The Kitiki Mini-Kiln is a 1000°C, four-sided, square, ceramic-fibre, front-opening kiln, with an easy-to-use, 4-key digital controller. The Kitiki Mini-Kiln is the most popular small kiln in the UK.

The Kitiki Mini-Kiln is suitable for small-scale work: Art Clay, PMC, and BronzClay metal clays, Accent Gold, Metal Clay Veneer, applying decals, painting china, dichroic glass, glass bead annealing, glass fusing, enamelling, and mixed-media jewellery.

The UK kiln is rated at 230V 700W, so can use a regular mains socket. It's small enough to use in your home, school, craft workshop, jewellery studio, or course venue, as it only weighs about 6Kg.

The outer steel case measures 224mm x 244mm x 274mm, and is slotted for air circulation: so it keeps cool. The door is hinged on the left, opens 90°, and has a vent for processes that release fumes.

The ceramic firing chamber, enclosed in an inner steel case, measures 113mm x 135mm x 66mm internally, and heats from the top, sides, and bottom, with the fast-firing elements safely embedded in the ceramic fibre.

The Mini-Kiln doesn't have a programmer. However, the controller allows you to adjust the maximum temperature, and the heating and cooling rate.

The recommended furniture kit for the Kitiki Mini-Kiln, included in the price, consists of one soft ceramic-fibre cloth 120mm x 90mm x 24mm for Art Clay, PMC, and delicate jewellery, and one hard ceramic-fibre shelf 115mm x 80mm x 8mm for china paint, enamels, and glass. You can buy extra shelf kits in the on-line shop.
For enamelling and glass fusing, you'll need to put kiln paper on the shelf to stop anything sticking: it's simpler and cleaner to use than glass separator. You can buy shelf paper in the on-line shop.

Set up your Mini-Kiln in a well-ventilated room, on a heat-resistant surface, at least 300mm away from any doors, walls, cupboards, or curtains.

If the room is protected by a fire-prevention sprinkler system, don’t position the kiln under a heat-sensitive sprinkler: it might come on, triggered by natural rising heat, and flood the room.

Don’t keep any volatile materials, such as paints, solvents, oils, or petrol, in the same room. Some vapours, or even clouds of very fine dust, can ignite easily and explode.

Some organic materials, such as Art Clay Cork Clay, burn during firing and traces of smoke will come out of the door vent and from around the door. Your kiln room needs to have ventilation.

Wherever you use your Mini-Kiln, you’ll need somewhere to put hot shelves, such as on a ceramic fibre block or in a tray of vermiculite particles.

Kilns made outside the UK have been re-engineered to work on a single-phase 230V-240V mains supply. They've been comprehensively tested to meet the demanding UL 499 standard in the US and CE standard in the EU.

UK voltage used to be 240V and European used to be 220V. The EU decided to harmonise the voltage to 230V, but the implementation costs were too high for almost no real benefit. So, to appear harmonised, the legal voltage limits were changed to 230V, but within the range 216V-253V. Generally, in the UK, 240V is a reliable average.

One accurate long-term test showed a cycle occurring daily between Monday and Friday. The voltage at night rose to around 242V. During office hours, the voltage dropped to about 235V, probably due to manufacturing, transport, and offices increasing the load on the National Grid. During the weekend, the voltage was generally around 240V and did not show the daily fluctuations.

The elements in ceramic-fibre kilns are safely embedded in the fibre. The elements in firebrick kilns are turned off by a legally-necessary lid or door safety switch. However, never get careless: kilns are very hot and connected to the mains.

Your Mini-Kiln is rated at 230V 700W, so will draw just over 3A. Any kiln with a rating of less than 3000W can use a regular mains socket. However, circuits are not designed to power a kiln and lots of heating devices such as washing machines, dishwashers, kettles, and convector heaters.

It's quite common for light bulbs to pop just as you turn them on due to a higher-than-usual initial power surge. If your kiln is on a shared fuse, anything that pops the fuse will turn off your kiln. So, ideally, put your kiln on a separate pop-up fuse.

Don’t use a multi-way adaptor or an extension lead unless it’s absolutely necessary. Extension leads should never be used coiled or whilst on a drum as heat will build. Make sure that you don’t have loose cables where you walk.

As with all electrical equipment, don’t get the kiln wet and don’t touch it with wet hands. Although some kilns have a built-in safety cut out, all equipment in a work environment should plug into an electronic safety-trip adapter, sometimes called an RCD.

Always unplug the kiln when it’s not in use, you’re cleaning it, or it’s being serviced.

It'll be too late to think about safety practices and equipment after an accident. Apart from kiln accessories, the on-line shop includes heat resistant ceramic blocks and cloths, digital reminder-timers, fire extinguishers, heat-resistant gloves, and glare-resistant glasses.

It's important to have your fire extinguisher near your kiln. Read the instructions as soon as you unpack it, learn how to treat burns, buy a basic first aid kit, and fit a smoke alarm.

For private home use, check your building and contents insurance for relevant exclusions. For business use, you'll need public liability insurance and will have to comply with health and safety regulations.

Businesses and course providers might have to get change-of-use planning consent for proposed building changes and provide staff training, safety glasses, fire extinguishers, first-aid materials, disabled access, a bathroom, and fire exits.

Don’t let the temperature of your workshop exceed 40°C: keep a window open or use an extractor fan. Don’t leave your kiln unattended whilst firing.

Wear protective glasses when you look into a hot kiln, and wear thick work gloves when loading or unloading unless you know the kiln is at room temperature.

If you’re using a tool to lift out the shelf, make sure it’s wide enough to stop the shelf, and your work, falling off. Stainless steel BBQ fish turners are usually OK: teflon coated ones will burn.

Don’t let unsupervised children into your workshop or studio.

Never put insulation around a kiln to try to conserve energy: the programmer and the wiring will overheat, and may burn out.

Don’t fire any materials unless you know how they behave at high temperatures. Some may release poisonous fumes, explode, or corrode the thermocouple.

The paint will gradually discolour around the door, particularly if you open it whilst the inside is still hot.

As with any programmable device, don’t just press keys at random to ‘see what happens’. You may turn on a feature you don’t want, change °C to °F, or begin a factory testing or diagnostic sequence.

Never fire anything on the bottom of the firing chamber, particularly as glaze or enamelling drips can be absorbed into the ceramic fibre and ruin the element: use the fibre cloth, the ceramic fibre shelf, or some other suitable material.

If you use a thick ceramic blanket, pull it into pieces to support delicate work. Don't put it in whole, as it might partially insulate the thermocouple leading to a temperature higher than the set temperature.

To make sure you work safely, turn the kiln OFF before opening the door. Put the objects to be fired on the cloth or shelf, put them in the kiln, and shut the door.

If you’re working with glass, dichroic glass, or enamels, use kiln paper on the shelf to give a smooth surface and stop your work sticking.

If you open the kiln whilst it’s heating, even for a short time, the temperature of the firing chamber will fall and show up on the display. Some materials will fracture if the temperature changes suddenly.

The Main Switch, on the right-hand side of the front fascia, has three positions: DISPLAY, OFF, and HEATER. Always start programming with the Main Switch OFF.

The Programmer, on the left-hand side of the front fascia, has two rows of four characters and a flip-down key-cover lid. Under the lid are four keys. There may be some thin protective film over the keys which can be removed.

The left-hand key sets the MODE. The next, the LEFT arrow key, selects the digit in the lower row that you want to change; and the last two, the DOWN and UP arrow keys, let you decrease or increase the selected digit.

Set the Main Switch to DISPLAY and wait for the display to stop flashing. The Programmer’s four upper digits show the current temperature in °C and the four lower digits show the target temperature. To set the target temperature:

Most heating devices release traces of smoke and may smell when used the first few times. As the ceramic-fibre firing chamber expands and contracts, tiny cracks may appear: these are normal and harmless, and will not affect the firing.

It’s unlikely, but some types of silica, silica compounds, and reduction firing, can corrode high temperature elements. Refer to the instructions for the materials you’re using.

When the target temperature is reached, the programmer will maintain that temperature by turning the elements on and off. However, the hold time is your responsibility: use a cooking timer or an alarm clock. You can buy a digital timer in the on-line shop. For hold times, refer to the instructions for the materials you’re using.

Although kilns have a maximum rated temperature, they’re not designed to be run at that temperature continuously.

Don’t go out, or go to bed, without making sure that your Mini-Kiln is off and unplugged.

Using the Main Switch, turn your Mini-Kiln off. Unless you let the kiln cool to room temperature, put on protective glasses and work gloves before opening the door.

Take the shelf out, with the fired object still on it, and close the kiln door. Leave it on a heat-resistant surface and let it cool.

The Mini-Kiln, out of the box, is easy and quick to use: it heats to a set temperature and stays there until you turn it off. For most people doing small scale work, that’s enough so, to keep it simple, the Ramp Function has not been enabled. Don’t enable it unless you need it, although you can disable it later.

A Ramp Function lets you choose how fast the Mini-Kiln heats up or cools down. As examples: it can heat up to 800°C over 75 minutes, or cool down from hot to room temperature over 180 minutes.

To enable the Ramp Function:

programmer will turn the heating elements on and off so that the kiln reaches the set temperature in the set time.

Remember that for full on, set the time to 0000. If you choose a low time, such as 0005 minutes, the kiln can’t heat that quickly even if it’s full on.

Remember, 0000 is effectively off, not 0°C. You could set it to any temperature below room temperature.

When your Mini-Kiln is at room temperature, and unplugged, clean the outside with a damp cloth. Don’t use detergents, alcohol, solvents, or abrasives.

The Mini-Kiln’s heating element is safely embedded in the ceramic-fibre firing chamber. Ceramic fibre is not as strong as firebricks, so don’t touch it with sharp tools.

When your kiln is at room temperature, and unplugged, clean out any tiny scraps or dust with a soft brush or a mini-vacuum. If anything has got stuck to the inner surfaces, scrape it away carefully with a knife.

Inside the ceramic-fibre firing chamber, a heat-sensitive thermocouple, connected to the programmer, projects into the back of the firing space. It’s unlikely but, if you accidentally push it back, it won’t give accurate readings and the kiln may overheat.

So, before firing, make it a habit to check that the tip of the thermocouple extends into the firing chamber by about 10mm.

Set the programmer’s target temperature for one you use regularly: for example, 800C. With the Main Switch in the HEATER position, press the MODE and UP keys together: you’ll see the AT light flashing. Auto-tuning takes about half an hour. When the light stops flashing, the kiln will have recalibrated itself. Don’t open the door until it’s finished.

Most kilns are not very accurate at low temperatures because the elements are being turned on and off depending on the ramp rate. It’s called thermal over-ride.

All programmable kilns work in the same way: the thermocouple checks the internal temperature regularly and tells the programmer to switch the elements on or off to control the heating or cooling rate.

When the target temperature is reached, the elements are switched off. However, residual heat in the firing chamber allows the internal temperature to overshoot the target temperature briefly before starting to fall back.

This is more noticeable at low temperatures than at high temperatures. For example: 300°C will probably overshoot to 320°C whereas 800°C will probably only overshoot to 810°C before starting to fall back. Take this into account if you're working with temperature-critical materials or processes.

During the hold-time, with the elements still off, the internal temperature falls. Although the programmer will soon switch the elements back on, the firing chamber will initially absorb some of the new heat before the temperature recovers. The continual switching of the elements on and off causes the internal temperature to cycle around the target temperature.

The actual temperature of your work will be affected, slightly, by its position on the kiln shelf, the vertical spacing of any stacked shelves, and its nearness to the elements, a lid, a door, a bead door, a window, or a peephole.

Remember that glass needs radiant heat and will fuse, sag, or slump better on one shelf than between stacked shelves.

Kiln doors and lids are not meant to be a perfect fit otherwise, at high temperatures, there'd be no room for expansion and the door could stick and the ceramic-fibre or firebricks could crack.

Eventually, with normal use, kilns discolour slightly, inside and outside, and some firebricks might develop hairline cracks. Remember, your kiln is a robust, versatile, red-hot tool: not an ornament.

Working successfully with a kiln involves careful research, planned experiment, and repeated testing. It's important to learn how to creatively use unexpected effects, as things that work for your friends or teachers might not work in the same way for you. So, keep a firing log:

Buy a durable notebook. On a new page for every firing, draw a diagram of the shelf and the position of your work on the shelf. Put a few scraps at different places on the shelf to learn how things react. Describe the material, the shape of your work, the firing cycle, and the end result.

A kiln log is vital if you're experimenting with temperature-sensitive materials, or working with coloured dichroic glasses, enamels, or glazes, and a skilled artist will use the log to advantage to re-create effects.

As with any creative process, there’s always room to experiment, rather than just rigidly follow someone else’s suggestions or rules. If something works well, you’ll probably want to repeat it.