What is biscuit firing?

One of the most important steps in ceramic work is raw firing or also known as Biscuit firing, which can't be skipped by a ceramic manufacturer. However, for newbies who do not understand much about raw firing let me tell you that the principle of raw firing is not difficult to understand at all.

Raw firing is the first firing process where the workpiece has not been coated with glaze and can be fired in either low or high temperatures. Why raw firing? What’s about not firing it? The answer is that raw firing will help the clay or the finished products to be solid and also help in terms of the color of the clay as well.

In addition, raw firing is also to check the condition of the clay to make sure that there are no cracks before being glazed. One of the secrets of firing raw materials is that it should be fired slowly and evenly. The time it takes to fire should not be too fast because it can easily damage the workpiece. The temperature used to fire the raw materials is generally about 750 - 850 Celsius. The time required for firing is not less than8-10 hours and if the workpieces are of different sizes and thicknesses, they should be fired in the separated kilns. Do not immediately remove the workpieces from the oven. They should be left in the kiln 1 day to allow the raw materials to cool down before being taken out to the next step because if the workpiece hits the cold outside of the kiln too quickly, it will break.