Garaging protection

[OutWickenburgWay]

I am using the chili pepper kiln and love it. I am wondering if I am going to garage something, what would be the best thing to lay in the kiln to keep the insulation off of the piece?
Thanks,
John

[artsyuno]

Fiber blanket?

[OutWickenburgWay]

The insulation is a fiber. I just want to keep the glass clean. I would like to use something solid but thin, but I am new to kilns and do not know what material is okay to use.

[echeveria]

You can buy kiln shelves, but the insulation won't hurt your beads unless you put them in while they are too hot, and if that is the case, any surface will mar them. I toss mine straight in on the fiber.

[PolychromeBeads]

I bought a piece of plain steel L-bracket the length of my kiln and put it towards the back. I put my mandrels in with the tip resting on the edge of the bracket that's facing up, allowing the beads to sit not touching anything. After they've been in there for a while I slide them to one side, but they still don't touch the bottom of the kiln.


Aimee

[silverlilly1]

Metal rod rests work. But I just switched to pieces of broken kiln shelf resting against the back of the kiln, since I've been wondering if the metal was affecting the kiln environment.

[artsyuno]

You can also do half and half - put a mandrel rest (or a narrow strip of kiln shelf) on one side and fiber blanket on the other. Put the new bead on the mandrel rest and then when you finish the next bead, put it on the rod rest and move the prior bead to the fiber blanket (or move them after you've made several). This will give the first bead time to cool a bit before you move it to the blanket and, therefore, be sure that you don't damage the bead with the blanket. The beads that have cooled in that way can be stacked up on the rest-free side of the kiln and then you'll always have room on the mandrel rest for the hotter beads. Take a look on Arrow Springs' website. They have several different mandrel rests, so you can see some different size options.

[bob]

If you want a solid surface and you don't have a kiln shelf get a cheap pizza stone and cut it to the size you need. I use pizza stones to full fuse with no problems.
Bob

[Elizabeth Beads]

Porcelain tiles, the skinny trim ones, work well and cost less than $1.

[jaci]

As long as your beads does not go in melts if won't be dirtied in the chili pepper by the fiber blanket. Just pile them in. If your bead is hit enough to pick up a Santa beard you are putting it in too hot. Let the bead cool a little longer than u are good if it's hot enough that it wiuld be picking up blanket, it would also be hot enough to cause if to stick or deform in some shape to any other surface that was on there basically too.

[RSimmons]

I did 2 things with my toolbox kiln. I put tiles on the floor and bought some 1X1 strips of firebrick across the back. The tips of the mandrels rest on these strips and hold the beads off of the floor.

Robert

[glass obsessed]

Robert can the tiles be any type of tile from a tile store or do they need to be someting special?

[jaci]

Un coated (no glaze) will work just fine from Home Depot.

[glass obsessed]

Thanks Jaci

[RSimmons]

Yep, unglazed tile. I got mine when I picked up the strips of firebrick from our local ceramics supplier.

Robert