Firing Guidelines

Our firing service is open to the public and pieces can be dropped off anytime during opening hours, no booking is required.

Firing is $12 per kg to be paid for on drop off.

When you drop your work off you will be required weigh everything and fill out a 'firing slip' with your details.

You will be notified when your work is ready to collect. Please collect all pieces within 3 months of receiving notification or it will be given to charity.

To manage the risk to our kilns and everyones work, we have strict firing guidelines that must be followed. 

WE CANNOT FIRE:

• Work that is wet. It must be 100% dry when it is placed on the firing shelves. Evaporating moisture inside the kiln can cause the kiln to rust & can damage the brick, when moisture is heated it expands and could explode.
• Work that contains any foreign materials (paper, metal, wood, etc.) This burnout can damage elements.
• Glazed greenware (raw clay). This can be hazardous to the work and the kiln. 
• Greenware to maturity temperatures. All work must be bisque fired first. This is a safety precaution.
• Work with glazed bases, glaze applied too thickly, too close to the bottom or very runny glazes. This could wreck our shelves and your work if it drips or runs.
• Solid or extremely thick pieces. Anything thicker than 5cm MAX is likely to explode.

PLEASE ENSURE THE FOLLOWING:

• Write your name or unique mark on all of your work so that it can be easily identified. This is essential so that we can identify and keep track of your work and so that no one mistakes your work for theirs. 
• Bring kiln cookies to place your work on if you are working with a glaze that may drip.
• Poke a hole in your piece if it is hollow and fully enclosed.
• Get to know your materials. Be aware that some glazes run more than others. Educating yourself and becoming familiar with your materials will prevent some/most of any possible damage to your work, others’ work and the kiln.
• Take your boxes with you; they will be recycled if left behind. Shelf space is limited & is not for storage.
• Bring your own box & packing material when you pick up your work.
• Don't touch or move another person’s work and make sure the work you are collecting is yours.
• We advise that you take a photo of your work so that you can find it easily once it has been fired.
• Please provide setters if you are using BRT (made from a different clay body)

DAMAGE:

• If kiln shelves are damaged (due to overflowing glaze, incorrect firing temp. given, etc.) you will be charged a cleaning fee of $40 per damaged shelf.
• If your work damages someone else's piece you will be required to pay a fee to cover the cost of the refund to the other person.
• If your work ruins a kiln shelf, you will be charged $140  for the cost of replacing that shelf. 
• If your work damages the interior of the kiln, you are required to pay a fine based on the severity of the damaged.

PLEASE NOTE: 

•  We strongly recommend that you make tests of glazes and clay combinations before making a large volume of work.
• We cannot work within time frames, most of the time your work will be fired between 2-6 weeks, however we cannot guarantee work will be ready in a specific time frame and cannot fire to deadlines. 
• We strongly recommend using sitters for work that might drip to avoid damage.

We take extra precaution to make sure your work fires safely, but accidents do happen and we are unable to make any guarantees in regards to the final results. Ceramics is a very volatile medium and mishaps occur that we do not expect.

We strongly recommend that you do a lot of testing and leave yourself plenty of time to complete any project.

There are always surprises in ceramics!