RAKU FIRING IN MY HOMEMADE KILN

​This is my homemade Raku kiln - I made it with hardware cloth, ceramic fiber and a few firebricks. I'm so excited about this amazing workhorse of a kiln! It's heated by propane and a Venturi burner - you can see it at the burner port above. It will reach 1850 degrees in about 45 minutes. In this photo below it has reached about 1700 degrees.  

​I've been using it for about a year now, and I usually fire it up at least twice a week. On those days you'll find me in the backyard looking like this in my safety gear … in fact I almost scared the FedEx guy to death the other day when he came around the back to deliver a parcel.

​When the kiln is red hot and 1850 degrees, I use tongs to remove the pots one by one. The pots are placed in garbage cans that I have set up nearby. The cans have combustible material inside - I've been using newspaper and straw recently. When the pots hit the newspaper, the newspaper bursts into flames and the lid is placed on top. There's LOTS of smoke! 

​The carbon of the smoke is absorbed by the hot clay, turning it a glorious black. What I Iove about Raku firing is the miraculous chemistry of how the kiln, flames and smoke affect the glazes and clay, creating a black clay and crackled glaze. Almost always there is some kind of  unpredictable and wonderful surprise! Here's one of my recently fired winged guardian cats - who went into the kiln as a black and white cat and came out looking like this!