Today I performed my first pottery firing. I acquired a kiln several months ago, but the kiln needed a few repairs. As always happens those repairs were pushed to the back burner as school preparation were all engrossing this summer. Clay and I finally made the kiln a priority and got it back in working order a couple of weeks ago. Today I did a bisque firing and I can't wait to see how everything turned out. A bisque firing is the initial firing that converts clay into a ceramic. Bisque form is very porous and not finished. I will still have to glaze the pottery but it's fun to have finished the initial step.
I find I feel like a kid at Christmas. I really want to peek inside and see how things came out, but it will take all night to cool the kiln before we get open the kiln. My firing was to Cone 06, which is about 1830F, so it's pretty hot in there. What is really exciting about this is I've never performed a firing by myself. I have helped out with several since I was involved in pottery throughout high school so I knew the basic mechanics but I had never "flown solo"; so to speak. Anyhow, I just thought I'd share this with all of you out in blog reading land. Stay tuned... I may even post pictures of the finished product.
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