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Paragon Home Artist The Traveling Kiln
List Price $905.00 Dogwood Ceramic Supply's Discounted Price $730.00 A traveling Kiln? Yes, really. The original goal of the Paragon Home Artist was a kiln capable of being used on the road by traveling professional ceramic teachers that did not always have access to 20 amp circuit breakers necessary to fire the Paragon Xpress 1193. Besides being able to operate from a 15 amp circuit breaker the kiln needed to be light weight and capable of handling a 10" or 11" tall or wide object and firing to Cone 04. The Paragon Home Artist meets every one of those goals. The light weight Paragon Home Artist with built-in travel wheels is Paragon's largest volume kiln that can be operated from 15 amp, 120v circuits.
While the Paragon Home Artist exceeds all of the design goals, there are limitations to the design as well. Let's start with the weight of the kiln. Shipping weight is 48 lbs, the weight out of the box is about 40 lbs. To achieve that light weight the kiln is not manufactured with traditional fire brick, rather the kiln uses the low density ceramic fiber. The Ceramic Fiber is much lighter than brick (big advantage), but ceramic fiber comes in several temperature grades, and the low density grades are temperature rated to a maximum temperature of 2000°F. If the customer never wants to fire stoneware or porcelain the low temperature rating is not an issue, but if the customer wants a small kiln capable of firing to Cone 6 then the Paragon Xpress 1193 is the only option. Light weight Ceramic Fiber can not be cut with grooves to accept elements, thus this design of kiln uses an element embedded into the Ceramic Fiber. When the element finally needs replacing the entire element muffle (Ceramic Fiber unit with embedded element) must be replaced. The replacement cost of the Home Artist element muffle is $480. A bit of sticker shock? Don't worry, the element muffle will not need to be replaced any time soon, especially if the kiln is used as designed... a kiln for casual firing when other options for firing are not possible. Customers that are going to use the Paragon Home Artist as a high volume, every day kiln should seriously evaluate the cost of the replacement element muffle and maybe consider the Paragon Xpress 1193 that only requires two $40 replacement elements. Did we mention the Paragon Xpress 1193 is also $150 less expensive than the Paragon Home Artist? We did now.
While we are being critical of the Paragon Home Artist, we should be fair and point out two HUGE advantages to the kiln over the Paragon Xpress 1193: First and foremost the Home Artist is bigger. 12 x 12 versus 11 x 9 may not seem much bigger, but that is really a huge difference. In width the Paragon Home Artist can handle an 11" dinner plate while the Paragon Xpress 1193 may not be able to accommodate a 10" dinner plate. And in depth the Paragon Home Artist can handle a single 6x6 Tile Rack. The Tile Racks are just over 10" tall which means the rack would never fit into the Paragon Xpress 1193. Secondly the Paragon Home Artist will operate from a regular household outlet and shared circuit breaker. The Paragon Xpress 1193 requires a special outlet and dedicate circuit breaker.
Is the Paragon Home Artist a good kiln for your needs? You be the judge. For some customers the Paragon Home Artist will meet their goals while the Paragon Xpress 1193 falls terribly short, this is especially true for customers who need the extra bit of internal volume. For other customers the Paragon Xpress 1193 is just a much better value.
Paragon Home Artist Kiln:
Paragon Home Artist Options:
Prices valid until December 31, 2008.
Prices: All options have appropriate discounts applied from the MSRP. Freight charges are based upon the customer's location. This kiln can be shipped via UPS. The standard UPS charges are based upon delivery to schools and commercial locations. Residential deliveries are slightly higher. The Paragon Home Artist is NOT routinely stocked by Dogwood Ceramic Supply as the kiln is readily available for UPS shipment from the Paragon factory to the customer's location.
Published UPS rates and surcharges are rounded up for ease of customer use and to cover insurance charges and the variable Fuel Surcharge. $1.50 per box surcharge for rural deliveries. $5.00 per box surcharge for residential deliveries. All kiln accessories are built into the kiln and do not adjust the UPS charges for the kiln.
Explanation of Options for Round Kilns
* Lid Safety Switch Warning: The Paragon Home Artist is advertised as a "Raku" kiln when the Lid Safety Switch is added to the kiln. While technically correct, the use of the Paragon Home Artist in the Raku process is detrimental to the life expectancy of the kiln. First and foremost the Ceramic Fiber does not handle thermoshock very well, secondly the Ceramic Fiber can be easily damaged by metal tongs used to remove the glowing hot pots. As the elements are embedded in the ceramic fiber it is possible to destroy the elements if metal tongs are used within the kiln. Element burnout caused by contact with foreign materials is specifically a cause for voiding the warranty on this product.
Showroom Business Hours: Closed Wednesday and Sunday Web Page Last Updated: Dogwood Ceramic Supply, the complete source of ceramic and pottery equipment and supplies for professional and hobby ceramist and potter.
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