Making A Kiln At Home

The pottery process consists of shaping the clay in the desired design, and then firing it in a kiln to harden the clay, make it more aesthetically pleasing, and to give it longevity. Many potters believe that the firing is the most important part of the entire process: if the kiln is too hard, the clay will crack; and if it’s too cold, it won’t harden properly.

Not everyone has the finances to either have a kiln built on site, or brought in from another site prebuilt. Fortunately, building a kiln at home doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive, and it can be shaped and modifiers to make it work exactly how the potter wants it. Here we will look at what it takes to make a kiln at home.

Planning Out The Kiln

Kilns come in a variety of shapes and sizes according to the needs of the potter, meaning that there’s one for just about every situation. When getting the materials together to create a homemade kiln, the potter will need to first sit and plan it out to ensure that they build one that will be able to provide enough heat to properly fire what they’ll be working on. Planning is everything when it comes to a successful project. There are two main types of homemade kiln that we will look at here.

The Brick Kiln

Here, the potter will want to get a hold of an assortment of red bricks, specifically the kind that are usually used to build fireplaces and have a high tolerance to heat. A bed of concrete blocks is ideal for this build, as it allows the red bricks to be stacked nicely on top while also providing plenty of insulation for the heat. While this build doesn’t need any mortar to complete, it should contain enough what to reach the temperatures necessary to fire clay properly.

Place the concrete blocks down, and then set up the red bricks in a rectangle or square around the edges of blocks to create a chamber. Once it’s completed, firewood can be placed on the concrete blocks, and the pottery can be added to the inside, with more red bricks placed on top to create a ceiling. When ready, the fire needs to be lit, any large gaps closed up with bricks, and the heat will need to be allowed to warm up the surrounding bricks to the point where the ambient heat is enough to fire clay, providing plenty of time to enjoy online bingo in Dubai.

Drum Kiln

Requiring much less material and effort than the brick kiln, this one consists of an old drum that needs to be opened up and then lined with a ceramic fibre along the inside to act as insulation for the heat. With a hole cut in the top, the drum becomes the perfect kiln – but what really makes it special is its ability to become mobile, something its brick counterpart can’t boast.