POTTERY FIRING SERVICES
Utilising the pottery firing services at the Waikato Society of Potters
At the Waikato Society of Potters, we run five electric kilns offering the following firing programmes:
Bisque - cone 08
Slow Bisque - cone 08
Mid fire glaze - cone 6
Raw mid fire glaze - cone 6
Lustre - cone 018
One gas kiln which we fire to cone 10 in a reduction atmosphere.
One wood fired Phoenix kiln, which we fire four times per year to cone 10 reduction, with the addition of soda. Preference is given to members to sign-up for these firings, but from time to time places are opened to non-members as well. Check our Class Bookings page to see if there's a firing coming up soon.
Two raku kilns that we fire almost every month on a team-work basis. If you would like to join in, you can see when the next firing will be taking place on our Class Bookings page. These firings coincide with our Play with Clay sessions, so you don't need to be a member to take part.
So how can you utilise all these firings methods?
Certain pottery firing services are reserved for WSP members. But we do offer opportunities for members of the public and community/school groups to fire their work as well. Here's how you can fire your pottery at the Waikato Society of Potters.
If you are a member, you can:
Fire work you made at a Play with Clay session
Fire work you made at a Members' Open Studio session
Fire work you made while enrolled in a class at WSP
Fire work you made anywhere outside of the Waikato Society of Potters studios
Hire a kiln to fill entirely with your own work
Take advantage of preferential sign-ups for the Phoenix wood firings
Participate in club Raku firings
If you are not a member, you can:
Fire work you made at a Play with Clay session
Fire work you made while enrolled in a class at WSP
Participate in club Raku firings that take place at a Play with Clay session
Participate in the Phoenix wood firings when places are made available to non-members
If you are a facilitator from a school or community group, you can get in touch with us to talk about firing pieces your group have made as part of a class or workshop. Phone us on 07 838 1950 or email info@waikatopotters.co.nz
How much does it cost to fire ceramics at the Waikato Society of Potters?
For the use of the electric and gas kilns, we have several pricing categories, which are calculated based on whether you're a hobby potter (firing a few pieces for your own use, or giving them to friends), or a commercial potter (selling the pieces you make in any capacity).
WSP POTTERY FIRING SERVICE CHARGES
NON-COMMERCIAL / HOBBY POTTER RATES
If you're firing a few pieces, you can calculate the cost of each piece by measuring the width and height. This gives us the volume of each piece, as the cost is based on how much room each individual piece will take up in the kiln.
The cost includes the bisque firing, all the studio glaze materials and the glaze firing.
Use the handy calculator below to work out how much your pieces will cost. You can even enter the dimensions for several pieces and the calculator will add them all up for you!
This calculator has been designed, hosted, and made available for your use by WSP member, Andrew Carnell. Thanks Andrew!
WSP POTTERY FIRING SERVICE CHARGES
COMMERCIAL POTTER RATES
If you're selling your work, you pay a slightly higher rate than hobby potters. This is to mitigate the wear and tear load on our kilns and consumables, due to the increased volume of firing.
You will also need to use your own cone 6 or cone 10 glazes depending on which firing method you are choosing. If you enjoy the look of the WSP studio glazes, you can mix these up using raw ingredients that you purchase yourself. The recipes are open source and we are happy to provide these to you if you want to use them.
Any other commercial glazes are okay to use in our kilns too, please just check that they fire to cone 6 or cone 10, depending on which kiln you are placing your work in. If you're unsure, please ask us before purchasing or firing these glazes.
There's no calculator for the commercial firing rates, but you can download the calculation chart below, or use the printed sheets in the studio.
KILN HIRE CHARGES
An economical way for our members to fire large amounts of work is to hire one of our kilns to fill entirely with your own pieces. Generally you are expected to have received the appropriate training in order to load the kiln yourself, but we can load on your behalf for an additional charge, if required. These prices do not include glazes, which you will need to provide yourself.
If you're hiring the gas kiln, you will need to have received training and be signed off as competent before you can fire the kiln by yourself.
Kiln | Bisque Firing | Cone 6 Firing | Cone 10 Firing | Raw Firing Cone 6 | Lustre Firing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ethel | $75 | $80 | - | $115 | - |
Doris | $75 | $80 | - | $115 | - |
Kiln 3 | $70 | $75 | - | $110 | - |
Kiln 4 | $40 | $45 | - | - | $35 |
Kiln 5 | $55 | $60 | - | $80 | $50 |
Gas | - | - | $80 | - | - |
PHOENIX WOOD FIRINGS AND RAKU FIRINGS
The charges for these two types of alternative firing vary depending on how many people are involved in each firing event. You will be briefed on how the costs are allocated when you sign-up for these on our Class Bookings page.
