Most people buy their first kiln for the material or process they're currently working with, but then become interested in something else. There's quite a choice: Art Clay, PMC, jewellery, bead annealing, dichroic glass, glass fusing, sagging, slumping, ceramics, pottery, stoneware, china painting, dolls, enamelling, and raku.

Although kilns are usually designed for a specific material or process, there's always flexibility. For example, the Janus 1613 is a 1290°C ceramics kiln but, as most glass work is done below 925°C, it could also be used for fusing, sagging, and slumping: and Art Clay, PMC, china painting, dolls, glass, gold, porcelain, pottery, silver, and stoneware.

Your choice of kiln will depend on wether you want to produce single unique pieces to wear or give, make a batch of similar pieces to sell, fire your student's assorted work, or work on large panels or three-dimensional objects.
In a course centre, fast heating might be vital to allow students to comlete their set pieces. As an example, an SC2 will heat from cold to 650°C in twenty minutes: an Xpress E14A will take 45 minutes.

There are three main factors that affect the rate at which a kiln can heat and cool, and its maximum temperature: the electrical power, its internal size, and the firing chamber material.

The fastest to heat would be a high power, small, ceramic-fibre kiln, and the slowest to heat would be a low power, large, firebrick kiln. In both cases, a digital programmer can control the heating rate.

To avoid repetition, each kiln is only described on one page, although other pages might refer to it briefly. For example, using the table below as a guide: to learn about the Fusion 8, use the kilns link below the menu bar at the top of the page, then choose glass.
Or, to learn about the Xpress E-14A, use the kilns link below the menu bar at the top of the page, then choose artclay.

kiln	max °C	materials and processes	page
14-9SSP	925	china painting, enamels, glass	china
BlueBird	650	glass-bead annealing	beads
BlueBird XL	925	art clay, pmc, beads, low-fire ceramics, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery	beads
Caldera-S Manaul	1290	ceramics, china painting, dolls, enamels, glass, porcelain, pottery, stoneware	ceramics
Caldera-SB Manual	1095	glass-bead annealing, china painting, dolls, enamels, glass	ceramics
Caldera-SC Manual	1095	china painting, dolls, enamels, glass	ceramics
Caldera-A	1290	ceramics, china painting, dolls, enamels, glass, porcelain, pottery, stoneware	ceramics
Caldera-AB	1095	glass-bead annealing, china painting, dolls, enamels, glass	ceramics
Caldera-AC	1095	china painting, dolls, enamels, glass	ceramics
EZ Beader	815	glass-bead annealing	beads
FireFly-S Manual	1290	ceramics, china painting, dolls, enamels, glass, porcelain, pottery, stoneware	ceramics
FireFly-A	1290	ceramics, china painting, dolls, enamels, glass, porcelain, pottery, stoneware	ceramics
Fusion 6	925	glass fusing, sagging, slumping	glass
Fusion 7	925	glass fusing, sagging, slumping	glass
Fusion 8	925	glass fusing, sagging, slumping	glass
Fusion 10	925	glass fusing, sagging, slumping	glass
Ovation 10	925	glass fusing, sagging, slumping	glass
GL18-ADTSD	925	glass fusing, sagging, slumping	glass
GL22-ADTSD	925	glass fusing	glass
GL24-ADTSD	925	glass fusing, sagging, slumping	glass
GL44-ADTS	925	glass fusing, sagging, slumping	glass
GL64-ADTS	925	glass fusing, sagging, slumping	glass
Home Artist	1095	art clay, pmc, jewellery, ceramics, china painting, glass, raku	ceramics
Janus 1613	1290	ceramics, china painting, dolls, glass, gold, porcelain, pottery, stoneware	ceramics
Janus 23	1290	ceramics, china painting, dolls, glass, gold, porcelain, pottery, stoneware	ceramics
Janus 24	1290	ceramics, china painting, dolls, glass, gold, porcelain, pottery, stoneware	ceramics
Janus 27	1290	ceramics, china painting, dolls, glass, gold, porcelain, pottery, stoneware	ceramics
Janus Ovation	1290	ceramics, china painting, dolls, glass, gold, porcelain, pottery, stoneware	ceramics
Pearl 18	925	glass fusing, sagging, slumping	glass
Pearl 22	925	glass fusing, sagging, slumping	glass
Pearl 44	925	glass fusing, sagging, slumping	glass
SC-2	1095	art clay, pmc, low-fire ceramics, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery	art clay
SC-2B	1095	art clay, pmc, beads, low-fire ceramics, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery	art clay
SC-2W	1095	art clay, pmc, low-fire ceramics, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery	art clay
SC-2BW	1095	art clay, pmc, beads, low-fire ceramics, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery	art clay
SC-3	1095	art clay, pmc, low-fire ceramics, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery	art clay
SC-3B	1095	art clay, pmc, beads, low-fire ceramics, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery	art clay
SC-3W	1095	art clay, pmc, low-fire ceramics, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery	art clay
SC-3BW	1095	art clay, pmc, beads, low-fire ceramics, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery	art clay
TNF 66-3	1200	ceramics, china painting, dolls	ceramics
TNF 1613-3	1290	ceramics, china painting, dolls, gold, porcelain, pottery, stoneware	ceramics
TNF 82-3	1290	ceramics, china painting, dolls	ceramics
TNF 27-3	1290	ceramics, porcelain, pottery, stoneware	ceramics
TNF 66-3	1200	ceramics, china painting, dolls	dolls
Xpress E-9A	1095	art clay, pmc, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery, low-fire ceramics	art clay
Xpress E-10A	1230	art clay, pmc, low-fire ceramics, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery	art clay
Xpress E-10ABW	1230	art clay, pmc, beads, low-fire ceramics, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery	art clay
Xpress E-14A	1095	art clay, pmc, low-fire ceramics, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery	art clay
Xpress E-14ABW	1095	art clay, pmc, beads, low-fire ceramics, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery	art clay
Xpress J-14A	1095	art clay, pmc, low-fire ceramics, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery	art clay
Xpress J-14ABW	1095	art clay, pmc, beads, low-fire ceramics, dichroics, enamelling, glass, jewellery	art clay
Xpress Q-11A	1260	art clay, pmc, jewellery, ceramics, china painting, dolls, enamels, glass, porcelain	art clay

PARAGON'S MODEL NUMBERS

Over the decades, the US model numbers have become increasingly complicated, using an inconsistent mix of names, letters, numbers, and dashes. They might have historical significance but now, often, don't mean anything logical.

To make it clearer, we use the same numbers, the ones in the table, throughout. Our UK naming convention uses B for a bead-annealing door, W for a glass viewing-window, and BW for both.

SC meant Small Ceramic, not SilverClay. There is no longer an SC-1 kiln, the SC-2 is called an SC2 or SC2-1, the SC-2B is called an SC2 Bead Door, the SC-2W is called an SC2 Vista, the SC-2BW isn't called anything, the SC-3 is called an SC3 or SC3-4, and the SC-3BW isn't called anything.

A meant painted finish; Caldera-X meant it has a plain collar; E meant enamelling front-loading; Q meant ceramic front-loading; SC meant small ceramic-fibre, not silverclay; TNF meant Touch n Fire; and Xpress meant digital programmer. The suffix 3, as in TNF 66-3, meant that the firebricks are 3 inches thick.

The 14-9SSP has a firing chamber about 14in x 9in. SSP means single set point, although it has a fully-programmable Sentry Xpress 3-key digital controller.

The Caldera-B is called a Caldera-BC, and the Caldera-C is called a Caldera-X. GF means Glass Fusing but the catalogue doesn't use it. GL means glass, but the GL series were numbered confusingly: at best, ADTSD means painted finish, digital programmer, with top, side, and door elements.

The Ovation 925°C ten-sided glass kiln is called an Ovation 10, and the Ovation 1290°C ten-sided ceramics kiln is called a Janus Ovation.

The TNF-27-3 is about 27in across inside and has 3in thick firebricks. However, the TNF-66 is not 66in inches across and the Fusion 8 is not 8in across, but 8 sided.

The Xpress E-10A is called an E10AXpress, the Xpress E-14A is called an Xpress-E14A, and the Xpress Q-11A is called an Xpress-Q-11A.