Hi, Rebecca
Yeah, it was enough to freak me out, that's for sure! And as it is I've got a thin shelf sitting on the bottom (can't be bothered kiln washing the bottom
) for some heat retention, plus nice heavy posts surrounding it. Plus the probe with a nice heavy clay sheath. I can't do any more than that.
A friend has made an alternative stack of fibre board which will only be 40 mm rather than four-and-a-bit inches to reach to anneal. That should work. When it arrives in the mail I fully expect to be making and annealing beads in one hit without any problems. I just have to cut a bead door opening and stuff the gap between beads with another piece.
Thank goodness for her! She's helped me out more than once in terms of ensuring the beads are properly annealed with my big kiln, not to mention hands-on, face-to-face assistance.
But if I knew then what I know now, I certainly wouldn't have bothered with this kiln at all.
And I can't stress enough (pun intended
) the importance of lampworkers knowing how to test their beads.