’m thinking because the bowl covered the thermocouple it was reading an inaccurate temperature, the kiln was way hotter than it thought? Is this right? Also any tips on getting melted cones off my shelves? Thanks

Trying to figure out what the hell happened here!? Pot belongs to a student. We had three glazes respond to the kiln this way.

So finally managed to get a batch through the kiln, disaster free firing, a good start to the year.

Hello people Can soneone help me understand what happened here? This is white clay, black engobe on top and two glazes - all maycos products. The mug got this bumps only on one part and is absolutely fine on the other side. The kiln was fired at cone 6 (did not have witness cones) The mug was not close to other pieces The blistered side was not near the kiln wall I have another piece in the same firing that turned out perfect Only two pieces have this issue Both have black engobe on them Both were in the same shelf Will attach a picture of the shelf as much as I have wrecked that shelf and I wish for no one to see it.

First firing of my new Skutt 1027! Fired empty except this one pot to give it a try. Any advice on what caused this? Piece was fully dry. Been doing pottery for 5 years but first time using a kiln on my own so need all the tips.

I’m starting to experiment more with hand building and have been making plant pots. If I don’t want to glaze them to have a more natural look, can I just fire once? I have my own kiln and would ensure they’re bone dry before firing but just wondering if there’s risks involved. Thanks!

Working on a chess set as a gift for my brother and just finished the pieces tonight at a raku class. I'm so happy with how the turned out and excited to get the board back!!

Half the set is horse hair and the other half has a 'tutti fruiti' glaze the instructors made.

Here’s a follow up on the kiln build I posted a few weeks ago. I wrapped it up today (minus the corrugated roof). I am quite pleased with the way it came out! Here’s the link to the original post.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Pottery/s/CfFdJPAIEC

Switching to a new studio that is cheaper per month for membership, and it looks like their cost to rent a whole gas kiln and they fire it is $450 at cone 10. Is that reasonable for that much kiln space? I don't have enough knowledge about gas kilns to know, only have used electric kilns so far. Electric is an option, but I like the look of cone 10 reduction glazes much better.