Craft & Design
Kiln Load
Pieces per shelf and total kiln capacity by firing type — bisque vs glaze touch rules.
Inputs
Results
Pieces per shelf
3.6
Total pieces
14
Kiln volume used
4.5 cu ft kiln
40%
How to use this
Bisque firings can be stacked — cups inside cups, bowls nested — because the clay is unglazed and pieces touching won’t fuse. You can load roughly 1.6x the pieces of a glaze firing in the same kiln.
Glaze firings (cone 6 and up) must never touch, or the melted glaze welds the pieces together. Leave at least a finger’s width between every piece and between pieces and the posts.
Formula
per_shelf = base_count × firing_factor (bisque: 1.0, glaze: 0.6)
total = per_shelf × shelves
Related calculators
Formula
per_shelf = base × firing_factor (bisque 1.0, glaze 0.6); total = per_shelf × shelves