Ceramic Bowls: Preparing for the Kiln

Video Transcript

"Okay so now as you can see we have our completed bowls. They are thrown and there is a foot on the bottom, a nicely formed foot. There are just a few things I would like to go over in regards to preparing these for the bisque firing which is the first of the firings that you are going to do in ceramics. First off the clay is still somewhat soft so this is the last time that we are going to be able to do any tooling or design work that involves gouging the clay and I will turn this over and simply write my name on the bottom. So you can see how the clay is still workable and I'll put the date there. Okay in terms of drying these, you want them to dry out nice and evenly, a nice consistent drying from the top to the bottom. If you are in a very hot environment where it is drying out really quickly you may actually crack the pot and form an S crack in the bottom of the pot there. So you want to be aware of this and if you are in a very dry environment, perhaps take a squirt bottle and squirt them down. And if it is really very dry you might want to put some paper towels on top of these, some damp paper towels and then maybe cover them with a piece of plastic or something like that. But we are in Oregon so these are pretty much ready now to go on to my drawing racks and get to be this kind of oddness here and then put into the kiln so I do hope you have enjoyed coming to my studio and learning how to make a set of bowls. Join us again on Expert Village and learn how to make a variety of different kinds of ceramic ware."