No kiln?
Rent a shelf.
+ Kilnmarrow fires bisque to cone 04 and glaze to cone 6 three times a week in a shared studio kiln. Claim a quarter shelf or a whole level, drop your pots off before load, and come back to fired work. From $10 a quarter shelf.
+You bring pots.
We run the fire.
+ Every load is checked, loaded, fired and unloaded by studio staff on a fixed schedule. You never touch a kiln shelf, a cone pack or a controller. The curve below is the program the kiln actually runs.
+2232°Fpeak, about 11 hours under power
+| When | What happens | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Day before, 6 pm | Drop-off closes. Your pots go on the intake cart with your hold ticket number written on the foot in pencil or underglaze. | You |
| Load day, 8 am | Staff check every piece: feet clean of glaze, nothing over the shelf height you booked, cookies under anything runny. Anything that fails waits for you on the shelf by the door, uncharged. | Studio |
| 9 am | Witness cones go in, the door seals, and the program starts with a candle at 220°F to drive off moisture. | Kiln |
| 10 am – 8 pm | The climb to peak, then a ten-minute hold so the glaze can heal over pinholes. | Kiln |
| Overnight + 1 day | Natural cool, or a controlled cool through 1400°F on slow-cool loads for satin and crystalline surfaces. The door stays shut until the kiln reads below 150°F. | Kiln |
| Two days after load | Unloaded into the pickup cubbies, sorted by ticket number. You get an email with a photo of your shelf. | Studio |
| Within 14 days | Collect during open hours. After two weeks, work moves to the back room; after a month it goes to the seconds table. | You |
Shelf rates
+You pay for the footprint your work takes up, not by the piece and not by weight. Every level of Big Marrow is a 24 × 24 in silicon carbide shelf, split into four quarter spaces.
+| Space | +BisqueCone 04 · 1945°F | +GlazeCone 6 · 2232°F | +Glaze, slow coolCone 6 · held to 1400°F | +
|---|---|---|---|
| Quarter shelf12 × 12 in · four mugs or two bowls | +$10 | $14 | $16 | +
| Half shelf24 × 12 in · any two quarters | +$20 | $28 | $32 | +
| Whole shelfOne full level, booked together | +$34 | $48 | $56 | +
| Private loadAll five levels, your schedule | +$150 | $210 | $240 | +
Height is part of the space. Levels are posted from 6 in to 12 in tall. Book the level your tallest piece fits; the shelf map shows the clearance on the left.
+Tiles and tests ride cheap. Glaze test tiles under 2 × 3 in fire on the test rack at $1 each, no booking needed. Drop them in the tile box.
+If something runs, it’s on us to grind. A shelf that needs scraping after your glaze runs is $15, waived if you used a cookie. We’d rather you test than pay.
+Kiln room rules
+This is the sheet taped to the kiln room door. Read it once and every load goes in clean.
+Clay that matches the firing
+Glaze loads take stoneware and porcelain rated for cone 5 to 7. Bisque loads take any clay body. Earthenware is welcome in bisque but cannot go into a cone 6 glaze firing; it will slump and bloat.
+ +Witness cones sit at three heights in every load. You can see the photos on your pickup email.
+Bone dry, or it waits
+Greenware for bisque has to be fully dry: room temperature to the touch, no cool spots on the foot. Damp pots crack and can blow out and take a neighbor’s work with them, so we hold them for the next load.
+Clean feet, ¼ inch up
+Wax or wipe the foot and the bottom quarter inch of every glazed piece. Glaze on a foot fuses to the shelf. Pieces that arrive with glazed feet are set aside, not fired.
+Cookies under anything that moves
+Runny, crawling or untested glazes sit on a bisque cookie. The studio keeps a bin of them by the intake cart, free.
+Mark every piece
+Write your hold ticket number on the foot in underglaze pencil. Unmarked work goes to the lost shelf for a month.
+Studio glazes or yours
+Use the studio’s cone 6 glazes on the glaze bar, or bring commercial ones labeled for cone 5 to 6. No low-fire glazes in a cone 6 load, and nothing containing lead.
+Drop off, pick up
+Marrow Yard, Unit 4
+Roller door on the yard side. The intake cart is just inside, left of the kiln room.
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- Mon – Fri
- 7:30 am – 8 pm +
- Saturday
- 9 am – 5 pm +
- Sunday
- Pickup only, 11 am – 3 pm +
Do I need to be a studio member?
+No. Anyone can book shelf space for a single firing. Most of our potters throw at home, at a community wheel, or finished a class and lost their kiln access.
+What if my pot breaks in the kiln?
+Firing is hard on clay and some losses are the clay’s doing, not the kiln’s. If a piece is lost to a firing fault on our side, such as a controller error or a shelf failure, you get that space back free on any later load.
+Can I change or cancel a hold?
+Yes, from the link in your hold email, up to 24 hours before drop-off closes. After that the space releases to the waitlist automatically.
+Do you fire reduction or cone 10?
+Not yet. Big Marrow is an electric kiln and fires in oxidation only. Bisque at cone 04 and glaze at cone 6 cover most studio clay bodies and glazes.
+How tall can a piece be?
+Up to 12 in on the bottom level. For anything taller, book a private load and we’ll post the shelves around your piece.
+The next load closes soon.
+Shelves fill from the bottom up. The tall levels go first.
+ Claim a shelf +Drop-off closes in
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