if one need to use a kiln to bake only a few bits of pottery, where is it best to ask for this service?
As long as its dried out completely, you could use a domestic oven on full blast for several hours. If the clay has not dried out properly, it will explode though.
Not a good idea Zig as a domestic oven is not capable of getting anywhere near the right temperature (1000 degrees c) to fire clay. Miraflores, you could try asking at your local school or FE centre or find a friendly local potter. But you are right Zig about it being dried out completely. However, if the thickness of the piece is too uneven it is also likely to explode when being fired. What sort of pieces have you made Miraflores?
Cheers Chris, Big oops there then:DOH:You are quite right, there was me engaging mouth before the brain came into play
I have had a kiln and would fire them for you but how you would get delicate, dry, uncooked pots to me without being smashed would be very difficult. Clay items in a dry state are incredibly brittle and fragile.
If it ever happens it would be just small plates (even in thickness). When you say explode, do you mean little more than cracking or something that it would shatter the oven apart and all the rest of it? Aren't the objects supposed to become stronger instead of brittle, does that happen when thay are cold?
Clay needs to be fired at the right temperature and at the correct 'ramp' rate. The ramp rate is the rate at which the kiln heats up. For the first 'biscuit' firing it needs a slow ramp rate so that the moisture is baked out of the clay slowly - to prevent cracking. Different types of clay need different ramp rates. In other words - don't use your oven :D An oven can be used for some glazes but, otherwise, shouldn't be used. Useless piece of information , 573C is the most critical temperature for firing clay and is the most dangerous from a cracking point of view. Look in your local papers to see whether anyone advertises pottery lessons. They usually allow you to take things to them for firing, at a fairly low cost. I know someone near us who would do it for you but we're still half an hour away from you. So it could work out a bit costly.
Potters talk about "wedging" clay. This involves kneading it, as you would bread dough, to remove any trapped air bubbles, before any creativity is begun. Even if the clay has an uniform thickness - and your plates will probably be fine Miraflores - any trapped bubbles can cause a piece of the body to ping off in the kiln, leaving a hole in the pot. It's unlikely to do any harm to the kiln but could damamge nearby pots. Sorry to sound alarminging but usually things come out just fine, s long as there's care in the preparation and the pieces are bone dry. As Shiny says, look for nearby pottery classs where you'll get advice and materials as well. That's how I started, pottery evening classes at the FE centre in Poole. Now my work comes up on Ebay!
The other problem you can get with plates is that the outer rim of the plate is nearer the heating elements than the centre of the plates. If the kiln is heated (or cooled) too quickly this is the time when they might crack from uneven heating.
I was mostly curious after seeing some nice decorations for sale, but it is not really an interest of mine (well compaired to the knitting, fiddling with websites and gardening would be something like a 2%). Besides I scald myself most times I use the oven, so I would be just too clumsy for anything to do with ovens. But I surelly would be curious to see some of Boghopper production which he is selling online...
No no. Not me selling them, other people who've bought them in the past. I haven't made anything for ages but now my stuff's on ebay I know I'm a genuine antique!:D Before I became a professional gardener I used to make pottery cottages and sold them to gift shops all over the world, plus the likes of Harrods and WH Smith, so there are quite a few out there. Another thought Miraflores. Many places have pottery cafes where they supply biscuit pieces, you decorate them and they fire them. Simples.
