THE PRODUCTS OF CLAY AND FIRE 



The placing of the ware in the glaze-kiln, or "glost- 

 oven," as the oven for firing the glaze is called, is a much 

 more delicate operation than placing it in the biscuit- 

 oven. In the biscuit-oven many dishes may be piled 

 one above another, each resting on the one beneath, 

 and coming in contact with it. But in the glaze-kiln, 

 where the glaze becomes a sticky layer of molten glass 

 covering every portion of the ware, this cannot be done, 

 as every point of contact will show in the finished ware. 

 If plates, for example, were piled together, as they are 

 in biscuit-firing, they would be welded together into 

 a solid mass. It is necessary, therefore, to support 

 every piece of ware on just as few points of contact 

 as possible, and have those points as small as prac- 

 ticable. 



The ideal way of placing the ware would be to have it 

 suspended in such a manner that no portion of it came 

 in contact with anything. As this is obviously impos- 

 sible, the potter must be content with some device 

 that makes the necessary points of contact as few and as 

 small as possible. By means of variously shaped 

 bits of burnt clay, known as thimbles, spurs, stilts, 

 saddles, etc., he arranges his ware so that the points 

 of contact show very little in the finished ware so 

 little, indeed, that in the best pieces only the eye of an 

 expert can detect them. To do this requires great 

 ingenuity, especially as in doing so the utilization of 

 every possible inch of space in the saggers, for econ- 

 omy's sake, must be borne in mind. 



For pieces of unusual shape, or delicacy, the placer 

 has often to devise supports of special form and con- 



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