My Pottery Exploded in the Kiln

in DIYHub2 years ago

I made a rookie mistake yesterday. I put the majority of my pottery in the kiln before it was bone dry. The result is all of my vessels exploded from the moisture contained in the clay.

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The sight of my bowls in pieces was very disappointing. The bowls had been in my garage for a week which is usually long enough for the moisture to evaporate. The problem was that the garage was cold and dark during that week. My bowls and vessels also had a lot of clay in them.

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I can usually tell by lifting the bowl if it still has a lot of moisture in it. I thought that the heaviness was due to the thicker walls. I was so excited this morning when I woke up to open the kiln. Obviously, I expected different results.

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Not one piece was salvageable. Everything was broken or cracked. The lesson learned is that you can’t rush the process. I was away from home during the week that my bowls were drying, otherwise, I could have placed them in the sunlight for a while.

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My kiln is very small and I was not able to put the last two pieces in it due to lack of space. I am now grateful that I get an opportunity to let those bowls dry out some more before I attempt to bisque fire them.

I won’t make the same mistake twice. This was a lot of effort, time and clay to waste.

Enjoy your day.

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