The Adventure Begins...

My name is Devyn J.

Pottery is my passion, my sanity, my release. I have been creating pottery for the last 5 years, and I have taken several college ceramics courses and hopefully more in the future. Recently my father and I built a raku kiln in the back yard. Raku is a Japanese firing technique using a semi-reduction kiln, followed by a rapid reduction outside of the kiln. A reduction atmosphere is one in which there is very little or no oxygen being supplied to the pottery.

We created our raku kiln using a 55 gallon oil drum cut down to 25 inches tall, fire blanket, high temperature rated wire, 24 soft fire bricks, ceramic discs, a pulley system, a counter-weight, a Venturi burner, propane, and a lot of luck. We also use a high-temp thermometer when we fire, because each glaze has a unique temperature at which it matures.

In the picture below you can see our awesome counter-weight which is a giant turn-buckle we bought at an auction. The three wires over the top of the kiln are wrapped with a little bit of fire blanket to protect them from breaking due to the extreme heat. The three wires are connected, and one of the wires continues up to the ceiling, through the pulley system, and then connected to the counter-weight.

This is a good system to use for the propane tanks in case one tank runs out in the middle of a firing.

 The line from the propane is connected to the venturi burner which sits about an inch away from the 2"x2" hole in the base of the kiln.

 This is our Skutt Digital Thermometer which can read temperatures up to about 2500 degrees Farenheight. The yellow wire connects to the probe which sticks inside of the kiln.

 The barrel is lined with fire blanket, which is held in place by ceramic discs about 2.5" in diameter with loops on them, which I made with cone 6 clay and bisque-fired at college. The little pieces of wire scattered at intervals outside of the kiln are the ends of the wires which loop through the discs, pinning the fire blanket to the sides and top of the barrel.

Two holes are drilled in the top of the kiln to allow oxygen into the kiln. Without these holes, there would not be enough oxygen inside the kiln for the fire to burn, and we would not be able to reach the the necessary temperature. We also cut a peep-hole in the side of the kiln and plug it with a roll of fire blanket. Pieces of fire blanket also protect the wires directly above the hole in the top of the kiln. The maximum temperature we have reached in this kiln was 1711 degrees Farenheight.