4 Ways to Prevent Your Pieces Exploding in the Kiln

1. ‘Air dry’ pieces for as long as possible. 
As Brisbane is a humid climate it can take weeks for greenware (freshly made clay pieces) to really dry out, ready for firing. So, how can you know if your piece still has too much moisture inside?
Here are two quick tests:

• Put the greenware up to your cheek. Is it colder than room temperature? It still has too much moisture in it. Let it dry for longer.

• Place the greenware on a sheet of paper. Does the paper wrinkle? If so, there is still moisture trying to escape the piece. Keep on letting it dry.

2. Ideally don’t build thicker than 25mm. 
For most projects, less than 25mm of clay thickness is a good rule of thumb. It lowers the risk of having pockets of air and moisture deep within the piece. Your pieces will dry faster and be less heavy after firing. And it will be cheaper too.

3. Make a hole for steam to escape.
This is crucial when you build hollow pieces – you need a hole for steam to escape. Otherwise a hollow piece without a hole is like a grenade in the kiln. While the clay is still leather hard, use a needle tool to make an inconspicuous hole somewhere on the piece. If you forget and the piece is already bone-dry, just use a drill bit to drill a hole. Make sure the hole is large enough, so that when the clay shrinks the hole remains big enough for steam to escape.

4. Finally, kiln fire using a long preheat. 
This is a kiln process that is taken care of by our tremendous kiln fire team. For more information on this, simply ask one of the firing team.