Firing Flowers

[willowhearne]

I'm fairly new to pottery (only a month and a half since I bought my wheel) and yesterday attempted to make ceramic roses. They turned out quite well, but I'm wondering how to fire them. The petals are rather thin and I'm worried they might crack/fall off in the kiln. This is only my first flower though so not a big deal if it doesn't work. 

 

In short, what's the best way to make/fire flowers? I saw another person made each petal separately, fired them, and put them together afterwards. My petals are too brittle to do that I think. Has anyone found a good way to make flowers and fire them well?

 

Also, what do I do about a stem? Should I make a ceramic stem and then attach it to the flower after it's fired?

 

Thank you,

Willow

[Pugaboo]

I make, shape and assemble my flowers with wet clay. I poke a hole in them for a stem I add later. They are dried, then VERY CAREFULLY bisque fired. When the flowers are bone dry they are super fragile so handle them carefully as you load them in the kiln. Once bisqued they are glazed and placed on stilts to fire. When done I grind off any little spots from the stilts and add wire for the stems. There are several ways to make stems for flowers including using clay, I like wire because I can shape the finished flowers into bouquets and arrange in vases.

 

I should note I use Little Loafers cone 6 clay and fire in an electric kiln.

 

T

[Denice]

I made a bunch of calla lily type flowers for a mural, since they were white on white.  I use a white glaze for the inner part and a clear on the out side especially thin on the underside.  I had some old brittle elements that I broke up and used as stilts.  Didn't need to do any grinding, fired to Cone 5.  Potter