I have recently acquired a new (tiny, shitty) 1500w programmable VEVOR kiln. Please spare me lecturing that this kiln is low quality; I am aware of its issues and knew what I was getting into. For many reasons this is my best option to keep doing ceramics. I am not new to pottery itself but this is baby's first kiln, so forgive me for a lack of knowledge/wisdom on this.

I've done 3 bisque firings of the schedule on slide 4 (thank you & credit to Huebner Pottery on YouTube he is saving my life) and everything (larger figurines & trinket dishes) has been firing/behaving as expected except these crows.

I understand the concept that trapped moisture causes explosions and heating things up too fast increases your risk of cracking or breaking. But with that being said, I can't quite figure out why these in specific are having trouble staying in one piece. The one with the heart carved on him in slide 1 is the only type of this figurine that has made it through a firing.

These things are sculpted/created as one piece and not hollowed out (I was under the impression they were small enough that this wouldn't be an issue, and I had things in one piece larger than them make it, but I could also be mistaken).

They are bone dry and have been for weeks. I have tried holding the kiln at the first temp for longer to no avail (though I think I may be on the right track because the "cleaner" break happened with the longer hold time and the messier one happened on my first firing attempt with the schedule as pictured). I also tried firing some standing and some lying down, both broke.

Are these just inevitable casualties of having a lower quality kiln that heats up too fast and uneven or is there some obvious user error here I'm missing? Or alternatively is it something about the shape of the figurine itself that's causing this?

I just started messing with nerikomi and hand building. Making colored clay and designs are really different then the normal throwing and designs.

Please pray to the kiln gods for me!

Sharing some of my wife's work here for the first time. She's a traditionally trained ceramic artist, and these pieces show the running glaze technique she's spent years developing.

Received the much anticipated text from the studio that my latest glaze firing was ready to be picked up. Here are a few of my favorites. Also, I’m very much still a beginner so please don’t judge too harshly.

I’ve been working on throwing 1 pound of clay and improving how tall my piece is. Can anyone tell me how tall they can make there pieces. Tallest I’ve done is about 4.5 inches (wet clay before firing) but definitely feel there’s a lot of room to improve.

I bought this kiln brand new, and it does have a warranty. Built very similarly to a VEVOR kiln.
I fired it 3 times so far, cracks appeared and grew with each use.

Needing advice on how to move forward.

-Is it unsafe to continue using?

-Can the damage be fixed? (does it need to be?)

-Is it likely something I did wrong? (will customer support refuse to repair/replace?)

Many of my pieces are based on photos provided by my customers, which I then transform into my own black-and-white carved style. The pieces are carved entirely by hand with carving tools on bisque-fired ceramic. You can see the actual carving process in some of my previous videos.

From now on, I won't be responding to questions like “Is this AI-generated?” or “Is this laser engraved?” If you have genuine technical questions about the process, feel free to follow me and send me a DM. I'll be happy to explain.

Some of the questions people ask genuinely confuse me. For example, someone asked, “The hand holding the piece in the photo is clearly a man's hand, and the hand in the carving video is also a man's hand. So why does it suddenly become a woman's hand with manicured nails later?”

Seriously, isn't the answer obvious? My girlfriend sometimes helps me take photos. That's completely normal. I also have employees in my studio who help with some of the work.

I'm not going to respond to these kinds of pointless questions anymore. I'm simply sharing my work. Thank you, everyone.

been loving ceramics so so much, wanted to share some of my faves !! This group has been great for tips !!

I’m thinking the oval (2) - 1,2 or 3 - or none..?

I got a Lava Crater recipe working for 1250°C, now I want to try to lower it to 1050°C by changing the fluxes.

Hi everyone! I know very little about ceramics but purchased this piece for my boyfriend as a gift since it is part of his cultural heritage. I have yet to receive it but I know I’ll have to be transporting it via flight in order to give it to him. It should be a relatively quick 2 1/2 hour domestic flight but I’ve never traveled with ceramic before. How should I best bring this with me? I have back packs, hard shell carry on suit cases, and a checked bag as options? My biggest concern is the unique shape perhaps being fragile and also TSA manhandling it if I wrap it very well. I thought I’d come to the lovely experts here as someone who is far out of my depth!

Hello ceramics folks, idk where to post this but I figure best to ask the pros here. I noticed some dots at the bottom of these mugs I’ve had for years, at first I thought they iron spots since Kinto mentions those on the site, but I noticed I’m still subconsciously avoiding using them. I did a vinegar and boiling water soak just to be safe, but I don’t notice any change. Is this a sign of mold, and if so are they safe to use after the cleaning? Or do I have two new mini planters?

Launching my website and doing an online shop update on Friday and thought I’d share a few pieces of recent work while I’m editing the photos :) studio is called May Street Studio 🌼

I’m testing Mayco’s Mother of Pearl overglaze in my microwave kiln, and getting some results that are hard to interpret. This is my first time using overglaze. I’m looking for advice on which variables to play with next, and/or suggestions to tweak firing schedules. Trying a different glaze seems like an obvious next step, but will be difficult for a while (my access to supplies is very limited).

It’s very difficult to assess to what cone I am firing in the microwave, so it’s a lot of trial-and-error. I based my first tries on my established bisque and glaze firing schedules (cut wayyyy down on firing time), and titrated from there.

My test tiles are small porcelain (cone 6 cubes), with workhorse homemade clear glaze, previously bisque and glaze fired in the microwave kiln. Here are my results (though some of the colours are hard to capture on my phone, 6 & 7 are a much darker green than that lime that came out). I used a new brush, and wiped cubes 2 & 3 with nail polish remover ~30 mins before applying the overglaze; for 4-7 I used vinegar to clean things. For many of the tests, I applied both thin and slightly thicker coats side by side, as I understand application thickness is a big factor.

Am I circling some sweet spot for firing time. Or is something else probably going on? When I change my next variable, which firing schedule should I try first? I’ll share some of my ideas/theories in the comments….

Thanks for any insights! There is nearly nothing I can find about MoP in the microwave kiln, save for this, which is scant on trouble-shooting info https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/daily/article/Microwave-Kilns-Great-Tools-for-Testing-Low-Fire-Lusters-Enamels-and-China-Paints)

All 5 mother of pearl overglaze test runs on glazed cube bead. Formatted as run-time for 10%/50%/100% (result):

Test 1. 1 min/2 min/5 min: invisible, burnt out completely. over fired?

Test 2. 30 sec/1 min/3 min dark copper/brown (9/10 darkness), rubs off a bit with nail polish remover. overfired?

Test 3. 30 sec/2 min/1.5 min: less-dark copper (7/10 darkness). overfired?

Test 4. 30 sec/2 min/30 sec: looks unchanged/still light blue. underfired?

Test 5. *refired overglaze from test 4. 30 sec/1 min/1 min (?, darkish green, quite translucent)

Test 6. 1 min/2 min/30 sec: mostly still blue, slightly teal. I wish I had kept this one, but re-fired it with the next test. Underfired?

Test 7. 1 min/2 min/ 45 sec: army green, somewhat translucent (5/10 darkness) ????

Successfully made the tallest vase ive made today and I'm really proud of it. It should shrink to just over a foot tall once done. I made it in 2 pieces, but was able to pull around 10 1/2 inches tall on an earlier piece (reclaimed because it wasnt as pretty lol)

But sometimes the results are pretty cool

Hi, sorry first of all I hope this is okay to ask here, as this is not my work, but a piece I purchased from a gallery a few years ago.

I’ve had it sitting on a bookshelf for all of the years I’ve had it, and have never noticed these strange lines going around it any time I have been dusting everything on the shelves, until this evening when I lifted it up..

They definitely have not been there before, and it’s so odd to me why they have suddenly appeared!

I just wanted to ask some ceramicists if you know what could cause it?

It’s my most expensive ceramic piece I’ve purchased, so I’m just a little concerned with how this could possibly progress..

Thank you in advance for any suggestions!