I worked out this design to optimize the conditions that I needed to reach a higher level of perfection in my enamels, after using muffle-type kilns for the job for 15 years. The muffles used far too much electricity and were a nuisance with all the waste heat that they put into my work-space. Also they were a problem in that they caused the glass to melt before the metal was hot enough, resulting in tiny bubbles which destroy the gem-like quality that I am after in the finished work. This was all solved with the present design.

If you are a skilled enamelist, and wish to extend your quality beyond that which is possible with the usual techniques used by people in the trade, then I can not only build you one of these kilns (it is hand-made, and not cheap-it took over 3 years to design), I can tell you a few other things not generally known about the ways to manipulate the material to achieve such results. For instance water purity requirements and the special "sapphire" type of mortar and pestle needed for grinding the glass. (You must start with lump form enamel, and it goes "off" in a matter of minutes, even in ultrapure water). Details like this are beyond the needs of most enamel workers, whose work would probably appall you if you examined it under the 10 power binocular microscope I use for my work. You can't really tell what you are doing without the magnification. One of the main difficulties facing new entrants into this field is the trouble you will have in finding proper lead-bearing enamels, which are no longer made in the US, due to environmental concerns. Lead oxide in the glass is necessary to give it a high index of refraction, for brilliance or "fire". "Lead-free" enamels, as are now supplied by T&T, are completely unsuitable for the finest work, and you must find a source for lump form European materials, usually supplied in powder form for hobbyists. Preground enamels are useless for fine work.