Process: Bisque firing

I bisque fire all my pots before glazing and then firing in the salt kiln. For many years I single fired meaning I would load the salt kiln with greenware and fire to maturity, skipping the bisque. I stopped doing that a few years for a number of reasons. Anyhow I fired my bisque kiln this past week and thought I'd put up a few pics. Most people fire bisque in an electric kiln, I don't have one so I built this chamber out of soft brick and made a lid out of ceramic fiber. There is a burner in the back that shoots the flame in under the shelf on the bottom. The lid has a hole for the 'chimney'. It's essentially an updraft kiln, very basic, and yes it fires unevenly but not enough to matter (for me). Bisque kiln

Here are the pots on the top shelf.

All these pots were in the kiln. Around 60 in all. Bisqueware is nothing great to look at, pink and plain. I'll be firing my salt kiln next week. That's when the magic happens.