MW Artists fires to Cone 04 & Cone 6
Cone 06 is NOT Cone 6. Don’t make the mistake of buying a Cone 06! What’s the difference? Cone 6 = 2228 Degrees Fahrenheit. Much higher temperature than Cone 06.
Make sure your Cone 6 CLAY = Cone 6 GLAZE
Why? With 2 different melting points, your pottery will NOT fire properly. It will either affect the clay or the glaze.
Bisque Firing at Cone 04
Why do we do it? It’s so your piece is not fragile to handle AND you can glaze it easily in your hand. If you choose NOT to bisque fire, it’s your risk if you break it while glazing. It’s delicate! Is it necessary to bisque fire? Not necessary, but it’s common practice for all pottery studios. It makes your piece 80% solid so NOW you can move it, pick it up, spin it around & glaze it!
Underglaze (it’s a stain, NOT a glaze)
What’s that? It’s mostly used under a “Clear” Cone 6 glaze. Mostly, not always. It’s used directly on the dry clay (no need to bisque first). If you like to paint in detail, underglaze is effective. Also, lots of brighter colours that Cone 6 glazes don’t offer. You still have to bisque fire after to apply the clear Cone 6 glaze to lock in the colours.
Glaze Firing at Cone 6 (final process!)
Why? Most pottery studios in Toronto fire at Cone 6. We want to keep it consistent. Cone 6 firing is perfect for kitchenware so pottery will be “food safe, microwaveable, oven safe, dishwasher safe.” Most people want this.
Pottery takes 1-2 wks to fire
Why? Imagine your oven at home. Would you ever turn it on to warm up a slice of pizza at 350 degrees? Probably not. We make sure our kilns are fully loaded with pottery before turning them on for firing. They are left on for 3-4 days at high temperatures! Expensive process & we don’t want to waste electricity.
Glazing your work
How do I do it? Glaze is a liquid so stir it up first. You can brush, dip, splatter, pour, and experiment with different techniques. Fyi, not easy to do any fine brushwork with Cone 6 glazes. For Beginners, it’s better to bisque fire first.
Wipe the bottom of your pottery up to 0.25 inch
Why? Because glazes will always stick to our kiln shelves and ruin your piece. To avoid disappointment & lots of hard work for us to chisel your piece off our kiln shelves, wiping the bottoms is so important. Not many studios offer firing services so we protect our very expensive kilns and kiln shelves. And our makers can keep making!