The Kiln
CHAPTER IX
THE KILN
Pottery, until it is fired, has little or no practical value. One who owns a piece of Gay Head ware, made in Martha’s Vineyard, and called by the name of the bluffs of whose clay it is made, will appreciate this. Though charming in colour, a terra-cotta background with swirling lines of pale yellow, black and white, it can only be put in one spot—on the highest shelf, out of reach of children and others who like to “look with their hands.” If it were baked, the colour which is its chief charm would be lost, and it is therefore so fragile that a rude touch will break or deface it. In the early days of pottery-making, when utility was everything, pots for cooking and domestic purposes were baked either before the fire, or covered with bark and other burning fuel, which hardened the clay and made it strong enough for service. We do not find traces of kilns, however, among the relics of those early potters.
Probably the first people to use the kiln were the old Egyptians.
One which is represented in their mural paintings was a high, circular chamber made of brick. The floor, near the bottom, was perforated, and beneath it was the fuel, which was put in through an opening on the side.