Glass fusing in a microwave oven!

by Glass Fusing Made Easy
http://www.glass-fusing-made-easy.com




After doing some research about the subject of glass fusing in microwave, this is all the information that I have gleaned. There is not much information on the internet about these kilns, but they seem to be gaining in popularity lately.

These are very small kilns; actually a small ceramic piece that you can just put in your microwave oven and the concentrated heat inside will melt the glass.

They can be seen for sale on eBay for about $100. Sounds like a nice inexpensive way to get into fusing, but it has very limited space, and you will still need to anneal the glass in a kiln. Besides the limited space, the glass can heat unevenly and be hard to control. For the amount of money you are spending on this tiny kiln, you could purchase a used kiln. I would recommend putting your money towards a small tabletop kiln. These glass fusing in microwave kilns can give you only a tiny taste of what it is like to fuse glass in a kiln. 

The suppliers for these kilns are in Switzerland and Japan. The microwave kilns are about 4” in Diameter. These kilns are designed for making small jewelry pieces. The internal temperature goes up to 850 C degrees. So you can melt glass or fuse it. It has been suggested that if you preheat the small kiln with the glass inside on defrost for about five minutes before you do a full fuse, you will enable you to have more control.

Simply line the small chamber with some thin fire paper to prevent sticking. Cut tiny pieces of glass and place them in the kiln. You will need to play around with the surface tension and the size of the piece to get the shape you desire. It takes about 3-4 minutes to melt the glass. Glass Fusing in microwave takes a lot of attention, as you don’t have control and the glass could melt into a glob in no time at all. Allow to cool completely before opening the chamber.

Some people feel that it is not wise to fire dichroic or iridescent glass in this kiln, while others say that that is just a myth. If you purchase a Microwave kiln, please be sure to read all the instructions and ask questions.