Glaze firing ruined?

[kellya10]

I am freaking out! I think I opened my kiln too soon and ruined all of my work. It was propped open a tiny bit probably 2hrs after it finished cone 6 glaze firing. When I looked everything looked dull and off colored. I quickly closed it but is it too late? It was still really hot so will it continue to change and colors have a chance to turn out right or did I screw up hours of work? 😭  if I did screw it all up and it turns out dull, can I add more glaze and refire or is it all doomed for the trash?

[Bill Kielb]

Did the kiln turn off because it reached your firing cone? If it reached cone then even propped open slightly your firing ought to be near normal. What is your firing schedule, what is your target cone, what cone are your clay and glaze, what turned the kiln off?

[neilestrick]

How hot was the kiln when you propped it? You should wait until it gets down to 300F or lower before opening it. Opening the kiln for a few seconds probably didn't hurt anything.

[Babs]

What temp did you open it?

Dull or matt instead of gloss?

[Callie Beller Diesel]

Hoping for updates. 

Aside from the work, unless your kiln is a small tester, opening a kiln when it’s only had 2 hours of cooling down from 1260 C/2300 F has a good chance of singeing hair. Or eyeballs. 

But yes, there are some changes in the glaze that can happen in the cooling, so hopefully everything’s ok. 

 

[Kelly in AK]

If it’s dull and matt it may not have reached temperature. Re-fire to the correct cone. Off colored is impossible to tell until it’s cooled below 300° F or so. By now you’ll know. Neither thing is because you cracked the lid too soon.