Gas kiln firing

the long version

This is the 1999 edition of a book I wrote in 1975, first published by others. The nice thing about a field such as ceramics is that so little has changed over time. Everything in the book is still valid. We still place clay into a box and apply enough heat to transform the clay into a ceramic. It is a science, but with some kilns it is an art, bordering on a miracle. So, what’s all the mystery? Some people can fire successfully and some can’t. Some kilns fire easily and some are stubborn or seem to ruin most of what is placed in them. All of this can be explained if you understand the firing process. That’s what this book is all about. Its purpose its to replace mystery with understanding. No more never-ending firings, or puzzles about something strange and unexplained happening. The other reason for the book is to conserve energy. Don’t get upset. By conserving energy, we make the craft affordable in this time of high energy prices, and thereby we prolong the craft and craftsperson. Conservation of energy also means less pollution because more or most of the fuel is burned and not belched into the atmosphere. With an ever increasing population, we all eat, breathe, smell, and live with someone else’s pollution. We cannot afford this. In a single, focused book, we can learn what it takes to fire a kiln without mysteries, with far less firing cost, and with less rejects.