Can I Fuse Glass in My Ceramic Kiln?

As a matter of fact you can. For years it was believed that glass could only be fused in a kiln with elements in the lid. Artists worried that if you tried to fuse glass in a side-fired kiln the temperature difference between the edges of the glass near the elements, and the center of the glass would become to great and the piece would crack. We then found out that if you slow your firing program down you can keep this temperature difference to a minimum and the fused pieces came out just fine. When you fuse in a side fired kiln you have the advantage of being able to load pieces on multiple layers so you can fire an entire class’s projects at one time. Take a look at this article that tells you how to load and program your kilns for glass.Fusing Glass in Your Ceramic Kiln

How Long Will it Take To Fire My Kiln?

The amount of time your kiln takes to fire depends on a number of factors:

• What program you are running.
• The size of the kiln.
• The amount of mass loaded in the kiln.
• The insulation of the bricks or fiber in your kiln.
• The power rating of the kiln.
• The temperature and airflow of your kiln room.

The chart below gives you the estimated time of each of the GlassFire Mode programs found on the GlassMaster controller. In the calculations we are assuming a starting temperature of 70 F and an average free fall cooling rate of 330 F/Hr from peak temperature to 1000 F. These times do not include the time it takes to cool from 750 F to room temperature which varies greatly and can be a considerable amount of time on kilns that are large and well insulated.