Outside Firing Services and Fees
Firing services are currently paused as we wait for our new kilns to arrive. If you are not on a time crunch feel free to email us. We are a small community based studio with some limitations. We highly recommend Georgies Ceramics located in Portland for firing services. They are fantastic. The Clay Commons offers bisque firings at cone 05, glaze firings at cone 6 (mid-range).
We do not fire to cone 05, 10, nor Reduction or Soda firings.
Firing Fees:
Minimum charge (about 6” cube)....... $8
1/4 shelf............................................. $13
1/2 shelf............................................. $16
One Full shelf .................................... $20
Two Full shelves ............................... $28
1/4 Kiln load....................................... $32
1/2 Kiln load....................................... $48
Full Kiln load...................................... $85
Extra charges may apply for loading and unloading lots of little objects at our hourly rate of $25.
Custom firing temperatures and firing schedules are only available for full kiln loads at $85 per load.
Cone 05 Bisque Firing: We candle our bisque kilns up to 6 hours to ensure all work is dry before firing. Our bisque firing takes 3-4 days to complete. Greenware may be stacked to conserve space. Firing happens once every two weeks or more frequently.
Do not bring in work that is not dry. It should be almost bone dry if not bone dry. We do not have space to store it. Exceptions made. Inquire if needed.
Cone 6 Mid-Range Glaze Firing:
All work must be dry footed, no glaze on the bottom of the pieces. Do not test new to you glazes at our studio without proper footing and room for glazes to move.
Glaze can melt and move at this temperature. Leave room at the bottom of your piece to allow for vertical glaze movement.
No underglaze on feet. No glaze min. 1/8th from foot and if an underside is glazed the foot must be trimmed 1/4 deep or more.
* You will be charged for ruined shelves, damage to our kilns, or the time it takes to clean kiln shelves if glaze runs from your piece onto the kiln shelf.
* Scraping fee for glaze on the bottom of your ware will be applied at an hourly rate of $25. Min charge $10. Please clean your pots!
We do NOT stilt your work at this temperature as the stilts are only rated to low-fire temperatures. You may purchase your own and provide them with the firing. They may melt and your piece may fall over.
Beads and Jewelry: You must string your beads on High Temp wire and provide your own bead bars for us to fire.
Kiln Loading and Unloading:
We load and unload our kilns bi-monthly. We will text and leave a message for you as soon as they are finished and ready to be picked up. Please allow a turnaround of 7-10 business days per firing (bisque or glaze).
All work left after 7 days of notice will be discarded! Please call us if you need more time to come in and pick up your work.
General How To’s:
Please let us know the type of clay you are using, the temperature range of the clay body and the name of your clay. Please unload your work onto the wareboards and arrange with like heights and as tightly onto a board as possible. Use the painters tape provided to label each ware board with your name and phone number so we can text you when pots are ready for pick up. Each 1x2 wareboard represents what can fit onto a half shelf roughly.
Currently, if you are not renting a wheel, a student or member or membership lite we do not offer glaze shares ie. Glaze at home and bring pots ready to fire.
Cautions:
You should be aware that firing can have unpredictable results. Your pieces may break or the glaze may not turn out as you expect. If the unforeseen happens in our kilns, you will still be held responsible for the firing charges.