Pieces are thrown on the potter's wheel and allowed to slowly dry. Often, items are covered in plastic to help slow the drying process. This helps prevent cracks forming in each piece. When pieces are slightly dry and able to be held, the bottoms are trimmed carefully on the wheel.

Pieces are fired in a kiln in a bisque firing. This turns the clay into ceramic and prepares items to be glazed. Items are often nestled inside one another during this firing, as pieces will not stick together at this stage. This takes about 12 hours to be fired in the kiln and an additional day or so to cool enough to be handled.

Pieces are wiped down to remove dust and glazed. Glazing involves brushing on several layers of different colored glazes and allowing each layer to dry before brushing on the next one. The order of glazes, number of layers, thickness being brushed on, and other factors all impact the final piece. Glazes also do not look like the final, fired color when brushing them onto each piece.

Pieces are fired again in a glaze fire. This is much hotter than the bisque firing, melts the glaze, and turns it into a glass like coating on each piece. Pieces cannot touch each other during this firing, as the glaze would melt together and fuse the pieces. This takes about 8 hours to go through the firing process and about 16 additional hours to cool in the kiln.

Final Piece

Different glazing techniques create very different results. From pure colors, layering colors, adding dried glaze chips on top (like the one here), each piece is a surprise when we open a kiln.

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