I’m doing a Raku Workshop this coming weekend.  Pretty exciting, as it is the first one I’ve done at my studio.

I’ve had an old kiln that we bought years ago and, in transport, was damaged past repairability – it’s been just sitting around.  So to make sure that everyone gets a lot of firing time in at the workshop, we have converted it into a raku kiln!

Here are some pics of the process:

raku kiln from electric kiln
Here is the old kiln that we used for the conversion to a raku kiln.
raku kiln from electric kiln
The kiln was badly damaged in transport- irrepairable – all the bricks were severely cracked.
raku kiln from electric kiln
The kiln was placed on a wooden base with wheels and a sheet of concrete wall board was placed between the wood and the kiln floor. FOOTNOTE, this did not work! It burned through. The kiln needs to be placed on concor bricks, or some other non- flammable base.
raku kiln from electric kiln
The front of the kiln had a hole where the thermacouplar was, perfect place to insert a pyrometer.
raku kiln from electric kiln
A hole was cut through the metal and brick of the kiln wall with a right angle grinder to provide a hole to insert the burner.
raku kiln from electric kiln
A fibre sheet and hog wire were used to construct a lid for the kiln.
raku kiln from electric kiln
High temperature wire and ceramic buttons ( easily made) are used to secure the fibre to the hog wire.
raku kiln from electric kiln
The ceramic buttons are threaded with the high temperature wire.
raku kiln from electric kiln
The button is threaded through the fibre.
raku kiln from electric kiln
Once the button has been pushed through the fibre, pliers are used to twist the wires.
raku kiln, electric kiln into raku kiln
Here she is – firing away!