Have you ever seen the Speed Fire Mini Kiln at Metalclaysupply.com? I have one of these, it was around $200, and I love it! I can make fused pendants and have also made bronze clay ones. Another nice option.
March 7, 2014 at 2:19 PM
Microwave kilns have been garnering some attention for a good while now. People use them as an alternative to the more expensive electric kilns. One enthusiast is Vivienne Wagner over at The V Spot blog.
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The Great and Powerful Oz Pendant with a Recycled Bottle Glass Charm
She shared her recycled bottle glass charm tutorial for her Great and Powerful Oz movie inspired necklace AND raved about how much she liked her microwave kiln. She broke up a wine bottle to get pieces of glass to melt in the kiln. The sacrifices crafters and bloggers must make! She had to drink up the contents first! The melting rounds the cut edges.
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The microwave kiln is definitely easy to use for fusing bits of glass together in just a few minutes. The basic steps are covered here in this short video on how to fuse glass together using the same Fuseworks model Vivienne has.
What the above video didn't cover were the additional safety considerations besides the obvious ones about gloves and the special heat proof surface to place the hot kiln. Here are a few more :
The special paper you put the glass pieces on to prevent the glass from sticking to the kiln, disintegrates after firing. Inhaling the dust residue is not a good thing so you should be wearing a mask during disposal
The vent hole in the kiln releases a lot of heat so there should be sufficient clearance between the kiln and the top of the microwave oven
Firing different materials including that paper leaves residues inside the microwave so a dedicated non-food microwave oven is recommended although some people are quite okay about cleaning out the kitchen one after each firing.
This video from Pearsons Glass shows the different sizes you can get with the estimated times you need to fire each. The instructor also goes over more tips on how to fire an easy dichroic glass pendant.
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The key to successful firing is experimentation. Microwave ovens themselves vary in wattage. Different glass (and some types of metal clay) also require different firing times. So you have to test with say 50%, then 100%, one layer of glass etc and make notes on how long it took to get what effects.
The variability is why many experienced artisans recommend electric kilns which have temperature controls - these help take the guess work out of fusing. But electric kilns do cost more.
"A Look at Microwave Kilns for Jewelry Making"
5 Comments -
Fantastic post, Pearl - this is so interesting to me. I have been dying to try it and am so happy for the info!
August 24, 2013 at 10:44 AM
Good luck with it, Michelle! I have been so keen to try for a long time!
August 24, 2013 at 2:53 PM
Hi Pearl, thanks for the double shout out. :) (Yes, it was a real sacrifice to get through that wine...) Great post and videos.
August 26, 2013 at 1:58 PM
There is always another excuse to try the project again so you could get through more wine, Vivienne!!
August 26, 2013 at 3:51 PM
Have you ever seen the Speed Fire Mini Kiln at Metalclaysupply.com? I have one of these, it was around $200, and I love it! I can make fused pendants and have also made bronze clay ones. Another nice option.
March 7, 2014 at 2:19 PM