Thread: First Kiln
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Old 2019-01-30, 5:49am
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yonil yonil is offline
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Join Date: Feb 14, 2009
Location: New Hampshire
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Well that's a tough decision. I wouldn't really worry about power consumption, as kilns overall are pretty efficient. I'd keep in mind how much space it will take up, and whether you need to be able to move it easily.. While I could move my own JenKen by myself, my new Bluebird XL is flat out too big for me to manage on my own. I lived with that smaller kiln quite happily for several years, although I never graduated beyond pendant size, so maybe the larger will be more important to you. How quickly do you see yourself scaling up?

What I like about the Bluebird XL is (1) the extra space, in that I was previously limited to about 8 mandrels of beads, and (2) the bead doors, which my other kiln didn't have. This is a much bigger deal than the space, actually. Not having a bead door on the previous kiln made it tough to go straight from torch to kiln. I had to lift a giant heavy lid, reach into the oven, and try not to touch an element with a mandrel before my skin roasted. I'm sure they had bead door versions available, I was just too new to know the difference it would make. Also, I could have fit in a lot more beads if I batch annealed.

So whatever choice you make, make sure you can easily use your kiln for what you intend to make. (In my case, I should have gotten a bead door on that first smaller kiln!) When I asked my instructor for advice about a first kiln, she enthusiastically yelled out ChiliPepper!
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