For hundreds of years, people have been digging up that dense wet earth that is clay and moulding and modelling it into shapes that will eventually hold our dinners and our drinks!

So here it is in a nutshell, (for Earthenware clay at least - as there are many different types of clay that get fired at different temperatures!):

• Clay gets dug up from the Earth.
  
• Wet clay is used to make shapes by being processed with water and poured into moulds, or by being hand-built or thrown on a wheel.
• Shape is dried to 'bone-dry' state.
• Each piece is fired slowly in a kiln to reach its highest firing temperature, over 1100ºC and then allowed to cool gradually. This is called Bisque at this stage and while really strong, is still a little brittle and quite porous.
  
• The Bisque is decorated with glazes, and sometimes dipped in a clear-glaze, and then fired again to around 1000ºC to ensure that the resulting ceramic piece is finished to a high standard, and durable enough for every day use. 
  
• The entire firing process can take over 32 hours for each piece!