What to do?
 

Ok here is the situation... was trying to set up a little shop to begin doing glasswork. New to this so wanted to get everything before beginning. Next big purchase is the kiln and trying to save up for that, but in the meantime someone came onto my roadway (about a mile long) and abandoned a small dog there.. Not the first time this happens as some people do not care.
Well, it seems all the other dogs keep laughing at her as she is not the prettiest dog as far as dogs go, I feel sorry for her and thought maybe since she has been treated unfairly that maybe in order to get back at the other dogs that were laughing at her , I could possibly make her day by getting her a breast enlargement and at the same time maybe a tummy tuck.
Now I'm sure she would like this and would probably be walking around like a proud peacock strutting her stuff in front of those uppity dogs while smiling like Mick Jagger on crack ,, but I would have no kiln.
I'm willing to wait for the kiln but what do people who have no kiln do? Do they have to wait or what can they do so their glass don't break?. I'm sure not everyone has a kiln to start out but then maybe everyone waits till they get one to work in glass. I will eventually get it but what to do in the meantime.:?: Any and all suggestions would help.. Blessed Be

If the beads you are making are not large, you can use annealing bubbles to cool them. I would hang on to them and properly anneal them in a kiln when you can afford one.

http://www.artcoinc.com/annealing_bubbles.php

Good luck with your new little dog. We have the same problem here except it's cats that people drop off. We never turn them away - the animal shelters here are always full.

annealing bubbles, fiber blanket or even vermiculite will help slow the cooling enough for small beads.
They really should be annealed before use in jewelry or sold.
You might ask around to see if anyone in your area has a glass kiln.
The Glass community is fairly supportive and usually a for a few bucks will batch anneal your work. There is a higher loss rate if your shipping things to get annealed.

If someone had a kiln for ceramic work then could I get them to anneal beads/figurines in their kiln or would a kiln for ceramic not be good for glasswork... sorry I'm not a kilnologist

I didn't have a kiln for the first couple of years. I used vermiculite in a crock pot turned on high, plunge in the beads as they're made, turn it off to cool when I was done. Then when I had a load, I would take them to friends to anneal for me.
You can use a ceramic kiln, but get a digital controller for it so you know what temp it's at instead of sorta guessing with ceramic cones. The controller I bought for my first kiln was around $150, but this was years ago, too. You'll have to kiln sit to turn the temp up or down as needed, but much cheaper than a real glass kiln. Ceramic kilns can be had on CL for not a whole lot, are much bigger than most bead kilns so that you can also fuse or PMC if you like.

Buy the kiln, skip the doggie enhancements.

Are you brand new to glass? I would try the annealing bubbles and see if the hobby sticks, and then spend the dough on a kiln.

I didn't have a kiln for a couple of years either. I used fibre blankets wrapped in aluminum foil that were inside this cinder block structure I made to cool down my beads, but they weren't annealed.

I used vermiculite in a thrift store crock pot on high heat setting. Left on high for several hours then on low several more then let cool. Had them batch annealed at a friend's. Eventually I got a kiln-I highly recommend Glass Hive-even though I got mine used they have still provided EXCELLENT customer service!

Yes I am new to glass work. What I am starting to think from the feedback is that I may be able to get a ceramic kiln (couple around here may be cheap to get) and buy a digital hookup for round $100 - $160 and set that up. I could use the vermiculite/Fiber blankets, during the week and then possibly do one big batch in the ceramic kiln once a week. How long can you keep your beads without annealing before they break?

There are several things to factor in, like size, the type of bead, the glass you use, etc. as well as how you take them from the flame, etc. that might affect them. Some will not make it to cool down, others will be pretty stable for a good while.

Controllers are about $250.00 IMO. If you are going to batch anneal I would just find a way to do that with a studio, friend, etc and save up money for a bead kiln. (one with a controller and a bead door).

if you have all the pieces of the leaf look up : UV repair kit as seen on TV. probably something similar available at the store in the as seen on TV section.:grin:

I am also completely new to lampworking. I tried to work without annealing kiln, putting beads into vermiculite to cool. Also tried putting into kaoline wool. I have read many examples of such bead cooling with good results. Unfortunately, it did not work for me, about 80% of beads broke. I had to make annealing kiln, or quit doing beads at all. I had old small muffel laboratory kiln, adjusted a door of it to fit for beads. Also i put a controller into it, and now i have perfectly working annealing kiln :) Not a single broken bead.

Aye, I built a kiln out of a large mail box and a 1500 watt quartz tubed space heater back in 2008 or so.


I picked the wrong controller for it from the ones available on EBay and the instructions were just convoluted enough for me to forget exactly how I changed the programing the last time I set it up so I jumped at a Jen Ken when it became available.


But my home made one only cost me some $250 and it still does exactly what it needs to do for me and was well worth the effort at the time.


ETA: there is still a thread around here somewhere with detailed instructions on how to build one yourself.

It is not rocket surgery if you can handle a screw driver.