The Importance of Having a Good Soak

Having a soak (or the holding of the firing temperature) can be very useful in a glaze firing. A soak may last from 15 minutes to 3/4 hour or more. This helps even out the temperatures throughout the kiln, and ensure all the pieces have achieved the optimum temperature. This is particularly useful if the kiln is densely packed. Soaking for too long however can overfire ware, so this must be taken into account.