“Did my pieces shrink?” Your top ceramics questions answered
We’ve spent the last year delivering Clay Kit and clay-only packages across Germany, and even elsewhere in the EU. Over that time, we’ve received quite a few questions! Our customers have mostly never done ceramics before – they’re trying it at home for the first time. Maybe that’s you! We’ve collected all our most frequent questions, and answered them, to help you understand the basics about our ceramics process.
Yes, clay shrinks! Add 6%
It’s not really common sense that your clay pieces would shrink throughout the full process! It’s common knowledge among ceramicists, but you probably haven’t heard this before if it’s your first time making with clay!
And just to make it even trickier, different clays shrink different amounts. Our particular clay shrinks 6%. So if you want to make something to an exact size, you’ll need to make it 6% larger. A few examples: a lamp where a lightbulb fixture has to fit inside perfectly, or a candleholder that a candle fits into. For a candleholder, first measuring the diameter of the candle, and then make the candleholder’s diameter 6% larger.
Clay can sit on your shelf for…ever. Almost.
“How long can my clay pieces sit at home before bringing them to the studio for kiln firing?”
Don’t worry, your clay pieces don’t have an expiration date! Most new at-home makers are worried that they have to bring the clay to us when it’s still ‘fresh.’ But it’s much more important to bring the pieces to the studio when they are completely dry. We only put fully dried pieces into the kiln. (We can write more about this in another post). There’s no rush to bring the pieces in. The only reason to hurry is so you can use the things at home that you made yourself. 🙂
We finish your pieces in 3 weeks, because kiln firing takes time, and we have a weekly schedule
Mostly, our process takes a while because we have a strict weekly kiln firing schedule at the studio. Our schedule is essential for keeping everything running smoothly – literally hundreds of members’ works and Clay Kit pieces all get fired every week!
Here’s how it works:
- We have a strict kiln firing schedule at the studio: Monday is the first firing, Friday is the glaze kiln. If you drop off pieces on a Friday, they first go into the kiln the following Monday.
- Kilns take about a full day from being turned on to fully cooling down enough to open and unload them!
- We also have a ton of pieces dropped off these days. Your fresh pieces dropped off on a Monday might only get into the kiln the following Monday. And the same might happen when they’re glazed.
- We leave 3 full weeks to make sure we can absolutely get all your pieces fully dried, then into the kiln twice, and glazed
Why are the bottoms of pieces left unglazed?
Each piece put into the kiln sits on a shelf. Whichever part of the pieces touch the shelves must be left unglazed, or they’ll stick permanently!
Glaze is essentially glass – when it’s heated to a certain temperature and then cooled at the right pace, it becomes a layer of glass on the surface of your pieces. Sometimes, depending on the glaze, we even leave a little gap between the very bottom of your cup and the end of the glaze for the same reason: if it drips at all, it will get stuck!
Anything glaze touches in the kiln will be truly stuck to it. We need to use a special stone grinder to grind it off. By leaving the side of your cup unglazed where it touches the shelf, your lovely works leave the kiln in one piece, and we don’t have to grind our shelves every week 🙂
All of our glazes are food safe!
We specifically use glazes that are food safe, so that you don’t have to think about that when you’re choosing which color you want. No matter which item you get glazed, and which color, you’ll be able to eat and drink from it without worrying. When a glaze is food safe it means that no residue from components in the glaze will leave traces in the food or drink you put in your pieces. They are sealed and safe to snack from.
Got more questions? Message us on Instagram or email anytime.
