In pottery, bisque firing is a crucial step in the ceramic process that occurs before glazing firing. Once you have made your pottery and allowed it to dry completely, (referred to as greenware), it is time to bisque fire your greenware.
Bisque firing involves placing the greenware in a kiln and subjecting it to a low-temperature firing. The purpose of bisque firing is to make the clay body strong enough to handle and absorbent enough to absorb water from the glaze suspension.
First Step:
We slow fire our greenware to 200 degrees Celsius (referred to as Candling) this allows any water vapour (steam) to escape the ware, we don’t want our work to explode during the firing to temperature.
Second Step:
Next, we fire to a top temperature of 950 degrees Celsius (Cone 08) this temperature gives us a high porosity clay body needed to assist in glaze application.
Once the bisque firing is complete, the pottery is referred to as bisqueware. Bisqueware has a porous surface, which allows it to absorb the water from glazes more effectively during the glazing process.
After the bisque firing, we can apply glazes to the pottery, either through dipping, brushing, or spraying. The glazes adhere to the bisqueware surface and, during the final firing, vitrify, transforming into a glass-like finish.
Bisque firing is an essential step in pottery, ensuring that the pottery is sturdy, absorbs the water content from glazes properly, and allows glaze materials to stick to the clay body long enough to go through the glaze firing process.
BTW how many mugs are there?
Happy Potting to you! 😀
