We offer a firing service for Members and Students of Canberra Potters, where you can drop your bone-dry and bisque work off at our shop or during an enrolled class, to be fired by our dedicated team.

Fair Use Policy

Due to the number of members and students putting work through the kilns, there is a 10kg limit per person per week. This is so everybody has a fair chance to get work through the kilns in a timely manner.

Please note, due to our ever-growing member base, this limit is currently being reviewed to ensure we can continue to offer fair and reasonable access to all members.

Firing Fees for Students & Members

Member bisque and glaze $15 per/kg

Non-Member bisque and glaze $18 per/kg (enrolled term students)

Member bisque or glaze only $9 per/kg

Non-Member bisque or glaze only $10 per/kg (enrolled term students)

Please note, due to increasing costs to provide this service, and to ensure that we can continue to provide all services at Canberra Potters, firing costs were increased from January 2026.

Access to Canberra Potters Glazes

Canberra Potters Glazes: Member use

As part of our service to our members we provide an extensive range of pre-made glazes for use on your pottery projects. These glazes are provided for use by members (and term class students) during class or member access sessions.

Canberra Potters glazes are not intended for commercial use. For those members who have reached a level of making where they are producing work for sale through shops or markets, we encourage you to source your own glazes or mix your own glazes using your own raw materials. As a not-for-profit association our resources (physical and material) are unable to cater to commercial demands. Additionally, as a community studio we are unable to fire commercial quantities of work for members. We appreciate your understanding.

Canberra Potters offers glaze courses from time-to-time. Keep an eye on our website and social media for course announcements.

Available Firings for Members and Students

• Bisque firing: 1000°C (Cone 06)
• Midfire Glaze firing: 1200°C (Cone 6): N.B. All standard CPS glazes are midfire. Canberra Potters’ Society only uses midfire-appropriate clays and glazes in all classes (excluding specialty courses or special teacher-run firings).
• Cone 6 is the maximum temperature allowed in the electric kilns. Members wanting to fire to stoneware temperatures can only do so in the gas kilns, when they have completed a gas kiln firing course at CPS and received a gas kiln license.
• We also offer private kiln hire for members with a valid kiln licence.
• Kiln firing courses are offered from time-to-time. Keep an eye on our website and social media for course announcements.

If you are unsure about your clay or glaze type, please contact a staff member for help.

Timeframes

Generally it may take about 2 weeks for work to be fired through our kilns. However, this is highly dependent on the amount of class work and member work which needs to be fired.

End of term, particularly in the lead up to Christmas, there is always an influx of work to be fired and it may take longer for your work to go through the kiln – potentially 3-4 weeks. We try to get everything through as quickly as possible, and when firing an estimated 30,000+ pieces of work per year we can see delays at times.

Missing work?

We recommend you always take photos of your work before you drop it off for firing.

If your work hasn’t appeared on the collection shelves, please consider how long since you dropped the work off – noting our timeframes above. Work may still be in the kiln or yet to be put in the kiln.

However, if it has been some time and work still hasn’t appeared, please email us at admin@canberrapotters.com.au with a photo of your work and description of glazes used. This will help staff track down the work.

ONLY COLLECT WORK THAT BELONGS TO YOU.

Firing Guidelines

We will NOT fire

• Earthenware clay.
• Work over 30cm tall, long or wide.
• Work that is wet or damp. Work must be ‘bone dry’ when it is placed on the trolleys to avoid evaporating moisture and/or explosions in the kiln.
• Work that contains foreign materials (metal, wood, etc.). The burnout can damage elements and cause noxious fumes.
• Glazed green ware (raw clay).
• Pieces glazed with non-CPS glazes where this is an increased risk of damage to kiln shelves.
  • if you wish to use non-CPS glazes in our kilns you must first discuss this with the technical officer – technical@canberrapotters.com.au
• Work with glazed bases. This will stick to the kiln shelf during firing. Any work found to have glaze on the base or deemed otherwise unsuitable to fire will be placed on the ‘REJECT’ shelf in the kiln shed.
• Solid or extremely thick pieces. Anything thicker than 3cm MAX has the potential to explode.
• Work that is unstable or has a rounded bottom if it is glazed. All work needs to be able to stand unsupported without a risk of movement in the kiln.
• Work that is hazardous to the staff or our kilns.
• Significant amounts of work for markets and shops – if you are creating large amounts of work for these purposes you may be able to access kiln hire at Canberra Potters, for a fee and subject to licencing requirements and availability.

PLEASE DO

• Know your clay and materials. If you don’t know if your clay is suitable for our kilns please talk to staff.
• Wax and wipe the bottom of all of your pots to ensure there is no glaze there.
• Make sure that your work is paid for at the time it is weighed.
• Poke a hole in your piece if it is hollow and fully enclosed. This WILL explode if you don’t.
• Write your name or uniquely mark your work to more easily identify and collect from the trolleys. This also helps to prevent accidentally collecting someone else’s work.
• Bring your own box & packing material when you pick up your work as we do not supply these items.
• Take photos of your work – if things go missing it is easier for us to help find it if we have a reference photo.
• Understand that sometimes there are mishaps when packing kilns – our staff take caution while packing kilns and moving work around, but sometimes accidents happen.
  
  And most importantly:
• Understand that ceramics/pottery is a practice of constant experimentation and discovery:
  • No matter how carefully you plan, the kiln has the final say — glazes shift, surfaces transform, and pieces sometimes crack or warp in unexpected ways.
  • Things often go wrong, but those “failures” are an essential part of the learning process.
  • Each misstep teaches something new about the material, the firing, or the maker’s hand.
  • Working with clay requires patience, persistence, and a willingness to embrace uncertainty, because it’s through mistakes and surprises that the most valuable learning — and often the most beautiful results — emerge.

PLEASE DON’T

• Touch or move another person’s work.
• Approach the kiln packers with questions or requests. They are only paid to pack the kilns not to teach or assist.
• Ask the kiln packers to fire your work. All kiln packing is done as per the schedule set by the technical officer.

If you would like to make use of this service and are not a Member or an enrolled Student, you can become a Member at the link below: