STUDIO HIATUS from 10 March 2026! Read more
Kia ora, as of 10 March 2026 I will no longer be providing kiln hire services.
Here are some folks with kilns happy to fire work in/near Wellington:
Contact individuals directly for pricing and drop off/pick up details!
Emma (Te Aro) – emma.fergusson.nz@gmail.com
Bryony (Brooklyn) – @mea_by_bp on Instagram
Shanti (Wilton) – @coshantista on Instagram
Jen (Thorndon) – @bruisedearthceramics on Instagram
Wundaire (Greytown) – @wundaire on Instagram
I am very pleased to now offer firing services in central Wellington!
| bisque firing | $10/kg |
| cone 8 glaze firing — with your own glazes | $20/kg |
| cone 8 glaze firing — using my glazes | $30/kg |
There is a minimum 1kg charge for all firing.
Full kiln hire (7 cubic feet) is also available upon request if you would like to fire to a different temperature or need work fired very urgently. Full kiln hire is $200 not including the use of my glazes.
How it works
Your work will be carefully weighed by after you’ve dropped it off. You will then receive an invoice via email.
Please ensure your firing service invoice has been paid prior to collecting your fired work.
Please allow for a average turn-around time of two weeks per firing cycle for the return of your fired work.
I will email you to schedule a pick-up time when your work is ready to collect!
Casual firing deliveries and collections happen at my home studio in Aro Valley off of Holloway Road.
Casual Firing Guidelines:
- Objects need to be bisqued before glaze is applied – I can’t fire objects where glaze has been applied to greenware.
- My casual firing customers usually glaze their ware at home, with their own equipment and materials, then deliver their glazed pieces back to us for cone 8 firing.
- If you’d like to have large bodies of work fired with me, please get in touch to discuss your project and deadlines, I would love to help. 3 weeks notice is needed to schedule firing services for large bodies of work.
- Maximum size of sculptures or singular objects suitable for our standard casual firing services is 40cm x 40cm x 40cm. If you’re making extra large scale work, please get in touch to discuss your project and secure a quote for services.
- Clay bodies need to be suitable to go up to 1245 degrees C – you can check the product information on your packaging or online orders for your clay’s firing temperature range. Stoneware, sculptural clays, raku, porcelain and most paperclays are suitable for our firing programmes. Low fire clay such as terra cotta is not.
- Work delivered for bisque fire needs to be bone-dry (if it feels cold to the touch, it needs more drying time) a general guide for drying times: two weeks drying time for ware with walls thinner than 6mm, three weeks for ware with walls thicker than 6mm.
- Glazed work for cone 8 needs to be ‘dry-footed’ (no glaze on the base of the work, and a clearance of 3mm at the bottom edge) and all glazes used must be suitable for 1245 degrees C (no cone 5 glazes, or low fire glazes please).
- If you’re using an unfamiliar glaze, or a glaze that is known to be runny, please let us know, and if possible provide a bisqued catch plate to put underneath the work.
- We can fire beads or other jewellery forms if you can provide a ‘bead tree’ for firing. These can be purchased or made.
What I can’t fire:
- Unknown clay bodies. If you don’t know what kind of clay it is, I will not fire it.
- Unprocessed wild clay that may contain plant roots, large stones, or other organic matter.
- Damp work.
- Low-fire clay bodies unsuitable for cone 8 (terracotta, earthenware, Brick Red).
- Solid objects: anything thicker than 2.5cm is liable to retain moisture, and could damage other makers’ work, or my kiln.
- Glazes unsuitable for cone 8.
- Work with glaze coating the base.