Bead Kiln Demo 2 (fusing dichroic glass earrings)

This is a sample clip of an instructional video for the building of a small glass fusing kiln. It can be used for the pre-heating of glass rods for beadmaking, and for annealing beads. Parts in 2005 cost $200 to build. Runs on 5 amps, 110 volts, so it just plugs in to a regular household socket. The video is intended for people with no kiln building experience, so is slow paced, thorough instruction with emphases on modifying the design to meet you own specific requirements. The full 2-dvd set also has demonstrations for the making of a complex bead, glass jewelry production, and the making of small mosaic dishes. Please see www.mayneislandglass.com for more info. Please look at my other sample clips from other videos, and my various tutorials on glassmaking.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• DIY
• build
• your
• own
• kiln
• glass
• fusing
• bead
• making
• annealing
• earrings
• dichroic

[zmacg]

Hi Mark! Three questions please: how long did you leave the glass in the kiln on high, what mm of clear did you put on top, and are those squares 1/4 inch? I tried this with thin dichro on bottom and 3MM Tekta on top and did a full fuse program but they did not melt, they turned out looking nice but not circles...appreciate your sharing, thank you!! Smile.

[MarkLauckner]

3/8" to 1/2 squares, 3mm covers. fused until they are ready, Just look in at them and turn it off when they are round. Temp and time varies with kiln and shelving. Best not to use a firing program. You'll be slower to develop an intuition of what's going on in there if you run a programmed cycle and not do it manually.

[simplybecky01]

Hi Mark, is it possible to fuse without a kiln, specifically with some kind of handheld heating/fire device? thanks, becky

[MarkLauckner]

hi;

yes, you can use a torch and circle around the edges first to gently warm the glass. Then hit the top and slowly the whole thing will pull up into a nice circle. A small kiln would make more than a few much faster though.

[1madamezenobia]

thanks very helpful for a new beginner!

[macgregoranne30]

@MarkLauckner

Hi Mark, I tried this too and my squares of glass hardly fused at all. They are just barely stuck together. Now you said to not use a firing schedule, but do I tell the kiln to stay hotter longer then? I'm not sure how to go about this. and do they need to be annealed?

Thanks

[koshus]

What kind of temperatures can you achieve with this kiln making method?

[persebra]

i would really like to make this kiln by next year. right now i am building a couple of furnices and maybe a raku kiln. I might even do your glass furnice depending on how things go..

[simplybecky01]

thank you for your help!