February 4-6
Orlando Florida
AGC Expositions INC
www.agcexpos.com
info@agcexpos.com
407-765-6680

February 26-27
Atlanta Georgia moved to:
Lawrenceville Georgia
Exhibitor’s Association Ceramic & Doll Show
www.ceramicdollshows.com
479-409-4000

Be sure to get your pre-orders in for pick up at the shows.

The Plan

Regardless of what kind of ceramic endeavor you choose to pursue, you need to start with a plan. You need to have an idea of what kind of business you want to set up and then follow a design to achieve that goal. Some of the things you will need to address include:

1. Create a Name
2. Secure a web domain
3. Make a budget
4. Obtain a checking account
5. Licensing and legal matters
6. Secure a location
7. Lay out floor plan
8. Gather fixtures
9. Order stock and supplies
10. Set up method of inventory control
11. Set up method or record keeping
12. Turn on utilities
13. Set up the store
14. Advertise opening

To read more about these steps, click here.

Introduction

You fell in love with ceramics as a hobby and you heard that you could make some money from it. It is tempting, why not do it? Or better yet, DO IT! This is the first of a series that will be designed to help you start a ceramic business.

There are many ways to turn your hobby into a business venture, but I don’t recommend you just jump in without doing some research and some homework. There are many ways that you can garner an income from doing something you love; but make sure before your turn from a hobby/business into a full-fledged income making business you know what you are doing.

The Internal Revenue Services has strict guidelines as to what is a hobby and what is a business, you are advised to get acquainted with all tax issues from the get go. But before we move on to that part of your new enterprise, lets analyze some of the ways you can make money with ceramics.

Presented here are several types of ceramic businesses. They cover all gambits from small enterprises to a large, full-fledged operation.

To see the rest of this seminar, click here.

There are many ways to fire your clay. Artists experiment and develop new firing techniques and methods all the time. There are two primary methods most commonly referred to as Oxidation and Reduction firing. In addition there are offshoot methods like wood/pit firing and salt glaze firing. Included in the reduction firing there are additional techniques which will be discussed further in other articles, like Raku, Horse Hair, Bone/ash, etc.

Knowing how Oxidation and Reduction firing works, will help the ceramist to better understand the other types of firing as well as many techniques.

Oxidation Firing

Most commonly, the ceramist will use the Oxidation type of firing for their ware. This is typically done in an electric kiln; but can also be done in gas or propane kilns. In this process, the kiln has adequate oxygen to interact with the glazes during the firing stage. The results are most typically bright and rich colors.

Most of the commercial glazes on the market are designed to develop specific colors under the conditions of Oxidation firing. This firing can be accomplished at low or high temperature ranges. Oxidation results are predictable in that they will match the color intended by the manufacturer when fired to the temperature suggested by the manufacturer.

For final results in the color to be achieved, it is necessary for the presence of adequate oxygen during the last part of the firing process.

Reduction Firing

Most usually, reduction firing is favored by potters and is done using gas, propane or other fuel burning kilns or methods. Reduction firing is the exact opposite of Oxidation firing. It is the lack of oxygen in the last part of the process that is critical for the desired effects. Fuel burning kilns give the artist control of how much or how little oxygen enters the firing chamber and when. Preventing oxygen from interacting with the glaze maturation creates unusual and sometimes unpredictable results. There are many popular techniques that utilize reduction firing such as Raku, Horse Hair, Salt Glazing, and more.

The corrosiveness of these methods makes them undesirable for electric kilns.

Submitted by Mal of L’Oie Peintre in France:

In writing this article I have made two presumptions, rightly or wrongly, that you are already familiar with the firing process of an electric kiln fitted with a kiln sitter, or that you are investigating the possibility of purchasing your first kiln fitted with an electronic controller and have already read Majik’s article on “How To Fire Your Kiln”. By saying this it will save a lot of repetitive comments on firing techniques.

I also wish to make it quite clear that I am in no way associated with, or connected to any kiln or controller manufacturer.

So firstly what are some of the advantages of electronic controllers?

1. Firing to whatever cone temperature you require can be done without the use of pyrometric cones. So, you no longer need to have a wide variety of cones to fire at different temperatures. You simply pre set the cone number that you require and the kiln will cut off at the appropriate temperature. This is very useful if you are like myself and experiment firing glazes to different temperatures to those recommended by the manufacturers, or if you want to use potters glazes which are not always fired to the more commonly used cone 06.

2. The start time can be delayed to suit your personal needs. If you have a studio or shop that is open to the public you don’t normally want to have the kiln firing when you have clients or students present. So the start time can be pre set to when you are closed and you don’t have to be there to start the firing process. It will then run through the firing cycle until the pre set cone no. is reached.

3. This facility can also be used to take advantage of “off peak” electricity, thus reducing energy bills and helps to make you a little more Eco friendly

4. If you wish to change the rate of fire or ramp normally slow, medium or fast, this can also be done without your being present.

5. There are certain glazes and techniques that require a “hold time”; again this can be pre programmed into the firing cycle according to your requirements.

6. Choosing your firing time carefully enables you to fire the kiln according to ambient temperatures. By this I mean that if you are working in a warm or hot environment, i.e. S. California, Texas, Caribbean etc, then the kiln can be fired overnight and not in the heat of the day. Or on the contrary if you live in Alaska, the firing can be timed to finish just before you start work, so that the kiln heat has already warmed the workplace.

To read the rest of this article, click here.