KERAMIC STUDIO 
or cold room, warming before stacking is very necessary 
as any moisture which may be there will surely accumulate 
and settle in round drops on the china, leaving light spots 
which will be plainly discernible after firing. A good plan 
is to whitewash the firing pot and shelves with a good 
heavy coat of lime about every three months or as often 
as it needs to be renewed. This will absorb the moisture 
and prevent its settling on the china. 
To stack the kiln requires good judgment, careful 
calculation and good management. If plates and saucers 
are not tinted they may be separated by two or three 
strands of asbestos cord, if care is taken where each strand 
is placed. This takes up less room than the stilts and is 
a little more steady. It is a good plan to tie the pile of 
plates or saucers together with asbestos cord, as this will 
prevent their falling over. Cups and bowls, if not edged 
with gold may have other pieces placed on top of them, 
if a platten is put there for them to rest upon. All the 
spaces may be filled with small pieces. In stacking the 
kiln, be sure to leave sufficient room for expansion and 
contraction between the pieces or they will either break 
in the kiln or be fired together, and will have to be broken 
apart afterwards. Utilize every part of the kiln but do 
not overcrowd it. Do not allow the decoration to rest 
against the side of the firing pot or discoloration may 
result from the iron in the pot. 
When decorating with lustre and mineral color it is 
well to do the lustre work and have it fired first as some 
of the mineral colors will not stand the heat required for 
the lustres. Over gold or gold scrolls, where unfluxed 
gold is used, requires a very light fire. This should be 
placed in the coolest part of the kiln. 
Belleek china must never have a hard fire . Too great 
heat on this particular make of china will spoil the color 
and absorb the gold. 
Paste for gold, and enamels are not so apt to crack or 
peel off if dried slowly, before firing. 
Moisture in the kiln is very injurious as it prevents 
the colors from glazing and the gold from adhering to the 
china. 
During the process of firing the gold will first appear 
quite black and will remain so, until almost done, then 
this blackness will gradually disappear, the entire firing 
pot will be filled with an orange color, and all the articles 
will be enveloped in a white haze. When it is sufficiently 
fired the black appearance of the gold will have entirely 
disappeared and everything will be in a mist. When 
done turn off the gas all at once, not gradually asweturned 
it on. It is a good plan to fire in the evening and let the 
kiln cool over night, then open it in the morning. 
Sometimes a small grain of sand may be hidden away 
in the china where it cannot be seen and this when exposed 
to the fire will cause a separation. 
It is a mistake to think that anything will do for the 
first fire. Experience teaches that if the first painting is 
correct the second will be comparatively easy. 
As a rule, dust, smudges, daubs of paint, mistakes, 
crooked lines, poor drawing, are more glaring after being 
fired than before, and in many instances can never be 
obliterated or rectified. 
Always use a perfectly dry cloth in cleaning the kiln. 
A whisk broom is better for this purpose. 
I use a Wilke Studio Kiln, and find it highly satis- 
factory. It is convenient, clean and odorless and always 
ready for use. In three years it has cost nothing for re- 
pairs and the cost of operating is very small. 
Artie E. Rogers, Dubois, Pa. 
[EXTRACTS only] 
To ascertain the hottest and coolest parts of your kiln, 
apply carmine to bits of broken china and distribute them 
through the kiln. On taking these pieces out, make a 
memorandum of the places where the color fired most satis- 
factorily. Gold may be tested in the same way. 
Discolorations caused by drying in the oven all dis- 
appear when fired. 
All lustres except silver require a very hard fire. Lus- 
tres may be fired with other colors, but care should be 
taken not to place them near the air hole, as spots are apt 
to appear, if you do. 
When colors are underfired or come out without a 
glaze, they may be restored by applying a thin wash of 
ivory glaze or a wash of one part flux and three parts color, 
over each color. 
During the process of firing the kiln should be care- 
fully watched, lest the gas should burn too high, or there 
is danger of the gas going off if the pressure is poor. 
On taking the china from the kiln, it should be exam- 
ined to see if there is any roughness. If there is, the piece 
may be rubbed carefully with very fine emery cloth, or 
some water placed on it and the roughness ground care- 
fully with a prepared pumice stone. 
The gold should be burnished with either a glass bur- 
nisher or burnishing sand. The glass burnisher always 
becomes more or less discolored, but should it get very 
dark the gold is not fired hard enough. Care should be 
taken that none of the particles of glass from the burnish 
get into the kiln or remain on any of the pieces that are to 
be retouched, for if they do they will fire into the china 
and cause ugly marks. 
o o o 
Augusta H. Knight, Carthage, Mo. 
[Extracts only] 
If one has even a moderate amount of firing and can, 
in addition, do a little for others she will not regret the 
investment. One experiments in so many different ways 
and learns so much as to action of colors, when doing her 
own firing, besides saving time and being independent 
of the convenience of others. 
Having decided on the make of kiln and the fuel, 
be it oil or gas, the printed instructions accompaning the 
same must be carefully followed; especially should one 
be careful with flue connections, draught, plumbing, etc. 
These directions as well as those pertaining to firing are 
sufficient for the mechanical manipulation of that particu- 
lar kiln but there are so many points concerning which 
one is still in doubt. Indeed something can always be 
learned about firing. 
Plates are best placed on edge and may rest against 
the sides of the kiln but must not touch each other. If 
placed one in front of another, they must be separated 
by stilts (which come with the kilns) and may also be 
stayed at the bottom to prevent slipping or rolling. 
When stacking other pieces such as vases, bowls, cups, 
etc., place a large heavy piece on bottom, small pieces 
may be placed inside the larger ones providing they do 
not touch the sides and are not covered tightly enough to 
prevent a circulation of air around theni. 
A stilt may be placed on the large piece on which to 
place another piece and so on. One must make sure the 
pile is not too heavy for the lower piece, that it stands 
firmly and does not "wobble". If it seems at all uncertain 
