Pottery Tips: How to Maximize Efficiency and Minimize Environmental Impact

Pottery Efficiency and the Environment
Pottery has an impact on the planet. Keeping accurate notes for all your firings ensures your work will be more successful. Fewer dud pots mean happier potters but also fewer refires and less waste. Here are some tips to maximize our efficiency and minimize our environmental impact.
TIPS
- When buying a kiln, choose one with the thickest insulation; it will be more energy efficient.
- Firing a full kiln is more energy efficient than firing a half-empty kiln. Always fire your kilns full. Tumble stack your bisque. As the pottery is unglazed, work can touch and be stacked together in the kiln. Make sure you leave a little wiggle room so pieces don’t crack each other. Glazed work cannot touch each other, or it will stick together!
- Ensure your work is fully dried before putting it in your kiln. This includes after glazing. I always wait 24 hours after glazing before loading my kiln.
- Excess moisture wears your elements quicker and as a result they use more energy (not to mention may cause explosions).
- Fast glaze firings are more energy efficient. When it comes to kiln schedules, it’s a balancing act of using the most energy-efficient firing schedule possible while still getting your desired results. There are critical points of the firing where it's important to go slow, e.g., at the beginning and at the end. Start slow, speed it up and slow down again at the end.
- Your pots could be around for the next 1,000 years! Be discerning. Bad work equals landfill. Not every pot needs to be fired. Only choose your best work to fire. Reclaim the rest. Encourage your students to do the same.
- Clay and glazes are mined. Their production has an impact on the planet. Ask your pottery supplier where your clay and glaze materials come from. Ask if oxides are responsibly sourced. Choose clay sourced from within your country, if possible.
- Use a “three bucket glaze reclaim system.” Rinse all your glazing tools in one bucket, then dip a second time in the next bucket. A dip in the third bucket should come out clean. Once the first bucket is full of glaze material, use this as a mystery glaze. Alternatively, evaporate all the water, fire it in a sacrificial pot and throw it away.
- Ensure your local energy is from 100% renewables. This is not the same as “backed by” 100% renewable energy.
- Vacuum your kiln every few firings. Dust and debris which inevitably build up over time will make the elements work harder.
Credit Line
Reprinted with permission from The Essential Pottery Notebook by Kara Leigh Ford. Page Street Publishing Co. 2025. Photo credit: Kara Leigh Ford and Dan Rushworth.
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