I make charcoal by hand using a homemade kiln in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Artists who I have supplied this charcoal to include Sam Nhlengethwa, William Kentridge, Banele Khoza and Colbert Mashile

Loading the Kiln

It all begins with finding the right kind of sticks to make drawing charcoal. I have used mulberry, erythrina, swamp cypress, palm fronds, grape vines and sesbania stalks to name a few. Once the kiln is packed tight I seal it to prevent oxygen from reaching the sticks so I can later heat them up with a fire underneath until they become carbonized. Charcoal is the result of pyrolysis - burning organic material in the absence of oxygen.

Firing the kiln

I use garden cuttings and scrap wood as the fuel to run the charcoal kiln. Firing usually takes about one hour and is determined by the thickness of the material being carbonized. The kiln reaches a temperature hot enough to melt aluminium (at least 660ºC).

Opening the Kiln

This is the fun part. Sometimes it works and I have a good load of charcoal. Other times it doesn’t and I have a smouldering pile of ash, semi-carbonized sticks or crumbly charcoal. Every firing is different and I have to balance the factors needed to get suitable drawing charcoal.