Hi Audrey, I'm going to attempt to help with what has worked for me because, like you, I prefer a cone 6 for most of my glazes for the very reasons you listed. Teagan's suggestion was right on the nose. I bisque slow to an 04. I've never tried a hold on a bisque, but that's a good idea, too. I always slow fire the bisque. It could also be your clay. For me, darker clays with grog always give me issues with pinholes. When I cone 6 fire on medium with a 15 minute hold on bmix, is when I'm most successful. The Abalone needs that cone 6 to show color. I do 2 thick coats, and it's soft and pink. I hope my suggestions help, and I'm always open to suggestions, too. It's a crazy what we do. All the time spent making, and then handing it over to the kiln, wishing for the best. Great kiln opening, though!

Hi Audrey, Pinholes can be because your clay is still off gassing. Trying olding your bisque fire at the top temp for 10 mins or maybe even go a cone higher for your bisque, not sure what cone you are going to for Bisque but if you can get rid of your gases out of the clay in the first firing it should help with the glaze firing. Hope that helps. Also with the abalone, you need like three REALLY good coats, I generally put on four to get the pinkish tones and I also fire to a cone 6 ten min hold

Hello. I'm a Newby at firing. All of the suggestions are very helpful for pinholing, thank you. Your kiln opening was very inspirational. You're work is Beautiful! Thank you for the work you put into sharing online. ❤

Great kiln opening. I absolutely love all of the white pieces. The rock trinket trays are such a fun idea! I would call them something like that. As many have said pinholes are caused by the bisque not getting hot enough. But if your kiln isn’t getting to cone 6 I would definitely call the kiln manufacturer and go through what it could be. I know you will really love the colors and runs when you’re able to get a cone 6. I much prefer a hot cone 6 myself.

Oh I just posted on your latest video about pink runs then went to look at more of your videos. I had the same problems with pinholes and use the same glaze. The local college tutor gave me a kiln program that solved the problem for me. 60C - 120C no hold 120C - 1000C 10 min hold 150C - 1220C 5 min hold or no hold depending on how hot kiln gets- we have 2 kilns and one runs hotter than the other. Both got rid of pinholes Cheers Lynne New Zealand

Great kiln unloading Audrey! I love your glaze combos! I agree with you, if you’re looking for more drips I would raise your peak temperature. I do a slow cool with the peak temperature at 2185 degrees. My schedule is posted under my community tab if you’d like to compare with yours. I also bisque fire to slow cone 04.👍🏻😍

Hi Audrey, may I recommend messaging Camille Hoffman. I once needed help and sent her a message, and she was very nice to chat with me at length on how to fix my issues. Good luck! And keep the kiln openings coming 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻❤

Hi Audrey, I've been pondering your pinhole problem. If you are like me, you tried bisquing at 04, and a hold at cone 5 or 6, with no luck on some glazes. I've noticed Jessica Putnam Phillips only goes to a cone 5 with a hold, and never seems to get pinholes. I think part of her success is her extra thick walls on her kiln, which allows for a natural slower cool. I am wondering if you did the Hoffman schedule to cone 6, with a faster drop on Ramp 6, and no hold at 1900. Maybe something like, Ramp 6, 200 or 250 degrees to 1700, no hold then a natural cool. While it could be your clay off gassing, I also think a quick drop in temp on a glaze load, can lead to pinholes as well. Especially if your kiln is in a cooler area. Just my thoughts. Might be worth a try. Oh and lovely unload :)

Pinholing is from the bisque cycle and the ware doesn’t get a chance to finish off gassing. My bisque’s often take almost the same amount of time as a glaze firing, including an overnight 2% candling. I never ever have pinholes or blemishes of any sort. I also aim for a 6/7 with witness cones. If the clay you use doesn’t bloat push it higher and longer times between ramp ups. Good luck.

What a beautiful kiln unload 🤩 I absolutely loved the cup with the band of obsidian 🤩🤩🤩 but everything was so pretty x

Great kiln opening Audrey! I loved the extruded vases and l liked the river birch fix. I hand build everything but am trying to make more vases similar to yours. They are beautiful. Thanks for your postings!

Hey Audrey. Great kiln! My fav purple is Amaco hf lilac mixed 50/50 hf white gorgeous lavender colour u would have seen on my unloads. The obsidian Albany mug gives blue because obsidian is actually a reeeeeally dark blue not black. Try just obsidian with light flux u will thank me lol. Looove the pink mug I always thought snapdragon was red but looks pink on this mug would have bet it was weeping plum?. Oh looove the textured turquoise mug that’s my fav! Nat xx

A couple of comments. You showed a pot at timestamp ~8:06 where you pointed out a "pinhole". It's hard to tell from the video, but that looked like a contaminant in your clay rather than what I think of as a traditional pinhole. In any case, I've found a few strategies to deal with pinholes. I bisque to 05-04 but you're already doing that! I don't use commercial glazes but I would imagine that the issues are similar with any glaze - where there are several layers of glaze I think its hard for bubbles to escape during firing and for the glaze to reheal itself completely before hardening. So I try not to build up too much glaze on the surface. Some glaze combinations are going to pinhole a lot as they don't "like" each other or essentially their melting conditions are quite different. I have a couple of glazes that I have learned to never overlap as they will pinhole extensively no matter what I do! I also "finger sand" the dried glaze on the pot so that any small imperfections are smoothed over and filled in with glaze. For larger bumps I will use the metal edge of a tool to smooth things out, but you have to be really careful that you don't scrape off too much glaze. Lastly, the firing... I will hold the kiln at its top temperature for about 10 minutes until the cones are down or going down - this is really just to even out the temperature throughout the kiln. Then I let the temperature drop to 1148C and hold there for 30 minutes (for a cone 6 firing). This last hold is part of Tony Hansen's (Digital Fire) "Cone 6 drop and soak" firing schedule and it is this soak that has really made a difference in my firings in preventing/sealing pinholes. It may be that the last hold temperature in the C. Hoffman schedule is too low to maintain enough fluidity in your glaze combinations to heal any pinholes??? I think its 1038C, at least the version that Lisa (@finklepottery704) has listed. Then, I only fire down (slow cool) from 1148C to 760C if I have a lot of matte glazes where I want crystal formation, otherwise I shut the kiln off after the 30 minute hold and let it cool with all the peepholes closed.

I do a cone six with a fifteen minute hold

Also, would love to see a video on using the film resist. Love the effect.

Thanks for the video, new potters learn a lot from them. I also use Plainsman and am attaching a link to their Digital Fire page where Tony talks about pinholes. It's lengthy with lots of info but I managed to glean some lessons from it and it seems to me that he addresses the pinhole problem you are having. I know he gets scientific sometimes but I hope you can find some ideas that you can add to the great suggestions others are offering. My kiln is called Penny short for Pen y Ddraig which is Welsh for Head of the Dragon :) Good luck, I hope you get the results you want.

11:29 is beautiful 😍

I do a slow cone 04 bisque fire and that seems to have solved my pinhole issues.

Not sure for you but for me glaze fire to cone 5 with 10-15 min hold and don’t have any trouble with pinholing. For bloating g I think slow bisque cone 04 helps

I think you are hard on yourself because you have some beautiful pieces. I have to wonder if your kiln is under firing a tad because one would think cone five with 30 minute hold would have given you a cone six heat work wise. My point is, maybe fire cone six and increase hold time a little more since your kiln is under firing slightly ? I feel your pain. I use a slow bisq to cone 05 with a 30 minute hold at 1000 degree. My fave is the lavender mist with birch and cordovan. Also, Coyote has a bold purple, but I cannot remember the name. Best of luck, you are never alone with kiln woes.

Love these videos!!! I have a suggestion… it’s not like you have anything else to do!!! ( sarcasm!) but I’d love to see some pieces using music themes … notes… #, Flats etc . That you so familiar with.. I always look for these while shopping… also you mentioned Burkina Faso charity that you are involved with… could you put a link to the website for those that may be interested in finding out more about it? Thanks!!!

Have you tried Flux under your glazes to make them run?

With what do you write your name at the bottom. Glaze pencil?