Home Made Kiln Furniture - What have you used?

[Moira HFG]

 

[Hazel]

I sometimes use ordinary ceramic tiles with thinfire to cover the glaze. I always use "real" props because they keep the "shelf" level. They last for a few firings with small fused items on, and they are cheap and easy to obtain.

[Flyingcheesetoastie]

Probably a bit late now but did you ask Potclays if they could cut a batt to the size you wanted?

[andyslater]

Probably a bit late now but did you ask Potclays if they could cut a batt to the size you wanted?

I didn't ask... and I think what I've done was probably a bit too much to ask:

How I made my shelves and props

Step 1: Cut a 3" wide strip off the 8" square batt I received from Potclays.  I used a Dremel with a reinforced (glass fibre) cut off wheel to score a line about 1/16" deep in both sides of the 1/2" thick batt.  A vacuum cleaner (shop vac) close by (held by my partner) makes for much less clean up.  I then put it on a hard surface (kitchen floor) with a pencil under the scored line and pressed down.  Worked a treat.  :-)

Step 2: Take the 3" strip and cut 4 3/8" off one end.  This is my "small shelf" (see later).

Step 3: The remaining piece of the 3" strip was divided and cut into 12 pieces each of which ended up being about 7/8" square.  These are to be used as props.

Step 4: The remaining large piece of the original batt (approx 5" wide) was cut into two pieces, the larger of which is 4 1/4" wide.  This makes my large and medium sized shelves.

I then smoothed off all of the edges with 60 grit sandpaper.  I used up a couple of sheets of sandpaper, and a couple of Dremel cut off wheels, but I think that's a small price to pay as I now have 3 shelves and 12 props.

My shelves are as follows:

5" x 4 1/4" - this only just fits in my Prometheus Pro-1 kiln with about 1/4" of space all around when placed on 4 props (to raise it away from the curvature of the kiln's interior).  I'll use it when I'm putting stuff in there that doesn't need to be taken out while hot.

5" x 3 3/4" - the same snug fit from front to back but with more wiggle room at the sides.

3" x 4 3/8" - this will be my choice for anything I might want to take out while still hot.


How I made my wire shelves

I also purchased a piece of stainless steel mesh as suggested by ajda.  It was 6" square with a 1/4" mesh.

Step 1: I cut a 2" wide strip off the square.

Step 2: I cut the 2" strip in half.  This gives me two little shelves that I can use when enamelling.  I didn't bend these are I figured I can put them on the props... which I now have loads of (see above).

Step 3: the larger piece was bent through 90 degrees, about an inch from each of the longer ends, to give me a piece on which I can rest bead mandrels and/or flip over for larger pieces of enamelling.


Obviously I haven't used any of this stuff yet; so 12 months from now I might be wishing I'd done it differently.  If this thread still exists in 12 months time I'll report back.  In the meantime maybe other people will post their own money saving and or custom jobs.  :-)

[ajda]

Sounds like a pretty tidy job! Perhaps you should go into business selling bespoke made-to-measure kiln furniture. Your cutting method seems good - I thought you might have more difficulty with that part. I've made a mental note of it in case I need to cut shelves some time.