The finished pot is a thing of beauty. From your hands has come this wonderful creation, born into being where nothing existed before! The clay is now, what is called "raw clay". It is not fired. The next step will be to put it into a ceramic oven- a kiln. It will be fired for hours, then cool down for hours before the kiln can even be opened. Once completed it is now ready to be glazed. There are many approaches open to you now: underglaze, rake glazes, oxides and other methods. How high the kiln is fired depends on the clay that was used. There are different cone levels. Now kilns are often fired digitally and do not use a cone that melts and triggers the kiln to shut off as in the past.

Now the clay is fired it is called bisque ware. And after glazing will come another firing in the kiln.