Hey there! Let’s talk about pottery, especially how we can make our beautiful pieces shiny or glossy when we cook them in the kiln.
When we make pottery, we use something called a kiln, which is like an oven but super hot! It cooks our clay pieces to harden them. We often use a temperature cone to measure how hot the kiln gets. A Cone 9 is very hot, around 2300°F! This is a special temperature where some glazes (the shiny stuff) will melt beautifully and stick to our pottery.
Now, after we reach that high temp, instead of letting the kiln cool down super fast, we do something called controlled cooling. This means we let the kiln cool down more slowly. This helps the glaze to become really smooth and shiny, rather than crackly or dull. Think about it like letting a cake cool down slowly so it doesn’t fall apart!
Let’s put this into practice! Here are 7 objects that you can make in pottery, which would need that special temperature of Cone 9 to 2300°F for controlled cooling:
- A mug
- A plate
- A flower pot
- A bowl
- A teapot
- A vase
- A tiles
So, when you’re working on your pottery projects, remember how important the temperature and cooling methods are for achieving that perfect glossy finish!
