Wondering what goes down after your class? Check out our process below!
your pots dry!
Your awesome creations hang out for a bit, giving them enough time to dry completely without any warping. Throughout this period, some water evaporates from the clay, starting from the surface. It's crucial to ensure that no water is left deep within the clay, as it could turn into trapped steam and lead to explosions in the kiln!
To make space for other students' incoming work, the piece of paper you filled out becomes super important. We use it to carve your name, class date, and glaze choice on the bottom of your pieces. This way, we can easily identify your pots and keep track of them throughout the entire process. Once your pots are named, they hang out on a rack for further drying. Keep in mind that, due to beginners using more water and having thicker walls and bases, this phase might take up to 3 weeks!
your dry pots are fired
Once your creations have completely dried, they embark on the next leg of their journey. Carefully nestled into our kiln alongside hundreds of other pieces, we ensure it's packed to the brim – not just for efficiency but also to be eco-friendly and conserve electricity. Fun fact: our kiln can run for up to a whopping 24 hours and is usually fired twice per month!
As the kiln works its magic, temperatures soar to 1945°F degrees, transforming your clay creations into fantastic ceramic vessels. To avoid any mishaps like cracks or explosions due to thermal shock, it's essential to let the kiln and all the pottery inside cool down gradually. Allowing this giant oven to cool naturally takes about a day.
Once the cooling process is complete, your pieces emerge from the kiln and are meticulously sorted into different glaze categories.
your pots are glazed
Now comes the fun part – each individual pot gets a personal touch with hand-glazing based on your choices. This hands-on process spans a few days as each pot is carefully dipped and meticulously wiped of excess glaze. It's crucial to ensure that no glaze is left on the base – trust us, fused pots to the kiln shelf aren't fun to deal with. We take our time with each piece, making sure the bottoms are spotless!
Once the glazing is complete, your pieces return to the kiln, but this time at a higher temperature, 2322°F. This second firing allows the glass in the glaze to create a surface that's not only food-safe and dishwasher-safe but also non-porous, forever bonded to your ceramic creation! As with previous kiln firings, the process takes time to both heat up and cool down. It is essential to note that when you choose glazes, while we do our best to provide examples, ultimately each piece will be unique due to the chemical makeup of the glaze and we cannot provide every example possible!
your pots are ready
Once your pots make their grand exit from the kiln, we kick off the organization process. They are alphabetized for a smooth pickup, and to ensure accuracy, we cross-check them with the email address you provided on your card.
Here's where things get a bit hands-on yet again – your email is manually entered into our system. This step is crucial because, more often than not, your class seat might have been initially purchased by someone else, meaning we don't have your information on file. It's a meticulous process where hundreds of emails are copied, typed, and then sent out to give you the heads up that your fantastic pieces are ready and waiting. After a month (extra time over holidays and breaks), they are donated to make room for incoming works of art that need to be picked up and the process begins again!
Hopefully these fun facts help you understand the process we undertake for your pots to make it home safely! We take immense pride and care in handling your creations and genuinely appreciate your patience and understanding throughout this process. Please note that we do not guarantee the final outcome of your creations as we cannot vouch for your handiwork in the process- the class is the experience ☺
For efficiency in our workflow, we kindly request that you refrain from reaching out to inquire about the status of your pots. We've got a variety of resources available on the site for you to conveniently check on the progress of your pottery and we promise you will receive an email when they’re ready for pickup. Your cooperation helps us keep things running smoothly and allows us to do what we do best!