There are so many different kilns on the market. Choosing one to meet your needs may be very confusing if you have limited experience with bead annealing, fusing, copper enameling, Art Clay Silver ™ (see information on our site about A.C.S.), etc.

Few of the kilns available are able to meet all needs. Many – advertised as bead annealers – are really ceramic kilns, generally unsuitable for annealing beads unless the beads are first cooled to room temperature and put into the cold kiln. It often seems as if the manufacturer has scratched his (or her) head and asked the question “What is popular right now”. “Oh, beadmaking?” “Great, I will label this kiln as a bead annealer and sell oodles of them”. Who cares that 99% of the people who are looking for kilns haven’t a clue as to the appropriate kiln to choose. Hmmmm. “The price looks good and the manufacturer states that it will do what I am wanting, so it must be true. And, you can’t beat the price……”

Types of Kilns useful for bead annealing:

Front Loader: Door of the kiln is on the front (as opposed to the top) of the kiln. Door opens down (like and oven door), sideways (like a refrigerator) or cantilevered (like a garage door). Any one of the three door designs is good. Little heat escapes when door is opened to insert beads. Escaping heat will generally not be intense enough to burn the hand if bead insertion is done relatively quickly. (I can easily reach into my kiln, with a tool, when it is at annealing temperature – 960 degrees.) Make sure that the firing chamber is high enough to hold all of the beads you might make at one sitting, or gather to anneal several days’ worth at a time. Make sure that the kiln is deep enough to comfortably contain the longest mandrel you are likely to use – without touching any exposed elements in the kiln. Steel rods against an element may cause a short and be potentially dangerous.

Digital Controller: A digital controller is the baby sitter for the kiln. The temperature and holding time are programmed into the kiln. The controller holds the temp constant for the length of time you wish and shuts off. If you lead an active lifestyle, you can almost not afford to NOT have a digital controller on a kiln. I had a kiln without a digital controller. After one weekend of beadmaking at a show, I put all of the beads into the kiln and turned it on high. The phone rang and I forgot that I had turned the kiln on. An hour and a half later, I remembered. The thermal couple was broken and I had a large puddle of glass on the bottom of the kiln. The retail value of that puddle would have paid for a digital controller several times over.

Other types of kilns available:

Rapid firing type kilns: These kilns work OK for fusing. They must be watched constantly. Temperatures are often controlled by unplugging or by shutting off the kiln or by opening the door. Since beads should be annealed approximately twice the length of time they took to make and at a specific temperature (960 degrees for Bullseye and Moretti), it would be very difficult to anneal beads as they were being made. It is also very difficult to control these variables in such a kiln. An optional infinite control switch is available that could possibly be set for annealing. However, your mandrels will hang out of the kiln and heat will escape, making it more difficult to control the temperature. Last but not least, the rapid firing kilns that have the elements embedded in the fibre molded dome are basically throw away kilns. If the elements break, the kiln cannot be repaired. Approximately $250 down the drain.

Shallow Chamber - Top Loader: These kilns work fine for glass fusing. Probably work fine for Art Clay Silver and copper enameling. If beads are cooled to room temperature first and put into the cold kiln, these kilns work fine. If used hot, to anneal beads as they are being made, a lot of heat escapes when door is opened. It is easy to burn hands because the heat is rushing upwards and one must carefully place the bead to avoid hitting the exposed elements around the kiln walls.

Which to use? Hot Kiln or Cold Kiln?: If you make small beads of a uniform shape and take care when cooling them in your fibre blanket, using a cold kiln works well. It definitely saves on electricity costs. Odd shapes, beads with delicate parts (fish fins, hearts, critters, etc.) will most often break if not put into the kiln as they are being made. The small, delicate parts cool much more rapidly than the larger mass. The beads will very likely experience thermal shock. This is when too rapid heating or too rapid cooling of glass causes the glass to break.

Many glass artists do lampworking and fusing. Another product available – *Art Clay Silver – is a wonderful addition for glass.

Personal Opinion: Unless you do a great deal of component bead making (pre-make many small parts and keep them hot in the kiln to add to beads later), little doors are an unnecessary added expense.

Little areas to warm your glass rods are an unnecessary added expense. It only takes approximately 5 seconds to warm your rod before it can stay in the flame without shattering. You would have to save a great many “5 seconds” to pay for the additional expense. If you need to pre-warm your glass, lay it on top of your kiln. It is pretty hot up there and doesn’t cost more. Rods that are put into a special warming area are often too hot to handle, unless you are able to easily hang most of the rod outside of the warming area.

“Tool Box” type kilns:

Kilns that only have a small flip up door – approximately 2" high opening – are fine if you make small beads and not a great many at any one time. (I often make 200 to 300 small beads at a time and could not fit them into such a kiln. I also often use large mandrels –1/4" and up – and these take up a lot of room). If you make larger, sculptural pieces, it is often very difficult to insert the beads through the small opening.

A top loader is the best to use for fusing larger pieces of glass (larger than jewelry sized cabs). Top elements do a better job (more even heat distribution) of firing large pieces. Also, it is easier to see what is going on during the fusing process. It is also the best choice for doing glass manipulation (such as raking) while glass is molten and in the kiln.

Whether you know anything about kilns or not, you probably still have some common sense. Think about the work you are wanting to do. Examine several kilns and find out all you can about them. Ask what is the purpose of any aspect of the kilns you are looking at. Just because the person you are speaking with knows about kilns doesn't mean that you know nothing. A kiln is like an oven only it has the ability to get hotter. Having little doors and compartments is fun and possibly useful, depending on the type of work you are going to do. See if you are able to open these doors or lift lids, etc. with one hand and easily put beads into the kiln (or whatever you need to be able to do) without potentially burning yourself. Don’t use cost as the ONLY criteria in choosing a kiln. Better to wait for a wee bit and save the necessary money to make ONE purchase and get what you need. Look for a well-built kiln that offers some options and versatility.

 Karen E. A. Stavert Owner/artist  Hot Glass Beads
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