For Clay Hole members
Kiln firings
Once paid, write your order number on your kiln ticket before putting it on the drop-off table. No need to pay for bisque firings.
Your firing price
Measure it, add it, done.
Round down to the nearest ¼″, and include your cookie in the height.
At its longest point · 2″ to 40″
At its widest point · 2″ to 40″
Tallest point, cookie included · 2″ to 50″
Enter all three measurements to see your firing price.
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The whole process
From paid to picked up
Six steps, and the first one is the one people forget.
Pay for the piece
Right here, before it goes anywhere. Every glaze firing gets paid for before drop-off.
Write your order number on your kiln ticket
That is how we confirm at loading that the piece is paid for. Adding several pieces in one order? Put that same order number on every ticket.
Put a cookie under it
Every piece needs a kiln cookie or glaze catcher underneath. No cookie, no firing — there is no exception to this one.
Leave it on the glazeware drop-off table
Kiln ticket inside the piece or underneath it, so it stays with the work.
We load when the tables fill up
Usually every week or two. It is a massive kiln, and we fire it full. Most pieces are back in your hands within one to three weeks.
Pick it up within two weeks
Two weeks from when it comes out. After that it is most likely gone, so set yourself a reminder.
Before you measure
Four things that change your price
Always measure the longest point
If a piece is 4″ wide at one point and 8″ wide at another, it is an 8″ piece. Same in every direction. We are paying for the space it occupies in the kiln, not its average width.
Your cookie counts
The height measurement includes the kiln cookie or glaze catcher sitting under the piece. It takes up kiln space too.
Anything 100 cubic inches or under is $4.80
Flat. That is roughly a 4.6″ cube, which covers a lot of mugs and small bowls.
Small pieces can share one cookie
They need to be roughly the same height and all fit on a single 6″ cookie with three quarters of an inch to spare on every side. Measure by the tallest piece on the cookie. This is the only time pieces get combined.
Straight with you
What the firing price does not cover
Better you read it here than find out at the drop-off table.
The cookie
You make your own. There is almost always abandoned clay sitting around the studio that you are welcome to use for it.
Refires
Add glaze and run it again — we genuinely hope you experiment. But a refire takes exactly as much kiln space as the first firing, so it costs the same again.
Clay
Bought separately. Glaze, on the other hand, is part of your membership.
Outside clay, ever
No outside clay comes into the studio. No exceptions. If we sell the clay, we will fire it. If we carry the glaze, we will fire it.
If it cracks, blows up, or fuses to the shelf
That is the risk of firing, and it sits with you. No refund on the firing fee. It is rare, and it is real.
If we are the ones who damage it
A loader error is on us: you get a free extra day at the studio and an extra day to remake the piece or make something else. A construction or quality problem in the piece itself is on you.
The obvious question
Why charge for firings at all?
Most studios do charge — plenty of them a good deal more per cubic inch than we do. Kilns take a long time to load and unload and a lot of energy to run. Charging by cubic inch is the fairest way we have found to make sure the space you use is the space you pay for.
They also wear out, constantly. Cone 5 is brutal on a kiln: heating elements burn down and have to be replaced, thermocouples drift out of true and get swapped, and the brick chips, cracks and needs patching. None of that is optional, and none of it waits.
And the honest number: the average piece fired here costs $7.13.
If your firings are stacking up faster than you like, it is usually one of two things. Either you are moving through pieces like a production potter — in which case, take a little more time and make each one more special. Or you are leaning on our biggest molds. Most studios do not have molds the size we do. That one is the cost to play.
Questions we get constantly
Firing FAQ
Can I add more glaze and refire it if I do not like how it came out?
Yes, and we hope you do experiment. Just know a refire takes the same kiln space as the original, so it is charged again at the same rate.
Can I add more than one piece to my cart at a time?
Yes, and please do. Measure each piece, add it, then use the same order number on every one of your kiln tickets.
Can I combine tiny pieces on one cookie?
Yes, as long as they are roughly the same height and all of them fit on a single 6″ cookie with three quarters of an inch to spare on every side. Measure according to the tallest piece on the cookie.
Do kiln cookies and glaze catchers count in the measurement?
They do. Include them in the height.
Can I put a piece in without a cookie or glaze catcher?
No. Every piece needs one underneath it, every time.
Do I get my cookie or glaze catcher back?
Kiln cookies, no. Glaze catchers we try to return, as long as they come out intact and we do not spot any new sharp edges on them.
Can I fire my pieces in another kiln?
Sure — but only if you bisque fire them elsewhere as well. It is both firings somewhere else or both firings here.
I did not pick up my piece in time. Is it gone forever?
Most likely, yes. Talk to management though — we do hang onto some special pieces a little longer. No guarantees.
What if I forget to pay?
Because your ticket needs an order number on it, this should not really happen. If it does, just hurry up and submit the payment. And thank you for your integrity.
I earned a free kiln firing. How do I cash it in?
Rewards card: get it punched, and write “Month 2 Freebie” — or whichever month it is — where the ticket asks for the price. Anything else: staple the freebie to your kiln ticket and write FREE where the price goes.
What cone do you fire to?
Cone 5 with a twelve minute hold, which works out to roughly a cone 5½.
The fine print
Worth knowing
- This page is for Clay Hole members. We do not fire outside pieces for non-members.
- There are no refunds on kiln firing purchases made by non-members.
- Glaze firings are paid for before your piece goes on the drop-off table. Bisque firings are free.
- Firing prices land on small price steps, so your total may round by a few cents from the exact cubic-inch figure.
- We fire to cone 5 with a twelve minute hold, roughly a cone 5½.
- No outside clay in the studio, ever. Any clay we sell, we will fire. Any glaze we carry, we will fire.