Creative & Culture

How To Fire A Kiln

Once you have made your pots and bowls, you need to fire them in a kiln to make them hard. In this Videojug guide professional potter Ricky Grimes talks you through how to use a kiln, and how to pack it to ensure you get an even firing. Enlarge

How To Fire A Kiln

Once you have made your pots and bowls, you need to fire them in a kiln to make them hard. In this Videojug guide professional potter Ricky Grimes talks you through how to use a kiln, and how to pack it to ensure you get an even firing.

Top Tips

  • A lot of electric kilns have a temperature controller; you can use this to control how long it takes to come up to temperature, and what final temperature to fire your pottery at.
  • If your kiln does not have a temperature controller, you can use cones. You place these cones in your kiln near the spy hole, when they bend a certain amount you know the kiln has reached a specific temperature.
  • Kiln props of different sizes are used to prop up different sized pieces of pottery inside the kiln.
  • When you pack your kiln you need to allow the heat to circulate around; you can do this by staggering your shelving heights and making sure it is not over-filled.