Craft Pottery Kilns

Craft Pottery Kilns

Making your own pottery can be lots of fun if you have the right tools and materials at hand. Once you have finished shaping your pottery masterpieces, you also need to finish them by firing. This process transforms soft ceramic clay into hard ceramic and ensures that your artworks last. Ancient pottery has survived for centuries thanks to this simple process. This task is impossible to complete in a home oven because very high temperatures are required. You would need a pottery kiln for the firing.

The pottery kiln could either work on electricity or gas. Electric kilns are easier to use at home and they produce brighter colours due to their oxidation environment. They are suitable for bisque firings. The gas kilns that work with propane or natural gas are slightly more dangerous and require more care when operating them. They produce more earthy tones due to the lack of oxygen during the firing process and are perfect for Raku firing.

You should choose the size of your pottery kiln based on the amount of pottery you produce. The more pottery glass or clay you need to fire, the larger kiln you need. For maximum efficiency, it is best to load the full kiln when firing. The size should also reflect the shape of items you are about to fire. For instance, glass kilns are wide and shallow and are thus suitable for plates. The smallest are suitable for firing doll parts, beads and other small parts and could also work as test kilns. The largest kilns are for large production.

You can control your craft pottery kiln either with an electronic or a manual controller. You can program the electronic controller with a computer and use pre-made profiles for optimal results. These programs typically allow you to choose delay start, temperature soak, ramp speed and a candling period. The gas kilns are usually manual. Some kilns combine electronic controller with a manual kiln timer as a backup option.