194 
RERAMIC STUDIO 
GRAND FEU CERAMICS 
VIII— Kilns 
KILN is 
plement. 
artist nor 
without it . 
Taxile Doat 
the ceramist's main im- 
Neither the ceraniic 
the professional can do 
Only amateur potters 
will be satisfied with using the 
ordinary' kiln, the kiln of somebody 
else, because they have not the 
courage to do the work themselves, 
or because thej^ are ignorant of the 
construction, or fear the diffi- 
culties of handling a kiln. 
Without any reservation I will introduce my readers to 
the details which belong to the successful working of the kiln, 
but will not speak of all the trials which I had to make in order 
to solve the numerous technical questions which I long ignored, 
for^ though in the center of the Sevres establishment, I was con- 
fined to decorative work, and paralyzed by the "Everybody in 
his place" rule of large manufacturing centers. 
Kilns, the historj?^ of which it is useless to give here, have 
varied in shape according to the centers of ceramic production : 
horizontal, semi-cylindrical and with up draft in China; verti- 
cal, cylindrical, with up or down draft in Europe; horizontal, 
square and with up draft in certain parts of Central and South- 
ern France; vertical, cylindrical, some with up draft, some with 
dow^n draft in the Sevres factory, which however possesses a 
square kiln with two fire mouths and down draft. 
Whatever the shape, and whatever the country which 
uses it, a kiln is invariably composed of three parts: the fire 
mouth, the firing chamber and the chimney for the escape of 
smoke, flame and of the gases formed by combustion. 
All the vertical or C5dindrical kilns of Sevres and most 
kilns in Limoges and Europe contain two superimposed cham- 
bers, simply parted by the vault of the lower one. The upper 
one is called the baking chamber, and in this chamber the ware 
is subjected only to an imperfect firing, called hardening or 
baking. Each chamber of the kiln has its own door. 
Gres kilns, which are generally horizontal and square, 
have no baking chamber. There was none in the kiln used by 
Carries. The vertical porcelain kUn of Chaplet and mine have 
none. The former is wath up draft, mine with down draft. 
The baking chamber is not necessary, but it has the advantage 
of makmg possible, with the same fuel and at the same time, a 
double operation: the grand feu firing of the pieces which are 
ready for it, and the baking of pieces for the next firing, as in 
the baking chamber the heat reaches only 830°C., while in the 
firing chamber it may register I470°C. or more. 
There is no fixed size for kilns. This will vary according 
to the needs or wishes of the potter. Gres and porcelain can 
be fired in a kiln having onlj^ 32 inches diameter and 28 inches 
height from the floor to the crown, and with only one fire 
mouth, as weU as in the gigantic industrial constructions 
measuring inside over 12 feet in height and 15 feet in diameter, 
and having ten fire mouths all around. 
The firing can be done either with coal or wood. If only 
white porcelain and gres are to be fired, one may use coal, the 
economy of which is manifest; but if the pieces are decorated, 
economy is no more an advantage, as the gases from coal are 
injurious to colors. AU trials made so far with coal for grand 
feu colors have given either bad or comparative^ inferior re- 
sults. I have had a painful experience with this in the kilns 
of the Parisian suburbs. Orientals, not knowing coal, use 
wood. Limoges, Germany and England use coal. The three 
factories of Copenhagen, BerUn and Sevres, which make grand 
feu decorations, fire with wood. 
Notwithstanding my first disappointments, when I re- 
solved to do my own firing, I constructed a kiln with fire 
mouths for coal. From 1879 to 1894 I had my p^tes svtr pates 
fired at a large Limoges factory. I used to send them to Limo- 
ges, after baking, well packed in sawdust in boxes. But as I 
knew that I could do better and more, I decided in 1895 to 
construct m\^ first trial kiln, notwithstanding my limited re- 
sources and the consciousness of the difficulties which would 
assail me. I had to face the following problem, which will also 
have to be faced by all isolated artists. Having received my 
experience in the execution of decorative compositions on por- 
celain, I had to become initiated, at the lowest possible cost, 
to the technical difficulties of the different processes which 
belong to the production of grand feu ceramics, and to acquire 
the necessary skill in each of these processes : turning, modeling, 
coloring, plaster moulding, glazing, chemistry and firing. To 
solve this problem, I constructed on rue de Bagneux, in Paris, 
the .small coal kiln of which I will speak (Fig. 31, t^2, t,T), 34, 35.) 
Fig. 76. Plaster model of a porcelain kiln built in 1835— up draft— four fire mcmth.-'. 
Cylindrical, with vertical axis and up draft, having both 
firing and baking chambers, and three fire mouths for coal, 
this kiln was ideal from the standpoints of easy handling, rapid 
firing, economy in construction and especially in fuel. It 
was during three years my field of study. By practicing with 
it, I learned by my own experience, the best of all, to conduct a 
firing well, to make good saggers, to become famihar with the 
thousand precautions needful in the placing of a kiln, and with 
it I decided upon the final adoption of the ceramic bodies 
which I use to-day. 
With the plans, sections and dimensions which I give*, 
anybody who wishes to obtain the results w^hich this kiln gave 
me, and to spare, not time or labor, but money, will find it 
easy to build. Artists in better circumstances will probably 
prefer to do without this trial construction. 
*We reproduce the cuts such as they were sent by Mr. Doat with French 
terms and measures. The measures are in metres and decimal t'raetions of 
metres, whicli can be easily con\'erted into inches, one meter being equal to 
39.37 inches. 
