#120 - Kiln loading 101

Ryan & Becca answer some listener questions regarding vitrification, cold weather impact on your studio materials, & a number of them related to loading your kiln. They go into lots of specifics about their own kiln loading and firings. Stick around long enough to hear a good bickering session about kiln logging.

Resources
https://digitalfire.com/glossary/vitrification

Listener Questions
On this episode:
- My community studio uses standard 181 stoneware which is labeled as a cone 6-10 firing body. Our kilns glaze fire to cone 6. Through researching this topic on my own, I’ve come across some potters who say that clay isn’t vitrified (and not food safe) until it’s fired to its maximum temperature. If that's true, it seems weird that commercial clay manufacturers don’t make that distinction in the descriptions of the clay’s characteristics though. I’ve found a lot of mixed and confusing information about this subject online, so I wanted to get your take on it! @willowandvessel
- Right now all my glazing stuff is in our garage that’s not insulated. I'm holding out as long as I can, but I was curious what would happen if my glaze froze? After it thawed do you think there would be any issues or changes to it? I’m also wondering if temperature affects absorption at all? @goodwheelceramics
- Some questions for bisque firing from @andreiamonizzz

• Can the pots touch each other on the sides?
• Can we put pots inside each other?
• Will they warp if I stack them or the lip has something on top?
• Is air circulation important?

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