Types of Pottery I Make

This pottery is the standard and most of what you’ll see people on social media making: you throw or hand build a piece using clay that can be electric fired up to 2269 degrees (cone 6). It goes through a bisque firing process and then a glaze firing process (and sometimes a luster firing process) and then it’s done.

Wood fired pottery is a much more intense process, and usually requires a crew of at least six people to handle, depending on the size of the kiln. Wood firing requires a lot of wood that is continuously fed, or stoked, into a specially-designed kiln over the course of a couple of days until reaches temperatures of over 2381 degrees. That kiln then has to cool for a few days up to a week before it’s unloaded.

Raku is a fast fire pottery technique that is not food safe and therefore not used on functional pots. This method can be done, start to finish, in a morning and the results take advantage of the beautiful contrast the process gives your pots. Glazes can range from shiny, crackled, or matte in a rainbow of colors. I don’t do this method very often, but it is very fun!