Why Does Your Pottery Take 4–6 Weeks to Be Ready?
You’ve finished your pottery class, made a bowl you’re proud of, and now comes the difficult part: waiting.
One of the most common questions we get at our London pottery studio is:
“Why does my pottery take 4–6 weeks to be ready?”
Your piece may look finished when you leave the studio, but the making process is actually only halfway done.
Before your bowl can safely come home with you, it needs to dry completely, go through two separate kiln firings, be glazed, and cool down properly. Ceramics is a slow process — and unfortunately, there are some parts that simply cannot be rushed.
Step 1: Your Pottery Needs to Dry Completely
The first thing we do after your pottery workshop is leave your piece to dry.
Freshly made clay contains a surprising amount of water. Even when the outside of your bowl feels dry, there can still be moisture trapped deep inside the clay.
Depending on the thickness and shape of the piece, we normally allow around one week for pottery to dry completely before putting it into the kiln.
This step is extremely important.
What Happens If Pottery Is Fired Before It Is Dry?
If there is still water trapped inside the clay when the kiln gets hot, that water quickly turns into steam.
The steam needs somewhere to escape. If it cannot escape quickly enough, pressure builds inside the clay and the pot can explode in the kiln.
And unfortunately, an exploding pot doesn't only affect your own piece.
Fragments can fly across the kiln and:
Shatter other people's pottery
Damage nearby glazed work
Damage kiln shelves
Damage heating elements
Damage the kiln itself
A mistake like this can cause anywhere from £100 to £2,000 worth of damage, depending on what happens inside the kiln.
So when your ceramics technician says your piece needs more time to dry, we're not being overly cautious.
We're protecting your pot, everyone else's work, and the kiln.
Step 2: The First Firing — Around 800°C
Once your pottery is completely dry, it can finally enter the kiln for its first firing.
This is called a bisque firing.
At our studio, the first firing reaches approximately 800°C.
During this firing, your fragile dried clay is transformed into a hard ceramic material that can safely be handled and glazed.
But a kiln doesn't simply heat to 800°C and immediately open again.
The temperature needs to rise gradually, and afterwards the kiln has to cool slowly and safely.
A complete firing and cooling cycle takes approximately 24 hours.
Opening a kiln while it is still extremely hot can damage both the ceramics and the kiln, so again, patience matters.
Step 3: Your Pottery Is Glazed
After the first firing, your pottery is ready for glazing.
Glaze is what gives ceramics their finished surface, colour and character.
Depending on the workshop you attended, your piece may be glazed by our studio team or decorated as part of your session.
The glaze may look completely different before firing. Many glazes only develop their final colour, texture and shine when they reach extremely high temperatures.
Which brings us to firing number two.
Step 4: The Second Firing — Around 1230°C
Your pottery now goes back into the kiln for a second time.
Our stoneware glaze firing reaches approximately 1230°C.
At this temperature, the clay becomes much stronger and the glaze melts onto the surface of the pottery.
Again, the entire heating and cooling process takes approximately 24 hours.
And just like the first firing, the kiln cannot be rushed or opened early.
When it finally cools down, we can open the kiln and see the finished results.
For ceramicists, kiln opening is still one of the most exciting parts of the entire process.
So Why Does Pottery Take 4–6 Weeks?
You might be thinking:
One week of drying + two 24-hour firings doesn't equal six weeks.
That's true.
But your bowl isn't normally the only piece waiting to be fired.
A working pottery studio may have hundreds of pieces moving through different stages at the same time. Each piece needs to be dried, checked, organised, bisque fired, glazed, loaded into the kiln again, glaze fired, cooled, unloaded and prepared for collection.
Kilns also need to be loaded carefully and efficiently.
We can't safely fire every piece immediately after it arrives.
The 4–6 week turnaround gives us enough time to process everyone's work properly without rushing the stages that keep your ceramics safe.
Pottery Is Slow — That's Part of What Makes It Special
We live in a world where almost everything can arrive the next day.
Pottery doesn't work like that.
Clay has its own timeline.
You shape it with your hands, let it dry naturally, fire it once, glaze it, fire it again at over 1,200°C, and wait to see what comes out of the kiln.
That slow transformation is part of what makes handmade ceramics so special.
The bowl you made during your pottery workshop isn't simply an object being stored in our studio for a few weeks.
It's still becoming a ceramic piece.
And we would much rather give your pottery the time it needs than rush the process and risk losing something you made with your own hands.
Looking for a Pottery Class in London?
If you'd like to experience the pottery-making process yourself, join us for a beginner-friendly pottery workshop in London.
You'll learn how clay behaves, work directly with the material, and create your own ceramic piece from scratch.
And yes — afterwards we'll take care of the drying, firing and glazing while you patiently wait for the kiln to work its magic.
Your pottery may take 4–6 weeks to come home, but good ceramics are worth waiting for.