Ceramic kilns

[LAF]

Can you use a ceramic kiln for fusing glass. I am looking at a used even heat kiln RN 2322, rampmaster 2. I am worried about having no top elements.

[The Hobbyist]

Kilnforming artists used ceramic kilns for years before glass kilns came along.

Ceramic kilns have two advantages over glass kilns:

1. They can be found in exceptionally good used condition and are usually inexpensive. But it requires patience.

2. They don't shed crud onto your glass like glass kilns are prone to do.

I own and use both.

Jim

[Bert Weiss]

Firing schedules are all about heating evenly. The more evenly you heat, the faster you can ramp up without thermal shock. The inverse is also true. One of the big problems with side elements is that they have a tendency to seal the edges of a fused stack first. This can trap air inside the stack. You want to set your glass so the edges sit between the elements, not directly "looking" at an element. All that said, you can use them fine as long as you understand how to evaluate your results and create heatup schedules that get your desired work done. Annealing is the same with both styles of kilns.

[Lynn Perry]

Here is a link at Ed Hoy with some specific information about using a ceramic kiln for glass.

http://www.edhoy.com/ceramic.html

[Laurie Spray]

Nice article but I personally would not use the schedules they post there.

[Tom Fuhrman]

I've been using ceramic kilns for the last 40 years, before any glass electric glass kilns were produced and before any controllers were available. Have many thousands of items this way. You just have to learn what your equipment will do in different situations and then adjust it to get the results you desire. Experiment, test, experiment, test, experiment, test and it keeps on going. The joys of being an artist, and sometimes you have results that are some of those WOW moments that are so much better than anything you ever expected. Just be open to know when those occur and then build on those. Being an artist is not just about production, it's finding the new paths to discover and developing them.

[Laurie Spray]

well said Tom!