How is Pottery Made? - Stories N' Stoneware LLC

Stage 1: Bag of Clay

The First stage of making pottery is getting the bags of clay.
Above we have red, speckled and white clay. These are the clays used by Stories N’ Stoneware most often.
Next up is to make something out of it, known as the Greenware stage

Pottery can be made several different ways, We most commonly use the pottery wheel
Once the piece has been created or thrown it is left to dry until it becomes harder, this is called leather hard.
Then the piece is trimmed and in the case of mugs a handle is pulled and added, like the video below
And this is also the stage that underglazes are added if needed.

Afterwards it is left to dry for a few days more to let all the water evaporate and is called bone dry
This is when it is ready for the next stage, the bisque kiln fire

After getting bone dry the pieces are put in the first kiln fire, called the bisque fire
The Bisque is fired to Cone 04 or around 1970 degrees Fahrenheit ( this can take several days to get to temp and to cool down)
Once cool enough to remove for the kiln it is called bisqueware
Bisqueware is now ready to be glazed.

Once the pieces are glazed, they are put in the kiln for the final glaze fire.
The kiln is fired to cone 5 or 6, depending on the clay and glazes around 2130- 2200 degrees Fahrenheit
Then after the pieces are removed and tested, they are ready for use!

Horse Hair Raku

Luster Fire

Raku Reduction Fire

There are alternative firings and addition firings of pieces as well
Raku Horse hair pieces are bisque fired first and then heated in a kiln to cone 06-05 and then pulled while still hot to apply the horse hair (not food safe)
Raku Reduction fire pieces are bisque fired and then heated in a kiln to cone 06-05 and then pulled while still hot and put in a metal can with sawdust and other combustibles until cool (not food safe)
Luster fire is an additional kiln fire after the glaze fire. This includes silver, white gold, gold and mother of pearl luster. Luster is added to a glazeware piece and then fired to cone 020-018 and then are done when cool (luster are not dishwasher or microwave safe)

By Annie Gietz