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Kiln

Small contemporary ceramics · Portland

Small ceramics, thrown and fired by hand

Cups, bowls and vases made in ones and twos, in a studio that faces north. Turn the mug, try a glaze, take it home.

Shop this firing See how it is made

Hearth Mug in Oat

Satin cream with a soft, buttery break over the edges.

Drag to turn

The current kiln load

Eight pieces, fresh from October

Every piece is one of a few. Glazes shift a little with each firing, which is the point.

Showing 8 pieces

The studio

Made slowly, for ordinary mornings

Kiln is two potters, one electric kiln we rebuilt in 2021, and a shelf of test tiles that goes back years. We throw on Mondays to Thursdays, glaze on Fridays and open the kiln on Saturdays, when anyone is welcome to come and watch.

The clay is a speckled cone-6 stoneware from a supplier twenty minutes away. The glazes are mixed in the studio from raw materials and tested against food, coffee and a lot of dishwashers.

Hands shaping wet clay on a pottery wheel
Close-up of glaze pooling on a ceramic surface
Speckled stoneware surface up close

Left: a wall being pulled on the wheel. Right: oat glaze breaking over the iron speckle in the clay.

Stage 1 of 4

  1. A 450 g ball of speckled stoneware is wedged to drive out the air, centred on the wheel, opened and pulled up into a wall about six millimetres thick. Still soft enough to dent with a fingertip.

  2. The handle is pulled from a separate strip and joined with slip. The foot is trimmed with a loop tool, then the piece dries slowly under cloth. Fast drying is how cups crack.

  3. Ten hours up, a full day to cool. The clay turns into pale, porous ceramic: no longer reversible, but still thirsty enough to drink the glaze in.

  4. Dipped, wiped clean at the foot and fired again. The glaze melts to glass, the whole piece shrinks by about twelve percent, and the colour you chose only arrives when the kiln is opened.

Bring one home to the breakfast table

Back to the shop
Ships in 3–5 days
Packed in recycled paper and cardboard. No plastic.
Free over $120
Otherwise a flat $9 within the United States.
Thirty-day returns
If a piece is not right, send it back unglazed by regret.

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