Could one of you lampies advise me on which kiln?? where from?? how much? and approximate running costs. Tony and I have reached the 'seriously considering it' stage. We did a course last year with Ray Skene and were hooked. Now we need to do the sums so we can see whether Father Christmas might consider leaving us a kiln and kit

I suspect I may be no help at all here but I will add my tuppence worth, kilns are fairly cheap to run, check our frit happens or lampwork etc for a rough sum to work out how much they cost.

There are things to consider, you will want a bead door, will you want to fuse, if so then youwill need one that you can safely block the door to retain heat, there is fibre or brick to consider too.

I have a jen ken, its a fair old size and can be used for fusing too, you will need a digital controller, its no use trying to save money and getting a cheap kiln, that controller will save you a LOT of headaches down the line, the wider the door the more beads you can get in, and believe me as time goes on you will fill that space with no problems at all

I imported mine from teh states a few years ago, the pound was strong and I could get it including customs charges for less than half the price of one over here, they made it to order and uk electricity specs.

Have a good think about what you will want it for and go from there

Thanks Tan. Tony's eyes lit up when he read your reply. I feel a kiln setting up home here at Christmas time. Gawd knows where we will put it but ?????????????????? hooked on craft
All our lovely stained glass equipment is now sitting unused in the garage. (with the two lathes, pyrography kit etc. Oh it is hard to be a craft butterfly.

But we do have such fun when the mood takes us. We go through patches of using the different stuff.

A lot of people use the Paragon SC2. Very compact, cheap to run and light to carry. It holds a surprising amount of beads too. ;D

Yep, I hear you, I have a cupboard full of dirty secrets upstairs that is just stuffed with lots of stuff that was a 'good idea at the time' or 'the next big thing'.

The more people you ask the bigger the arguements get and the more confusing it is, believe me I know, the best thing is to work out what you want it for, over estimate its use a little, work out what sort of dimensions you want and what you want on it, ie door and controller etc then start shopping around from there.

I would say, you have to have a controller and a bead door the rest is up to you!

on the upside, I have just dug my little stash of stained glass and am champing at the bit to have a go again so could well be in the market if your looking to sell

Thanks Tan, not looking to sell cos we flit back and forth between crafts as and when the mood takes. We did a lovely stained glass display for the local library earlier this year. Could have sold everything we put in but we make it for ourselves.

there's a UK company called kilncare who are bring out a few bead anneling kilns in the near future, i'm not sure how much i can say cause they have a stall at the glass festival and i'm not sure how much info they are making public before then or you could contact them, from what i knoow they are going to be very good

Thanks love. I will have to have a really good look around and talk to those who know about kilns as Tony and I know nothing.