kilns

1 Gas kilns exist, not sure if they are being used for glass fusing. 2 I've had no experience firing kilns with a generator but it willdefinitely work.

The boat has no power at all? How will you make toast?

We'll have electric via batteries but my other half informs me it'll be nowhere near enough to power a kiln unless everything else is turned of and the engine is running. Not ideal. Toast will be made with a gas grill ;op Ta for the site, i'm in the uk tho but i'll have a look still see if they have info!

Bonnie

Presumably you are going to use LPG for the gas. You need to be aware of the hazard with this gas of it settling into the lowest parts of the boat, where a build-up can lead to an explosive mixture. Not to be recommended.

The boat has no power at all? How will you make toast? >

well - I suppose she probably has a toaster rack that you can set over a gas range burner -- that's the way they did it before "electric toasters" were invented. Also - we have one for our camper - and used one in scouting on a propane stove.... just set it over a heat source -- add bread - -and you get toast!!! see pic here -

DRAGON BEADS Flameworked beads and glass

I've had one of those since 1972. It really wasn't a serious question. As long as the blender works the only toast I'm concerned with doesn't need heat.

Here's a picture of my cordless blender.

The real problem is annealing the glass, bringing the temperature down slowly enough so that it does not crack, either going up or down, which is more likely with thicker pieces. If everything was thin, you might be able to heat with gas and use a well insulated box to drop the temp slowly. Fully temp controlled gas is going to cost a small fortune. You will have to have a box with a torch input and flue output and some way of watching the temp. On the other hand, if you are going to keep it small, you can sag and fuse glass, with lots of insulation, with only 1000-2000 watts, by far low enough to work with portable generators. I am assuming a Frax insulated box, not insulating fire brick. Also lighter. The real problem, to me, will be the bulk of either kind of unit - with lots of insulation a 1-1.5 cubic foot space becomes 2x2x3 feet.

Can you purchase a small generator dedicated to the kiln? We had a rather large generator in Alaska for years and we couldn't wash a load of laundry and have the toaster on at the same time. It was insane but it was either live with it or go without. I went without a lot up there but not some sort of electricity during the day at least. At night we turned it all off.

-- Starlia Klopman

perhaps you should look at bead making and/or lampworking. You would use a torch with it's own gas supply and for annealing most small items, a crockpot on low filled with vermiculite would be acceptable??? m

Have been thinking that myself! Just got a book delivered yesterday on the subject! Hope everything is available here in the uk! (hint hint nudge nudge to anyone who knows where to kits everything i'd need for lampworking here! :o)

Even in Utah marinas have power hookups.

Utah HAS a marina? Far out!!! I guess you'll need some when the big quake comes and CA falls off into the ocean and SLC becomes prime waterfront property. :>)

Check this out.

bad for the second driest state, eh?

The vermiculite trick will only work with smaller beads. Once you get into more serious stuff, you will need to anneal them.

Or she can use an inverter like we do and then her toaster will work! Our kiln is powered by mains but if we do travel we can run it off our diesel generator that's in the engine room. 5kva, which will run a kiln and a microwave and a toaster and the kettle, all at the same time, and it's no louder than our very quiet boat engine.

-Su

Depending on the generator, you can find some really nice and very quiet generators out there, the problem is that being petrol-powered they're not suitable for a boat. You can get conversion kits to transform them to running off the same gas as the boat does. Or bite the bullet and get a diesel generator installed, or a big inverter and a decent bank of batteries.

Depends on what you're running, when and where. Where's your marina? Most marinas don't permit liveaboards, the ones that do may provide mains power for you, ours does. When you're travelling, a lot will depend on your electrical setup, including the batteries, the chargin system, the inverter and what kiln you use.

-Su

There are a few sources out there, we've had very good luck getting supplies from Plowden & Thompson

and bought ourstarter kit of HotHead torch and bits and our Paragon kiln from Living LightStudio at Very helpful people at bothplaces. Lampwork is really growing in the UK, but there are a few things to be careful of when on a boat. Right now we have a small torch but when we move up to an oxygen concentrator and propane it may be more of a problem to work on the move. Finding tools isn't impossible but they're not as readily available as in the US, and shipping from the US can be really painful as customs charges and shipping can end up costing more than the tool itself.

That said, it's not impossible to be on a boat and do lampwork, it just takes a bit of thinking about.

-Su

Your hand-eye coordination must be extradordinary. I have a tough enough time working on things when the workbench is stationary. I can't imagine trying to do precision work while afloat.

Trying to keep pieces of glass 'zactly where you want them in a kiln that is tossing about will likely be a challenge, too.

Unless someone is racing past at a whopping 4mph, the boat generally doesn't move much at all. Narrowboats are on canals, which in general are only around 4' deep if that, so they don't move around like deepwater craft. Of course, when someone steps onto the boat it does shift slightly. We're lucky that we have a mooring with land so we can do work on terra firma if wished. We also only use a small torch and MAPP gas right now, as we're not sure of the insurance implications of anything else right now. If we do move up we'll get an oxygen concentrator rather than tanks.

It's a nice way of life, though.

-Su