I can't believe I accidentally fired my bisque load at cone 5!!

[elaine clapper]

Obviously my mind was elsewhere!  I have a show coming up, on a deadline.... and I accidentally fire my bisque load at cone 5.   I use Laguna Bmix clay and dip my glaze, layering w Amaco Potter's choice.  I (when my brain is working) bisque fire at cone 04 and  glaze fire cone 5 with a 5 minute hold. Right now I am firing a test load w a few small pieces at cone 5 to see if the glaze will hold. My confidence in that working is low. Waiting for the kiln to cool a little more before I open it. My fear is that the cone 5 bisque is no longer porous enough to hold the glaze. Unless I am unbelievably lucky does anyone have any ideas? or does that whole load get trashed?  bummed

[Denice]

I am afraid that you will have to dump it if the glaze test doesn't come out well.   At least you are test glazing it and not wasting your time on the whole load.   It happens to all of us.   Did you heat up your pieces and then dip them in the glaze for your test firing?  I hope your firing is a success.     Denice

[Min]

Might not be worth the work and extra time it takes to glaze mature clay, especially if your only option is to dip it. If you can, decant some of the water from the buckets so it's a bit thicker, that will help, as will warming the pots up to about 200F then dip. If not the just put the pots aside and move on, I know that can be easier said than done.

[Kelly in AK]

I’ll confess, I’ve done this a couple times. In my defense, once was the wrong push of a button, the other was learning to bisque in my gas kiln (I even had some pots that were only vitreous on one side!).

Glazing those pots was such a chore. I heated them, had to use tongs or a glove to dip, and wound up holding each one upside down for minutes to keep the glaze from flowing down to the foot. I’ll testify glazing took way too much time, and I don’t do anything complex. I’m a dip it and done kinda guy.

I’d have to be very desperate before I repeated that experience. 

[Babs]

Depending on the ware, you could paint it.......down the line a bit!

[Babs]

What temp/ cone does your clay fully vitrify?

Unglazed, rough folk seem to like these days.

Could brush and wipe an oxide wash and refire the stuff, to top temp recommended,  suited to that.

[elaine clapper]

Thanks for your input.  I think I will just put pieces on a back shelf for now. Then I might try the "rough look" that Babs suggested.  For now I will hustle and try to throw some new pieces. If I am lucky I can take new stuff out of the kiln the day of the show.

[Pres]

I have had some success with firing vitrified pieces in a glaze firing.  1) Heat up the piece   2) Dip or pour quickly as there will be more thick drips if too slow. Fire as normally.

The pieces I have fired in this manner do not look like the rest of my ware, but are more transparent in glaze, have color but also more of the color of the clay. stain decoration over top is excellent, but again it does not look like my work at all.

 

 

best,

Pres

[Mark C.]

always best to just chuck it all out and start fresh. The time wasting for bad reuslts is not worth it in my view. Done overfiring many times in my 50 years at this and its alway just easier to throw it away and move forward.

[Jeff Longtin]

Good Morning Elaine.

I'm sorry this happened to you. Very frustrating! Bad firings always occur right before big events.

I'm in agreement with everyone but will offer this thought: the functional things like cups and teapots are probably too much work to save but the platter forms may have a new life. As they're mostly decorative anyway maybe, at a later date, you can allow yourself to throw caution to the wind and decorate them in a way you never imagined. Maybe buy some low fire glazes and see what they look like, maybe throw some latex paint on a few. 

I followed the link to your website, you do beautiful work. Good luck at the show!