Tool Talk Thursday Small Kiln Bead Racks Part IV

Today is my final installment on bead racks for small kilns.   I am starting with a very versatile bead rack that is available from many suppliers, like Baileys.  You can use this rack with rods or wire.  If you use wire you should be sure to put a piece of kiln furniture on top of the notches to prevent the wire from sagging too much.

Here is the rack showing off the notches for the wires or rods  This is great for beads.  If you want to fire pendants that are long it is also a good choice since you can put a piece of kiln furniture under it and raise it up enough to allow your pendant to hang down without touching the kiln shelf as in the picture below.

Here I have put kiln posts under the rack and it makes it much taller so that the pendants hang with plenty of clearance from the kiln floor or shelf.  But you can also put on beads at the same time.

Here is a birds eye view of the rack with the 11 gauge high temp rods.

This is another kind of rack that is also very versatile.  It is sold by BisqueBeadSupply. I use it frequently to fit in a long pendant or a few extra beads.  It will fill in nicely since it is so small.  When I use it with wire rather than rods I always put a piece of kiln furniture on top so they don't sag.

Here is the rack with a piece of kiln furniture on top.  Kind of overkill but it works.

Another kind of bead rack is this  stilt.   It is great for pieces that don't have holes and are only glazed on one side.    I use if for cabochons.

Here is a photo of a how a cab would look on top of it.  These little ones also from Baileys, fit nicely into corners.  If the back of the cab is glazed it will make some sharp points due to the wires sticking to the glaze.  They can be filed off afterwards.  But really best for pieces without glaze on the back.

I hope this series of posts on kiln racks has been helpful to you.  Feel free to leave a comment about how you fire in your small kiln and leave us a link if you would like to share a photo of your ways of firing.  I truly enjoy looking into kilns and seeing how others fit their beads in.