kiln/annealing question

[rusticstudio]

Well, kinda. I have an AIM kiln I purchased so I can anneal beads, do fusing, and fire PMC. I batch anneal my beads because I don't want to crank up the big kiln for a handful of beads at a time. My problem is that now I'm trying boro and doing some larger items since I got my Lynx that should be put into the kiln right when finished. But.... my mandrels won't fit in my kiln! And even if they did, there's not much "floor space" for then to sit on. Besides, should they sit right on the kiln floor? If not, what then? I put the beads I batch anneal in a pyrex bowl with some vermiculite. Any suggestions that don't require spending money? :p

[barbarajoy]

Hi Patty, I got a kiln rack from Arrow Springs and just rest the mandrel on that. The ends of my mandrels stick out from under the door a little but it works fine for me. (I am assuming that yours has the front flip up door). ~Barb

[Cosmo]

It won't hurt anything for them to sit on the floor of the kiln. The annealing temperature is a good bit lower than the melting or slumping temperature. When we teach classes, we stack 30 or 40 beads on mandrels on top of each other in the kiln and have never had a problem with anything deforming or sticking to each other.