264 
HlEramic studio 
Second Prize — Sydney Scott Lewis, Georgetown, Ky. 
A perfectly fired piece of china should have a uniform 
glaze. The colors should unite with the glaze and be 
a part of it not look as if they were baked on. There 
should be no specks or spots caused by dust or careless 
handling, no chipping off of enamel or paste. The colors 
should not look faded, but pure and clear and clean. The 
grounded surface should not look dull, or oily, or pebly 
and scale in places, the gold bright and smooth and not 
blistered and brown in color with a tendency to rub off. 
The enamels and lustres should be pure and transparent. 
To obtain the above results : 
ist The china must be in the proper condition to be fired. 
2nd. You must have a first class reliable kiln in which 
to fire it. 
3rd. The stacking of the kiln must be done carefully 
and intelligently. 
4th. The firing and cooling of the kiln must be care- 
fully and slowly done. 
PROPER CONDITION OF CHINA TO BE FIRED 
It must be free from moisture, dust and lint, oil, paint 
and gold that has run over edges and finger prints. Many 
persons bring pieces to be fired, and if the firers have any 
conscience about the matter at all, they have sometimes 
literally to work some time to get it into a fit condition. 
Often in the bottom of a piece you will find a pasted bit 
of paper and the price mark under the rims of plates and 
other articles, streaks of gold, or color, lustre etc. Some- 
times in vases and pitchers bits of straw or excelsior, this 
will burn and create gas and smoke and injure perhaps 
the whole kiln full of china. 
Paste and enamel should be dry and look dull. Lus- 
tre tinted surfaces and gold should be perfectly dry. 
All pieces when color has been dusted on should be carefully 
wiped, as the dust will fly in the kiln and settle on other 
pieces. In fact have the piece of china as near perfect in 
point of material being well put on and as neatly as possible. 
When that is done the china is ready for firing. 
A FIRST CLASS KILN 
No matter how perfect the work on a piece of china, 
if it is poorly fired the work is of no avail. To do good 
firing one must have a good kiln. There are many kinds 
on the market. Charcoal, gas and oil. It is generally 
thought that the oil kiln is the best, and the Revelation 
superior to them all. As my experience has been with 
this kiln I shall speak of that. It is clear, convenient, 
easy to fire, very simple if you have a good chimne)^ con- 
nection and strong clean draft. They vary in size from a 
very small to a very large size. 
No. 6 is, I believe, best adapted for studio work. The 
heat is more uniform in a large kiln than in a small one. 
For amateur work, a small studio kiln No. 4 is excellent, 
although I believe No. 3 is taking its place somewhat. 
The kiln should be set up in a clean dry place, as dry as 
possible. It is advisable to have a separate chimne)^, but 
it is possible to use a chimney with another opening provi- 
ded the chimney has a good draft, by closing draft in stove 
while firing. The opening for kiln pipe should be above 
opening for stove. If other houses are very near, the 
chimney should be a tall one, taller than the houses. 
If you use a kiln that has an iron pot, the inside should 
be covered with white wash or slacked lime, put on the 
consistency of milk to prevent the iron from injuring the 
colors, lustres, etc. A good draft is the main thing, unless 
the draft is clean and strong the chimney and kiln get 
clogged with soot, especially if one turns more oil into 
the burner than is readily consumed. Revelation kilns 
will fire glass equally as well as china, but glass should be 
fired alone and a much lighter fire. I have used a No. 4 
Revelation for fire years and have never had a piece broken, 
under or over fired and the glazes have been perfect. I 
fire color, lustre and Belleek at the same time always with 
excellent results. 
STACKING THE KILN 
Have the muffle clean, free from dust, perfectly dry, 
if there is the least dampness heat the inside throughly 
before stacking. See that all cracks are well stopped with 
cement. The back of the kiln and the bottom are the 
hottest. Remember to place French china where it will 
get the hottest fire, German next, English and Belleek 
the lightest. English china is not advisable for amateur 
firing, it is too soft for over glaze kilns and needs a special 
firing. Some prefer to fire Belleek by itself but if placed 
in the front of kiln and not touched by another piece or 
stilt, it will fire perfectly, never stack another piece on Bel- 
leek as the stilt will stick and in removing pull off the glaze. 
Belleek tankards should be placed upside down on a piece 
of fire clay to prevent cracking. In firing lustres with 
painted pieces put the lustres in hottest part. Blues re- 
quire a hard fire and dark blue will glaze like enamel if 
put on heavy. Carmines and Rose are test colors, and if 
properly fired in the middle of the kiln the rest of the kiln 
will be properly fired. Highly fluxed colors such as apple 
green, pearl gray and mixing yellow go in the top of the 
kiln, harder colors at the back and gold about the middle 
but it wiU fire almost anywhere. Iron reds at the top. 
Hard enamels like Aufsetzweis in the bottom. As the 
bottom is the hottest it sometimes happens that things in 
the bottom are well fired and those on top under fired. This 
might happen with a tall piece: if so, turn upside down and 
refire to get a uniform glaze. Mat colors need a medium 
hard fire. 
In stacking use stilts, flat pieces of fire clay and fired 
out asbestos paper. Never allow one glazed surface to touch 
anotherbutit may touch an unglazed bottom or rim. Plates 
and saucers may be stacked flat one on another with stilts 
between or wedge, but it takes more practice to stack them 
safely on edge, placed flat is safer. If placed on edge 
three together is quite enough, if expert at handling you 
need not use a stilt but place the unglazed edge against 
the glazed surface. But be sure it will stay placed. Trays 
and large flat pieces should be stacked on edge. The piece 
makes a conductor of heat so it will be fired evenly. Cups, 
small articles ma}^ be stacked above one another. Have 
the larger article at the bottom and be sure the stack is 
true and steady or a slight jar may upset it and do much 
damage. Stilts will stick to pieces that have heavily 
grounded color or on edges when the paint is thick. A 
large piece placed diagonally is likely to become wedged 
unless a stilt is placed between the edge of article and side 
of kiln. It is remarkable how many pieces an expert 
stacker can get into a kiln, each piece in the right place. 
There need be no breakage unless the firer is careless, of 
course there might be accidents, but care will tend to elim- 
inate them. After the kiln has been properly stacked 
the door should be tightly closed and the kiln is ready for 
firing. 
