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Paul Miller with his Paragon Xpress-1193.
03/24/2010
By Paul Miller
The 21st Century Glaze Project is a nonprofit web site (www.Glaze21.org) for ceramicists, teachers, schools, and art centers. The site contains over 600 glaze recipes, links to ceramic resources, cool tools, an artist’s gallery, and more. Membership is free. There are currently 3,200 members from the US, Canada, Australia, England, Brazil and Argentina.
The glaze recipes have been contributed from art schools and artists. We are in the process of testing each glaze shown on the site. Glaze test tiles are photographed and displayed along with the recipe.
The testing and photos of test tiles set us apart from other glaze sites. Our testing would not be possible without our Paragon Xpress-1193 test kiln. Our budget is limited and we cannot afford the energy costs of a large kiln. The Paragon Xpress-1193 is perfect for our needs. We test each glaze recipe on both porcelain and a dark stoneware or earthenware tile. Using two shelves, the Paragon test kiln holds 38 glaze tiles per firing. This allows us to get the test tile photos on the site on a tight schedule. Thus far we have tested 200 of the 600+ recipes on the site.
The stable and reliable firing temperature at cone 04 and cone 6 allowed us to perform consistent tests of each recipe. Over the last year I have even used the kiln to fire some of my small pots. It comes in handy when I do not have time to wait to fill the big kiln. Last week I had a commission to do four cups for a customer. The large kiln was less than half full so I fired up the test kiln and got the cups out the next day.
You are invited to join The 21st Century Glaze Project. Members can find glaze recipes, tools, articles, videos, etc. and also contribute their favorites.
Paul Miller fires 38 glazes per load in his Paragon Xpress-1193.
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