Womboota Artisan Pottery

With springtime already blossoming around us in Womboota, it’s time for a fresh new look in the pottery, inspired by the soft and pretty tones of cloudy blue spring skies, speckled birds’ eggs, ripening wheat. And to this end we’ve been busy with our own version of lockdown baking – biscuit firing some pots, preparing to trial our latest glaze recipes.

A biscuit firing sounds appetizing. But the truth is, what you get out of a pottery kiln after a biscuit firing is only half-baked! It always tests the potter’s patience and will-power. That’s because the pots must be carefully air dried, then twice fired in the kiln before the exciting results of new glaze trials can be seen! The whole process takes days. The ‘biscuit’ or low, slow firing comes first. After around 12 hours in the firing, and many more hours cooling in the kiln, the hard but still brittle (like a biscuit) ware is carefully removed and prepared for glazing. The pots will have changed a little from the original unfired clay – the drab whites or muted pinks of raw clay develop crisper, matte eggshell tones. Still, the true rewards will come later (we hope!), in the high-temperature glaze (glost) firing. So we just have to wait a little longer… TO BE CONTINUED.