Electric Kilns is an on-line shop for low-cost table-top kilns: the UltraLite, the Kitiki Mini-Kiln, and the Paragon BlueBird, Caldera, FireFly, Fusion 6, Fusion 7, Home Artist, SC-2, SC-3, and Xpress.

They can all use a regular, single-phase, 230V 13A mains socket, so will work anywhere in the EU. With the exception of the UltraLite, they all have rotary controllers or digital programmers.

They're suitable for annealing beads, firing Art Clay, BronzClay, and PMC metal clays, casting glass, firing ceramics, china painting, enamelling, fusing dichroic glasses, heat treating metals, laboratory testing, lampwork, making mixed-media jewellery, melting silver, porcelain, pottery, raku, sagging, slumping, stained glass, and stoneware.

They're ideal for your home, school, college, craft centre, jewellery studio, course venue, engineering facilty, technical workshop, or medical laboratory.

This internet resource belongs to Cherry Heaven, a shop in Corfe Castle village near the National Trust Estate. Cherry Heaven sells a diverse selection of exclusive essentials and luxuries. To look at Cherry Heaven, use the Cherry Heaven link above the menu bar near the top of the page.

Cherry Heaven TV has made a short on-line programme featuring some of the kilns. To play or pause the Electric Kilns Product Review, just click the Cherry Heaven TV player above. The player uses Flash, available on nearly all computers.

Cherry Heaven TV has also made a selection of radio and tv programmes about working with kilns. To look at these, use the more link below the menu bar near the top of the page, then choose Radio or TV.

You can shop here now: on line or by phone with a card, or by post with a cheque. Kiln prices include a shelf kit, a door or lid safety-switch where appropriate, VAT, and insured door-to-door UK-mainland delivery: there are no other charges.

Electric Kilns has chosen kilns that combine the best mix of practical features, robust manufacture, and low door-to-door prices. When comparing them to similar kilns from other manufacturers or resellers, there are important differences:

Kilns made outside the UK have been re-engineered and comprehensively tested for the UK and Europe. They work on a single-phase 230V supply. 230V is the EU standard, although there are minor local and national variations.

UK voltage used to be 240V and European used to be 220V. The EU decided to harmonise the voltage to 230V, but the implementation costs were too high for almost no real benefit. So, to appear harmonised, the legal voltage limits were changed to 230V, but within the range 216V-253V. Generally, in the UK, 240V is a reliable average.

They're CE marked and comply with EU safety standards. The heating elements are either embedded in ceramic fibre, or the kiln is fitted with a door or lid switch: an important safety feature.

With the exception of the manual Caldera-S and FireFly-S, they all have digital programmers. You can set up to four sequences, which you can save and re-use. A sequence can include up to eight heating, holding, or cooling segments. Any segment could ramp up to a set temperature, hold a set temperature, or ramp down to a set temperature, over a set time. There are no restrictive features such as single-sequence use or pre-set programmes.

Finally, prices. For a chosen firing-chamber volume and maximum temperature, US-made kilns cost less than kilns made in the UK, Western Europe, and Japan. To complicate price comparison, many suppliers show internet prices that don't include VAT and delvery. Other suppliers only reveal prices in a paper catalogue or after a lengthy phone call.

Choosing the right kiln is important, especially if you're not sure which materials you'll want to work with. If you need help, mail or call.

US-made kilns often have live heating elements that are exposed whenever the door or lid is open. To comply with EU safety regulations, an additional switch, included in the price, is fitted to cut off the power whenever the kiln is opened. Exposed live elements are very dangerous, and illegal in the UK.

To learn about larger floor-standing kilns, such as the Paragon Fusion, GL, Ovation, and Pearl for glass, the KM knife making kilns, and the Dragon, Iguana, Janus, TNF, Viking, and Vulcan for ceramics, dolls, porcelain, pottery, raku, and stoneware, transfer to Paragon Kilns, using the Paragon Kilns link above the menu bar near the top of the page.

The UltraLite Kiln is the smallest kiln in the UK: not much larger than a sugar bowl. It's ideal for your home studio, craft workshop, or course venue. It weighs just 1kg, so is easy to take to craft fairs, demonstrations, and exhibitions.

The UltraLite Kiln is suitable for low-budget small-scale work: drying and firing Art Clay and PMC metal clays, enamelling, glass fusing, making jewellery, and keum-boo. It's an 845°C, round, open-top, ceramic-fibre kiln, with a heating disc, a firing disc, and a lift-off metal lid.

The UltraLite Kiln isn't programmable: it's either on or off. However, the firing characteristics can be modified by moving the lid off-centre.

The Ultra Lite Kiln is sometimes called an Art Clay kiln, a craft kiln, an enamelling kiln, a glass-fusing kiln, a jewellery kiln, a hobby kiln, a keum-boo kiln, a metal clay kiln, a PMC kiln, a silver clay kiln, a small kiln, or a trinkets kiln.

The Kitiki Mini-Kiln is the most popular small kiln in the UK for enamelling, fusing glass, and firing silver clays. It's ideal for your home, school, craft workshop, jewellery studio, or arts centre running jewellery courses. It weighs just 6kg, so is easy to take to craft fairs, demonstrations, and exhibitions.

The Kitiki Mini-Kiln is suitable for small-scale work: drying and firing Art Clay and PMC metal clays, Accent Gold, Metal Clay Veneer, painting china, decals, dichroic glass, glass fusing, enamelling, and jewellery. It's a 1000°C, four-sided, square, ceramic-fibre, front-opening kiln, with an easy-to-use, 4-key digital controller.

The Kitiki MiniKiln is sometimes called an Art Clay kiln, a craft kiln, an enamelling kiln, a glass fusing kiln, a jewellery kiln, a hobby kiln, a metal clay kiln, a PMC kiln, a Prometheus Kiln, a Prometheus Pro-1 Kiln, a SilverClay kiln, or a small kiln.

Compared to the Uhlig U5 kiln and similar models, the Kitiki MiniKiln has a higher maximum temperature and a ramp-hold digital controller: it's a versatile kiln not just a hot-box.

The Paragon BlueBird is a bead-annealing kiln with two separate bead-doors and two bead-mandrel holders. It's ideal for batch-annealing glass beads in a busy classroom or a productive studio.

The Paragon BlueBird is a 650°C, four-sided, rectangular, ceramic-fibre, front-opening kiln, with an easy-to-use, ramp hold, Sentry Xpress 3-key digital programmer.

Although the Blue Bird is fully programmable, it's been designed for glass-bead annealing. As the maximum temperature is 650°C, it won't be hot enough for most other materials and processes.

The BlueBird XL is similar but larger. As the maximum temperature is 925°C, it could also be used for enamelling, firing metal clays, or fusing glasses, making it very versatile.

The Paragon Caldera series kilns are low-cost, high-temperature, top-opening, firebrick kilns which heat and cool evenly. You can slump glass, make porcelain beads, melt gold, fire stoneware, and use most materials and processes, so they're ideal for your home, school, college, craft workshop, jewellery studio, or arts centre running jewellery courses.

The Paragon Caldera series kilns are suitable for Art Clay, PMC, Accent Gold, Metal Clay Veneer, glass-bead annealing, china painting, dichroics, enamelling, glass fusing, heat treating, jewellery, and small-scale sagging, slumping, ceramics, porcelain, pottery, and stoneware.

The Paragon Caldera series kilns come in two versions, as the manual Caldera-S with a rotary switch and the automatic Caldera-A with a digital programmer. They're both 1290°C cone 10, four-sided, square, firebrick, top-opening kilns. The Caldera and FireFly are the hottest kilns that can use a regular mains socket.

The Paragon Caldera series kilns can have a heat-resistant glass viewing-window in the lid, and can accept a separate removable layer, either as a plain collar or a bead-door collar, which increases the internal height.

The Caldera kilns are sometimes called Art Clay kilns, ceramic kilns, craft kilns, enamelling kilns, glass kilns, glass-fusing kilns, hobby kilns, jewellery kilns, jewelry kilns, metal clay kilns, PMC kilns, porcelain kilns, silver clay kilns, or studio kilns.

Compared to similar kilns from other manufacturers, such as the Skutt FireBox, and the Evenheat Hot Box, Studio, and Studio Pro, the Caldera-S costs less, is larger inside, and has a higher maximum temperature, making it more versatile.

Paragon Industries uses different codes: the Caldera-S is called the Caldera Manual, the Caldera-A is called the Caldera Automatic, the Caldera-AB is called the Caldera-BC, and the Caldera-AC is called the Caldera-X.

The Paragon FireFly series kilns are low-cost, high-temperature, top-opening, firebrick kilns which heat and cool evenly. You can slump glass, make porcelain beads, melt gold, fire stoneware, and use most materials and processes, so they're ideal for your home, school, college, craft workshop, jewellery studio, or arts centre running jewellery courses.

The Paragon FireFly series kilns are suitable for Art Clay, PMC, Accent Gold, Metal Clay Veneer, glass-bead annealing, china painting, dichroics, enamelling, glass fusing, heat treating, jewellery, and small-scale sagging, slumping, ceramics, porcelain, pottery, and stoneware.

The Paragon FireFly series kilns come in two versions, as the manual FireFly-S with a rotary switch and the automatic FireFly-A with a digital programmer. They're both 1290°C cone 10, four-sided, square, firebrick, top-opening kilns. The FireFly and Caldera are the hottest kilns that can use a regular mains socket.

The Paragon FireFly series kilns can have a heat-resistant glass viewing-window fiited in the centre of the lid, but can not accept a separate removable layer, either as a plain collar or a bead-door collar, as can the Caldera.

The Paragon Fire Fly kilns are sometimes called Art Clay kilns, ceramic kilns, craft kilns, enamelling kilns, glass kilns, glass-fusing kilns, hobby kilns, jewellery kilns, jewelry kilns, metal clay kilns, PMC kilns, porcelain kilns, silver clay kilns, or studio kilns.

Compared to similar kilns from other manufacturers, such as the Skutt FireBox, and the Evenheat Hot Box, Studio, and Studio Pro, the FireFly-S costs less and has a higher maximum temperature, making it more versatile.

Paragon Industries uses different codes: the FireFly-S is called the FireFly Manual and the FireFly-A is called the FireFly Automatic.

The Paragon Home Artist kiln looks like an air hostess's travel case, with wheels and a telescopic handle. It's easy to move around, so excellent for demonstrations, presentations, and exhibitions, or a small workshop that doesn't have a dedicated kiln space. It's popular with china-painting artists, as it will accommodate seven 250mm plates.

It's a 1095°C cone 4, cylindrical, ceramic-fibre, top-opening kiln, with an easy-to-use, ramp-hold cone-fire, Sentry Xpress 3-key digital programmer.

It's suitable for Art Clay and PMC metal clays, china paints, dichroic glass, enameling, jewellery, lost-wax casting, low-fire ceramics, fusing glass, and raku.

The Paragon SC series kilns are the most popular small kilns in the UK and ideal for your home, school, craft workshop, jewellery studio, or arts centre running jewellery courses.

The Paragon SC series kilns come in two versions, as the SC-2 and the 50mm taller SC-3. They're both 1095°C, four sided, square, ceramic-fibre, front-opening kilns, with easy-to-use, ramp-hold, Sentry Xpress 3-key digital programmers. The Paragon SC2 is probably the most popular kiln in the UK.

The SC2 and SC3 are also available with a bead-annealing door as the SC-2B and SC-3B, a glass viewing-window as the SC-2W and SC-3W, and a bead-annealing door and a glass viewing-window as the more versatile SC-2BW and SC-3BW.

The Paragon SC series kilns are suitable for Art Clay, BronzClay, and PMC metal clays, Accent Gold, Metal Clay Veneer, china painting, glass-bead annealing, applying decals, dichroic glasses, enamelling, jewellery, lost-wax casting, low-fire ceramics, glass fusing, and small-scale glass sagging and slumping.

The Paragon SC series kilns are sometimes called Art Clay kilns, annealing kilns, beading kilns, craft kilns, dichroic glass kilns, enamelling kilns, glass kilns, glass fusing kilns, hobby kilns, jewellery kilns, jewelry kilns, lampwork kilns, metal clay kilns, PMC kilns, silverclay kilns, small kilns, or studio kilns.

Compared to similar kilns from other manufacturers, such as the Evenheat E-360 and the Sierra, the Paragon SC2 costs less.

The Paragon Xpress series kilns are low-cost, front-opening, firebrick kilns which heat and cool evenly. You can slump glass, anneal glass beads, melt silver, fire metal clays, and use many materials and processes, so they're ideal for your home, school, craft workshop, jewellery studio, or arts centre running jewellery courses.

The Paragon Xpress series kilns are suitable for Art Clay, BronzClay, and PMC metal clays, Accent Gold, Metal Clay Veneer, china painting, glass-bead annealing, applying decals, dichroic glasses, enamelling, heat treating, jewellery, lost-wax casting, glass fusing, sagging, and slumping, ceramics, porcelain, pottery, and stoneware.

The Paragon Xpress series kilns come in five versions, as the Q-11A, E-9A, E-10A, E-12A, and E-14A, in ascending order of firing-chamber size. They're 1095°C to 1260°C, four-sided, firebrick, front-opening kilns, with easy-to-use, ramp hold, Sentry Xpress 3-key digital programmers. The Xpress E14A is the largest kiln that can use a regular mains socket.

The Paragon Epress kilns are sometimes called Art Clay kilns, bead kilns, BronzClay kilns, ceramic kilns, china painting kilns, craft kilns, enamel kilns, glass kilns, glass fusing kilns, hobby kilns, jewellery kilns, lampwork kilns, metal clay kilns, PMC kilns, silverclay kilns, or studio kilns.

Compared to similar kilns from other manufacturers, such as the KilnCare Imp, the Paragon Xpress E14 kiln costs less, is larger inside, and has a higher maximum temperature, making it more versatile.

Art Clay, sometimes called silver clay, gold clay, metal clay, or precious-metal clay, is made by Aida Chemical Industries in Japan: it's a composite clay-like material, made of fine silver or gold powder and a harmless organic binder.

As it's fired, the binder vapourises and the metal powder sinters, leaving solid 999 silver or 22 carat gold: real metal, not something that just looks like metal.

To learn more about Art Clay, and related products, use the Art Clay link below the menu bar near the top of the page.

The kiln prices include the recommended shelf kit, and the legally-necessary lid or door safety switch where appropriate.

The on-line shop includes the Ultra Lite Kiln, the Kitiki MiniKiln, Paragon Kilns, BullsEye ThinFire shelf paper, Orton Sentry Xpress programmers, ceramic blocks, ceramic cloths, digital pyrometers, reminder-timers, fire extinguishers, glare-resistant glasses, heat-resistant gloves, kiln shelves, kiln tables, and other tools and accessories. Alternatively, visit the Cherry Heaven Shop in Corfe Castle village.

Cherry Heaven, through Electric Kilns, is an EU distributor for Paragon Kilns made by Paragon Industries in the US, and the Prometheus Pro kilns made by Odak Sanat in Turkey.

Cherry Heaven, through Advance Kilns, is the EU distributor for Advance Kilns made by Advance Kilns in Canada, and, through The UltraLite Kiln, an EU distributor for the Ultra Lite Kiln made by JEC Products in the US.

Cherry Heaven, through The Kitiki Studio, is a UK distributor for Art Clay made by Aida Chemical Industries in Japan, and an EU distributor for AccentGold For Silver paint and Metal Clay Veneer, both made in the US.

Cherry Heaven has been commended for outstanding performance as one of Paragon's 2007 top-selling distributors: a pleasing outcome since the UK is one third the area of Texas and one fortieth the area of the US.

Founded as a family business in 1948, Paragon Industries is now the world's leading manufacturer of electric kilns and furnaces, and has built over 380 000. The 4 830 square metre site, in Mesquite, Texas, employs over 70 full-time staff.

Paragon continually monitors design and manufacture, leading to versatile, practical, safe kilns. Every kiln goes through a fifteen-step quality check, with a technician following the build, and is inspected before shipping. Paragon kilns are thoughtfully and robustly engineered, so you're buying a kiln with a future.

All the kilns are designed to meet the demanding UL 499 standard in the US, and CE Certification in the EU. Paragon is Greek for Model Of Perfection.

. The names Cherry Heaven, Advance, Efco, Electric Kilns, Mini-Kiln, Odak, Paragon, Uhlig, UltraLite, Kitiki, Lindstrom, Orton, Sentry Xpress, Art Clay, PMC, SilverClay, Accent Gold, BronzClay, Fimo Polymer Clay, Image Transfer, and Metal Clay Veneer are registered trademarks.