SLOW DRYING GREENWARE
From the time your mug was first formed on the wheel (when you and I made the spiraling ridges) until the mug is fired in the kiln for the first time it is called greenware. During this time it is important to control how fast the mug dries. The mug needs to be able to dry over several days so that it does not form cracks as the moisture starts to slowly evaporate from the clay. About midway through the drying process I put a handle on your mug. The clay mug was leather hard (a bit stiff but still bent like leather). This makes the mug stiff enough to allow me to handle the mug without smushing it and yet still wet enough to have the handle stick to it. The way I control the drying is to cover it with plastic. This keeps air from drying it out too quickly. I also cover the mug with plastic for a couple days after I put on the handle so that no cracks form where the handle was attached to the mug.
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Before I put your mug in the kiln for the first firing, I carve initials (yours and mine) into the clay before it completely dries. It is customary for artists and craftsmen to sign (or at least initial) their one-of-a-kind piece of art. In the pictures below, the clay is still soft and a bit wet at this point. Your initials are not permanent until after being fired.
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After your mug was signed, I let it completely dry by taking off the plastic. It became what is called bone dry just like when bones become dry after a long time - yuck! Below mugs (yours and a few others) are starting to be loaded into the kiln for the first firing (bisque fire). The bisque fire changes the mug from greenware to bisqueware - hay, that makes sense! The following is WTMI (way too much information) but I still like it anyway. The etimology (or word history) of bisque is as follows: Bisque comes from biscuit. Bisquit is Latin (an old, dead language - my Latin teacher in high school would be mad at me for saying that - but it is true.) Breaking it down: Bis means two and quit is cuire in Latin which means to cure or cook. Bisque means to cook twice. And this is the first cooking or firing. (I'm not sure you cook the kind of bisquit you eat two times but I know a good bisquit is at least cooked once.)
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There is plenty of room to put a lot of other pots in the kiln.
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As you can see this is a very large kiln. Bricks will be placed to close in the front of the kiln once it has been fully loaded with pots.
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This is a bit hard to see but if you look real close you can see a small vase in the kiln as it is being fired. It is glowing hot!! The pots are fired at 1800 degrees fahreneit for 10 hours not including the warm up and cool down which adds another 10 hours to the process. When your mug comes out of the kiln it will be hard and strong - not at all like when you and I made the mug on the wheel when the clay was soft and wet. Wow - isn't that amazing!
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