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.

During annealing, the stress in the glass is relieved and the molecules are allowed to cool and arrange themselves into a solid, stable form. Successful annealing is the key to creating glasswork that will remain attractive and durable.

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.

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

To learn more about larger kilns, such as the Paragon Fusion, GL, and Pearl glass kilns, and the Dragon, Iguana, Janus, Ovation, Viking, and Vulcan ceramics kilns, transfer to Paragon Kilns, using the Paragon Kilns link above the menu bar at the top of the page.

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The Paragon BlueBird.

Working successfully with a kiln involves careful research, planned experiment, and repeated testing. It's important to learn how to creatively use unexpected effects, especially as things that work for your friends or teachers may not work in the same way for you. So, keep a firing log:

Buy a durable notebook. On a new page for every firing, draw a diagram of the shelves, their vertical spacing, and the position of your work on the shelves. Put a few scraps at different places on the shelves to learn how things react. Describe the material, the shape of your work, the firing cycle, and the end result.

A kiln log is vital if you're experimenting with temperature-sensitive materials, or working with coloured dichroic glasses, enamels, or glazes. A skilled artist will use the log to advantage to re-create effects.

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.

The UK kiln is rated at 230V 1500W, so can use a regular mains socket. It's small enough to use in your home, school, craft workshop, jewellery studio, or course venue, as it only weighs about 22Kg.

The outer steel case measures 851mm x 293mm x 331mm, and is slotted for air circulation: so it keeps cool. There are two separate outward-opening letter-box style doors, each 254mm x 70mm, giving a total door width of 508mm.

The whole ceramic-fibre firing chamber measures 508mm x 127mm x 127mm internally, and heats from the top, with the fast-firing elements safely embedded in the fibre.

The electronic display prompts for heating rate, target temperature, and hold time, making it easy to set up and re-use accurate drying, heating, holding, and cooling sequences.

The Blue Bird was designed for batch-annealing glass beads threaded onto bead rods, or mandrels. Although it has wide bead doors, making it time and energy efficient, 650°C is not hot enough for most other materials and processes, so there's no recommended furniture kit.

The elements are embedded in ceramic fibre, an important safety feature if you like to add and remove bead rods whilst the kiln is on. However, never get careless: kilns are hot and connected to the mains.

Ceramic-fibre kilns, such as the BlueBird and those in the SC series, heat and cool more quickly than firebrick kilns, such as those in the Caldera and Xpress series, although you can use the programmer to control the rate.

The Paragon BlueBird XL 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. 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 BlueBird XL is a 925°C, four-sided, rectangular, ceramic-fibre, front-opening kiln, with an easy-to-use, ramp hold, Sentry Xpress 3-key digital programmer. It's larger than the BlueBird.

The UK kiln is rated at 230V 1700W, so can use a regular mains socket. It's small enough to use in your home, school, craft workshop, jewellery studio, or course venue, as it only weighs about 36Kg.

The outer steel case measures 826mm x 381mm x 318mm, and is slotted for air circulation: so it keeps cool. There are two separate outward-opening letter-box style doors, each 254mm x 114mm, giving a total door width of 508mm.

The whole firebrick firing chamber measures 508mm x 229mm x 115mm internally, and heats from the top, with the fast firing elements laying in grooves.

The electronic display prompts for heating rate, target temperature, and hold time, making it easy to set up and re-use accurate drying, heating, holding, and cooling sequences.

The Blue Bird XL was designed for batch-annealing glass beads threaded onto bead rods, or mandrels. Although it has wide bead doors, making it time and energy efficient, 925°C is hot enough for many other materials and processes.

It's very important to understand what the shelf kit consists of, why you might need a different one, and why you might need more than one:

The furniture kit, not included in the price, consists of two 178mm x 178mm x 15mm cordierite shelves and eight 25mm x 25mm x 12mm posts.

Cordierite is a magnesium aluminium silicate that resists thermal distortion and fracture. A thick shelf, on posts, heats and cools evenly: particularly important for glass work.

Cordierite is brittle: if you drop the shelf, it'll break. It's a good idea to have spare shelves, especially if your business depends on your kiln or you're running courses. You can buy extra shelf kits in the on-line shop.

Depending on the sizes of your pieces and the number of pieces you want to fire, three shelves can be stacked to make better use of your time: so you may want more than one furniture kit. However, remember that glass needs radiant heat and is better fired on one shelf rather than between stacked shelves.

For enamelling and glass fusing, you'll need to put kiln paper on the shelf to stop anything sticking: it's simpler and cleaner to use than glass separator. You can buy shelf paper in the on-line shop.

To learn more about larger kilns, such as the Paragon Fusion, GL, and Pearl glass kilns, and the Dragon, Iguana, Janus, Ovation, Viking, and Vulcan ceramics kilns, transfer to Paragon Kilns, using the Paragon Kilns link above the menu bar at the top of the page.

To learn more about Art Clay metal clays, Accent Gold, Metal Clay Veneer, buying and using kilns and tools, choosing a course, or discovering more at The Art Clay Club, use the Art Clay link below the menu bar at the top of the page.

The Art Clay Club is an information resource, not a shop, providing free on-line help, 24 7 52: you don't have to register, log on, or remember a password.

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 kiln paper, 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 Kiklns 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.