kiln question and newbie introduction ;)

jeremy bizzano · Post by **jeremy bizzano** » Tue Jul 29, 2003 2:51 am

Greetings everybody,
I'm new to this forum, I mostly do lampworking with borosilicate glass(you can see my work at the link in my signature) but I'm looking to start doing some fusing and slumping too. I got a great Paragon front loading top fire kiln but I use that to anneal my lampworked glass. I'm looking at getting a second small kiln to do some fusing with while I lampwork all day. I found some small kilns for some good prices but they were side fires. Is one kind (side vs. top) better than the other for fusing and/or slumping? I really wanna make smaller items like fused pendants and maybe eventually make some larger items (11" diameter) like plates & bowls. Also, can anybody recommend some good tools to start with? Or easier glass to start with? Good books? Any advice, please...

Bert Weiss · Post by **Bert Weiss** » Tue Jul 29, 2003 8:52 am

biz wrote:Greetings everybody,
I'm new to this forum, I mostly do lampworking with borosilicate glass(you can see my work at the link in my signature) but I'm looking to start doing some fusing and slumping too. I got a great Paragon front loading top fire kiln but I use that to anneal my lampworked glass. I'm looking at getting a second small kiln to do some fusing with while I lampwork all day. I found some small kilns for some good prices but they were side fires. Is one kind (side vs. top) better than the other for fusing and/or slumping? I really wanna make smaller items like fused pendants and maybe eventually make some larger items (11" diameter) like plates & bowls. Also, can anybody recommend some good tools to start with? Or easier glass to start with? Good books? Any advice, please...

Jeremy

Your front loading top fired kiln is excellent for annealing beads and OK for fusing. I think you will find that top fired top loaders are the most fuser friendly design for commercially made kilns. Top fired kiln can heat up faster because they heat more evenly. Top loaders are good for fusing because you can get your eyes directly over the glass in the kiln to make sure the setup is exactly how you want it. WIth the front loader, you have to use a shelf and place it in the kiln, which could disturb your setup.

My personal preference for fusing kilns is a fiber insulated bell kiln. You have to make one oif therse yourself.

That said, you can use any old kiln that can reach temp and reliably hold temp.

I recommend buying Brad's book ant starting out with Bullseye glass. Buy tools only when you absolutely need them. You can do lots of great work with a minimum of special tools. Master that, and then your tooling up will be better conceived.

dee · Post by **dee** » Tue Jul 29, 2003 8:59 am

biz wrote:Greetings everybody,
I'm new to this forum, I mostly do lampworking with borosilicate glass(you can see my work at the link in my signature) but I'm looking to start doing some fusing and slumping too. I got a great Paragon front loading top fire kiln but I use that to anneal my lampworked glass. I'm looking at getting a second small kiln to do some fusing with while I lampwork all day. I found some small kilns for some good prices but they were side fires. Is one kind (side vs. top) better than the other for fusing and/or slumping? I really wanna make smaller items like fused pendants and maybe eventually make some larger items (11" diameter) like plates & bowls. Also, can anybody recommend some good tools to start with? Or easier glass to start with? Good books? Any advice, please...

for kilns check out centre de verre - marty is wonderfully helpfull and can answer specific questions, if you are thinking of expanding to plates/bowls, i would get an 18" kiln at least and make sure you get a digital controller. there's a variety of kilns out there for glass and marty carries a great selection. he might have more info about side vs top firing kilns. i have 2 jenkens, one small 14" and one 24" and they work great. for books, get brad's warm glass book - i have 2 older books i bought when i was preparing to start fusing and his book is the best. for tools, grozer pliers and running pliers are a necessity, i also love the morton cutting system and grids - while i cut mostly squares and rectangles, i periodically do angles and triangles and the morton cutting system makes it relatively easy. for glass alot of us on the board use bullseye - coe 90 - with maybe some uroboros coe 90 added, others use spectrum's system 96 - coe 96 glass and uroboros also has coe 96 glass to go with spectrum's line. you might want to request catalogs from all 3 manufacturers and see who has the colors you like and then look at pricing....

D

chris webb · Post by **chris webb** » Tue Jul 29, 2003 10:07 am

Hey Jeremy!! Told ya you'd like this site LOL. I have the GL22 if that is the one you are talking about and it works great for fusing. I use the little paragon f120 for lampworking. I'd really like to get a coffin type kiln for plates and bowls and such but that is in the distant future for me. I have the lundstrum books and had the gil reynolds biggining book but just gave it away. I am ordering Brad's book and can't wait to get it. Have a bunch of fun and pm me or email if ya need anything
chris

shasta · Post by **shasta** » Tue Jul 29, 2003 12:23 pm

i wonder, the larger the kiln is it harder to have even heat throughout. or are you more likely to have varying results depending where in the kiln the glass is. this question is for top firing kilns?

tanks.

Bert Weiss · Post by **Bert Weiss** » Tue Jul 29, 2003 1:25 pm

shasta wrote:i wonder, the larger the kiln is it harder to have even heat throughout. or are you more likely to have varying results depending where in the kiln the glass is. this question is for top firing kilns?

tanks.

Shasta

The larger the kiln, there is certainly a greater challlenge to getting even heat. However, heat radiates fairly evenly for around 12" so a large, 12" deep area with roof elements will heat pretty evenly.

In my 7' long kiln, I get even heat by having 3 zones that are contolled seperately to the same program. This gets very even heating as the middle wants to be hotter than the edges.

Side elements are a whole different story. Basically they are not very even. You have to go slow in heating and in soaking to achieve evenivity there.

I will be running a kiln building workshop on Vancouver Island this January. More info will be posted in the classified's soon.

AndyMiller · Post by **AndyMiller** » Tue Jul 29, 2003 1:43 pm

Bert Weiss wrote:...My personal preference for fusing kilns is a fiber insulated bell kiln. You have to make one oif therse yourself....

We manufacture several sizes of fiber insulated bell kilns...

jeremy bizzano · Post by **jeremy bizzano** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 2:44 am

chris webb wrote:Hey Jeremy!! Told ya you'd like this site LOL.
...
chris

yep... you're right

thanks for all the info everybody, i've been doing a bunch of research myself and should be ordering some supplies soon.

WarmGlass.com

kiln question and newbie introduction ;)

kiln question and newbie introduction ;)

Re: kiln question and newbie introduction ;)

Re: kiln question and newbie introduction ;)

Re: kiln question and newbie introduction ;)