The Paragon FireFly series kilns are versatile, robust, high-temperature, low-cost, ceramic kilns. You can fire metal clays, fuse glass, anneal beads, use ceramics, make porcelain figures, paint china, melt gold, heat-treat metals, and work with most other materials and processes.

They're ideal for your home, school, college, craft workshop, jewellery studio, arts centre providing jewellery courses, engineering workshop, medical laboratory, or technical facility.

Cherry Heaven TV has made a short on-line slideshow featuring these popular kilns: click the Cherry Heaven TV player above. The slideshow starts with the FireFly-S, and continues with the larger Caldera and Caldera-XL.

The Paragon FireFly heats to 1290°C cone 10: hot enough for nearly everything. It's rated at 230V 1800W, so it can use a regular mains socket. It has a comprehensive digital programmer that remembers your settings. There's a lid-activated cut-off switch: an important safety feature.

If you want a larger kiln, look at the Paragon Caldera, Caldera XL, and Xpress E12A. If you want a front-opening kiln for jewellery, not ceramics, look at the SC2. I've included photos and a specification table below, for comparison.

If you need help choosing or have a specific project, mail or call. However, all the kilns are described on their own pages.

This comprehensive internet resource lets you research and compare kilns in your own time. But, to make it easier, there are two broad groups: smaller kilns for jewellery, enamelling, fusing, and keepsakes, and larger kilns for ceramics, glass, and heat treating.

For larger wired-in floor-standing kilns, such as the Paragon Fusion, GL, Ovation, and Pearl for glass, the KM for knife making, and the Dragon, Iguana, Janus, SNF, TNF, Viking, and Vulcan for ceramics, porcelain, pottery, and stoneware,stay here at Paragon Kilns and use the links below the menu bar near the top of the page.

For smaller plug-in table-top kilns, such as the Paragon SC-1, SC-2, SC-3, BlueBird, Caldera, FireFly, Fusion, Home Artist, KM, and Xpress, the Kitiki MiniKiln, and the UltraLite, transfer now to Electric Kilns using the Paragon Kilns link above the menu bar near the top of the page.

The FireFly-A is an automatic kiln. Its digital programmer allows you to set up and save four automatic sequences, each one with up to eight segments.

A segment is one step in the sequence. For example: a segment could take 50 minutes to reach 650°C, another could hold at 850°C for 15 minutes, or another could cool down to room temperature over 4 hours.

The FireFly-S is a manual kiln. Its rotary switch does not offer sequences and segments: you have to stay by the kiln to adjust the heating and cooling rates, and turn it off at the end.

For many people doing small-scale work, that's enough, although it helps if you buy a pocket digital timer to remind you that time's up. You can buy a digital reminder timer in the on-line shop.

To look at larger photos, hold your mouse over the zoom buttons below. The photos are 480px x 360px and about 60KB so, if you're not on a fast internet connection, they'll take a short while to download.

The Paragon FireFly-S.

The Paragon FireFly-S.

The Paragon FireFly-SW.

The Paragon FireFly-A.

The Paragon FireFly-AW.

The Paragon Caldera-A.

The Paragon Caldera-XL.

The Paragon FireFly series kilns are 1290°C cone 10, four-sided, square, firebrick, top-opening kilns. The FireFly, and the larger Caldera and Caldera XL, are the highest temperature kilns that can use a regular mains socket.
Above 1290°C the materials used for firebricks, elements, thermocouples, and wiring, all become a lot more expensive. However, apart from melting some metals, there are very few materials or processes that need a higher temperature.

They come in two versions, as the manual FireFly-S with a rotary switch and an analogue pyrometer, and the automatic FireFly-A with an easy-to-use, ramp-hold cone-fire, Sentry Xpress 3-key digital digital programmer.

Both versions can have a heat-resistant glass viewing-window in the centre of the lid, as the FireFly-SW and FireFly-AW. The Caldera, Caldera XL, SC2, and Xpress E12A are included for comparison.

They're suitable for Art Clay, BronzClay, CopprClay, and PMC metal clays, Accent Gold, Metal Clay Veneer, china painting, dichroics, enamelling, glass-bead annealing, heat treating, mixed-media jewellery, ceramics, porcelain, pottery, stoneware, and small-scale glass fusing, sagging, and slumping.

The FireFly series kilns heat from all four sides, not from both sides and the back. This prevents the front-to-back temperature difference that's common with smaller kilns.

The FireFly series elements lie in pin-less grooves in the firebrick, and are quick, easy, and inexpensive to replace in the unlikely event of a failure. If your business depends on your kiln or you're running courses, it's a good idea to have a spare element. You can buy spare elements in the on-line shop.

The Orton Sentry digital programmers allow you to set up multiple sequences, each one with multiple heating, holding, or cooling segments: so you can choose the heating and cooling rates, target temperatures, and hold times, save the sequences, and re-use them. There are no restrictive features such as single-sequence use or pre-set programmes.

Pre-set programmes might seem to be an advantage. However, having experimented and diversified, many people fire materials, or combinations of materials, at different temperatures and for different times than are recommended.

It's widely believed that glass viewing-windows will cloud permanently or crack by about 925°C. The glass used in the Paragon Caldera, FireFly, SC, and Xpress series kilns has been time-tested at 1260°C.

Although there's cross-over, 1095°C front-opening ceramic-fibre kilns that heat and cool quickly, such as those in the SC series, are preferred for Art Clay and PMC metal clays, dichroic glass, enamelling, and mixed-media jewellery.

And 1290°C top-opening firebrick kilns that heat and cool evenly, such as those in the Caldera, FireFly, and Xpress series, are preferred for ceramics, porcelain, pottery, and stoneware, especially as firebrick kilns are better suited to continual high temperatures.

Generally, copy-kilns don't have Paragon's international, informed, and supportive user-base, or effective EU spares and repair centres.

Compared to the Skutt FireBox 8, the Paragon FireFly can have a built-in programmer, and is 300°C hotter and 57mm taller inside.

Compared to the Evenheat Hot Box, Studio 8, and Studio Pro, the Paragon FireFly can have a built-in programmer, and is 195°C hotter.

The Paragon FireFly kilns are usually described as ceramic kilns, but they're also bought as annealing kilns, Art Clay kilns, beading kilns, clay kilns, dichroic-glass kilns, enamel kilns, enamelling kilns, glass kilns, glass-fusing kilns, heat-treating kilns, hobby kilns, jewelry kilns, jewellery kilns, lampwork kilns, metal clay kilns, mixed-media kilns, PMC kilns, porcelain kilns, pottery kilns, silverclay kilns, small kilns, or studio kilns. This diversity is a good reflection of their popularity.

Paragon kilns have been re-engineered and comprehensively tested for the UK, so will work in the EU and most other countries. They're CE Marked and comply with EU safety standards.

They use regular single-phase 230V mains, so 230V EU elements replace the 110V US elements. Although the maximum temperature remains unchanged, the EU kilns heat up faster: useful if you want to repeat firings.

The heating elements are either embedded in ceramic fibre, or the kiln has a door or a lid cut-off switch: an important safety feature. However, never get careless: kilns are very hot and connected to the mains.

The Paragon FireFly-S is a low-cost high-temperature ceramic kiln. It's a 1290°C cone 10, four-sided, square, firebrick, top-opening kiln, with an easy-to-use rotary switch and a digital pyrometer.

The Paragon Firefly-A is suitable for Art Clay, BronzClay, CopprClay, and PMC metal clays, Accent Gold, Metal Clay Veneer, china painting, dichroics, enamelling, glass-bead annealing, heat treating, mixed-media jewellery, ceramics, porcelain, pottery, stoneware, and small-scale glass fusing, sagging, and slumping.

The UK kiln is rated at 230V 1680W, so can use a regular mains socket. It's small enough to use in your home, school, college, craft workshop, ceramics studio, or course venue, as it only weighs about 19Kg.

The outer steel case measures 470mm x 381mm x 305mm, including the controller housing, the steel base, and other hardware.

To comply with EU safety regulations, the kiln is fitted with a lid switch which cuts off power to the elements whenever the kiln is opened: an important safety feature, included in the price, if you like to open the lid or bead door whilst you work. However, never get careless: kilns are very hot and connected to the mains.

The firebrick firing chamber measures 203mm x 203mm x 114mm internally, and heats from the front, both sides, and the back, with the fast-firing elements lying in grooves in the 64mm thick bricks. The elements lie in pin-less grooves in the firebrick, and are quick, easy, and inexpensive to replace in the unlikely event of a failure.

Unlike the FireFly-A, the FireFly-S doesn't have a digital programmer. However, the rotary switch allows you to set the elements-on time and therefore the heating rate and final temperature. It's a 20-100 style: on the lowest setting, the elements are on 20% of the time; on the highest setting, the elements are on 100% of the time.
The digital pyrometer, included in the price, gives accurate temperature feedback, so that you can regulate the heating and cooling rates, and learn more about temperature-sensitive 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 recommended furniture kit for the FireFly, included in the price, consists of one 178mm x 178mm x 15mm cordierite shelf, four 25mm x 25mm x 12mm posts, and a bag of glass separator.

Cordierite is a magnesium aluminium silicate that resists thermal distortion and fracture. A thick heavy shelf, lifted up on small 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, two shelves can be stacked to make better use of your time: so you may want more than one furniture kit.

Remember that glass needs radiant heat and will fuse, sag, or slump better on one shelf 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.

The Paragon FireFly-SW lid includes a heat-resistant glass viewing-window, 50mm x 50mm. Otherwise, it's the same as the FireFly-S.

The Paragon FireFly-A is a low-cost high-temperature ceramic kiln. It's a 1290°C cone 10, four-sided, square, firebrick, top-opening kiln, with an easy-to-use, ramp-hold cone-fire, Sentry Xpress 3-key digital programmer.

The Paragon Firefly-A is suitable for Art Clay, BronzClay, CopprClay, and PMC metal clays, Accent Gold, Metal Clay Veneer, china painting, dichroics, enamelling, glass-bead annealing, heat treating, mixed-media jewellery, ceramics, porcelain, pottery, stoneware, and small-scale glass fusing, sagging, and slumping.

The UK kiln is rated at 230V 1680W, so can use a regular mains socket. It's small enough to use in your home, school, craft workshop, ceramics studio, or course venue, as it only weighs about 19Kg.

The outer steel case measures 470mm x 381mm x 305mm, including the controller housing, the steel base, and other hardware.

To comply with EU safety regulations, the kiln is fitted with a lid switch which cuts off power to the elements whenever the kiln is opened: an important safety feature, included in the price, if you like to open the lid or bead door whilst you work. However, never get careless: kilns are very hot and connected to the mains..

The firebrick firing chamber measures 203mm x 203mm x 114mm internally, and heats from the front, both sides, and the back, with the fast-firing elements lying in grooves in the 64mm thick bricks. The elements lie in pin-less grooves in the firebrick, and are quick, easy, and inexpensive to replace in the unlikely event of a failure.

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 recommended furniture kit for the FireFly, included in the price, consists of one 178mm x 178mm x 15mm cordierite shelf, four 25mm x 25mm x 12mm posts, and a bag of glass separator.

Cordierite is a magnesium aluminium silicate that resists thermal distortion and fracture. A thick heavy shelf, lifted up on small 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, two shelves can be stacked to make better use of your time: so you may want more than one furniture kit.

Remember that glass needs radiant heat and will fuse, sag, or slump better on one shelf 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.

The Paragon FireFly-AW lid includes a heat-resistant glass viewing-window, 50mm x 50mm. Otherwise, it's the same as the FireFly-A.

All programmable kilns work in the same way: the thermocouple checks the internal temperature regularly and tells the programmer to switch the elements on or off to control the heating or cooling.

When the target temperature is reached, the elements are switched off. However, residual heat in the firing chamber allows the internal temperature to overshoot the target temperature briefly before starting to fall back.

This is more noticeable at low temperatures than at high temperatures. For example: 300°C will probably overshoot to 340°C whereas 800°C will probably only overshoot to 810°C before starting to fall back. Take this into account if you're working with temperature-critical materials or processes.

During the hold-time, with the elements still off, the internal temperature falls. Although the programmer will soon switch the elements back on, the firing chamber will initially absorb some of the new heat before the temperature recovers. The continual switching of the elements on and off causes the internal temperature to cycle around the target temperature.

The actual temperature of your work will be affected, slightly, by its position on the kiln shelf, the vertical spacing of any stacked shelves, and its nearness to the elements, a lid, a door, a bead door, a window, or a peephole.

Remember that glass needs radiant heat and will fuse, sag, or slump better on one shelf than between stacked shelves.

Kiln doors and lids are not meant to be a perfect fit otherwise, at high temperatures, there'd be no room for expansion and the door could stick and the ceramic-fibre or firebricks could crack.

Eventually, with normal use, kilns discolour slightly, inside and outside, and some firebricks might develop hairline cracks. Your kiln is a versatile, robust, red-hot tool: not an ornament.

Using your kiln needs careful research, planned experiments, and frequent tests, especially as things that work for your friends or teachers might not work in the same way for you. It's also very important to learn how to creatively use unexpected effects. So, keep a firing log:

Buy a durable notebook. Using a new page for every firing, draw diagrams 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, and a skilled artist will use the log to advantage to re-create effects.

There are two makes of silver clay: Art Clay made by Aida, and PMC made by Mitsubishi. They're clay-like materials made from fine silver powder and a harmless water-based organic binder. Although we chose to sell and distribute Art Clay, both fire in a similar way. So any kiln suitable for Art Clay will be just as good for PMC.

If you're currently using PMC, try Art Clay. There are differences in the feel, the shrinkage, the strength, the surface lustre, the product range, the pricing, and the general commercial setup if you're running a serious business.

Art Clay and PMC are easy to fire: put your dried pieces on a kiln shelf and programme the temperature and hold-time. Several shelves can be stacked to make better use of your time: so you might want more than one furniture kit.

To learn more about Art Clay, use the Art Clay link below the menu bar near the top of the page. You can buy Art Clay, bronzeclay, copperclay, extra shelf kits, and related products in the on-line shop.

There are two makes of bronze clay: Prometheus Bronze Clay made by Odak, and BronzClay made by Metal Adventures. They're clay-like materials made from fine bronze powder and a harmless water-based organic binder. However, they're fired in different ways:

Prometheus Bronze Clay is easy to fire: put your dried pieces on a kiln shelf and programme the temperature and hold time. Several shelves can be stacked to make better use of your time: so you might want more than one furniture kit.

BronzClay is fired in a special way: your work needs to be firmly embedded in activated charcoal granules in a stainless steel container and covered with a lid. The container measures 162mm x 176mm x 100mm, and holds 1 litre of charcoal.

To fire larger pieces, or more pieces at the same time, you'll need a larger kiln, such as the Paragon Xpress E-12A. The stainless steel container for the E-12A measures 265mm x 162mm x 152mm and holds 3 litres of charcoal.

The Xpress E12A is over three times larger inside than the FireFly. To learn more about the Xpress series kilns, use the main menu link below the menu bar near the top of the page, then choose Xpress.

To learn more about bronze clay, use the bronze clay link below the menu bar near the top of the page. You can buy Art Clay, bronzeclay, copperclay, the stainless steel container, charcoal, and related products in the on-line shop.

There are three makes of copper clay: Art Clay Copper made by Aida, Prometheus Copper Clay made by Odak, and CopprClay made by Metal Adventures. They're clay-like materials made from fine copper powder and a harmless water-based organic binder. However, they're fired in different ways:

Art Clay Copper and Prometheus Copper Clay are easy to fire: put your dried pieces on a kiln shelf and programme the temperature and hold-time. Several shelves can be stacked to make better use of your time: so you might want more than one furniture kit.

CopprClay is fired in a special way: your work needs to be firmly embedded in activated charcoal granules in a stainless steel container and covered with a lid. The container measures 162mm x 176mm x 100mm, and holds 1 litre of charcoal.

To fire larger pieces, or more pieces at the same time, you'll need a larger kiln, such as the Paragon Xpress E-12A. The stainless steel container for the E-12A measures 265mm x 162mm x 152mm and holds 3 litres of charcoal.

The Xpress E12A is over three times larger inside than the FireFly. To learn more about the Xpress series kilns, use the main menu link below the menu bar near the top of the page, then choose Xpress.

To learn more about copper clay, use the copper clay link below the menu bar near the top of the page. You can buy Art Clay, bronzeclay, copperclay, the stainless steel container, charcoal, and related products in the on-line shop.

The Kitiki Studio provides a comprehensive Art Clay educational programme as classes, masterclasses, workshops, and Art Clay Level 1 and Level 2 teacher-certification courses, as well as classes for related materials and techniques.

Arts and crafts events, introductory workshops, studio open-days, guest-teacher masterclasses, and general jewellery courses, are often added. If you're interested, mail or call.

This is a Cherry Heaven on-line shop and an EU distributor, sales, support, spares, and repair centre for kilns: it's not a bead, ceramics, crafts, glass, or metal-clay shop, selling a few kilns to a market niche.

Although it's an internet resource, you can still mail or call an engineer about kilns, power supplies, home diagnostics, repairs, spares, safety issues, a special project, or reselling opportunities.

This internet resource belongs to Cherry Heaven, a shop in Corfe Castle village near the National Trust Estate. Cherry Heaven sells a diverse selection of exclusive essentials and luxuries.

Cherry Heaven is an EU distributor for Paragon Kilns made in Texas USA, Advance Kilns made in Canada, Efco Kilns made in Germany, Kitiki Mini-Kilns made in Turkey, and UltraLite Kilns made in the US.

Cherry Heaven is a UK distributor for Art Clay made by Aida Chemical Industries in Japan, and BronzClay and CopprClay made by Metal Adventures in the US, and an EU distributor for AccentGold For Silver paint and Metal Clay Veneer, both made in the US.

Cherry Heaven has been commended for an outstanding performance as one of Paragon's top-selling distributors over 2007 to : a pleasing outcome since the UK is one third the area of Texas and one fortieth the area of the US.

Founded as a family business in 1948, Paragon Industries is now the world's leading manufacturer of electric kilns and furnaces, and has built over 380 000. The 4 830 square metre site, in Mesquite, Texas, employs over 70 full-time staff.

Paragon continually monitors design and manufacture, leading to versatile, practical, safe kilns. Every kiln goes through a fifteen-step quality check, with a technician following the build, and is inspected before shipping. Paragon kilns are thoughtfully and robustly engineered, so you're buying a kiln with a future.

Paragon kilns conform to the demanding UL 499 standard in the US, and are CE Marked for the EU. Paragon is Greek for Model Of Perfection.

The kiln prices include the recommended shelf kit, and the legally-necessary lid or door safety switch where appropriate.

The on-line shop link is below the menu bar near the top of the page. You can buy kilns, kiln shelves, shelf paper, metal clays, ceramic blocks and cloths, reminder timers, digital pyrometers, glare-resistant glasses, heat-resistant gloves, fire extinguishers, kiln tables, tools, spare parts, and accessories. Alternatively, visit Cherry Heaven in Corfe Castle village.