I may be the only clayer in the world who uses a roaster oven to bake my clay pieces, but I get beautiful results and so would never use anything else now. Maybe because there is no direct heating element and the heat is a surrounding heat, I never get burns and can leave the pieces baking way longer without worry. Just this morning I mixed some colors and put the sample discs for my recipe cards in to bake. I completely forgot about them (didn't set my oven timer) until about two hours later and when I finally retrieved them they were still color perfect. I also like the larger capacity. I can put a big ole dish of corn starch covered beads in it or larger pieces if I want to. Anyway, this is surely much more information than you asked for, and I want to add that this is what works for me and may not be the best method for everyone. Mine is a Nesco 18 qt. capacity roaster oven that I purchased at K-Mart for less than thirty dollars on sale.

Hugs, Elizabeth S.

Does anyone else here use a roaster to bake their clay? My toaster oven sat in the garage for 5 years while I tried to recuperate, so it got pretty dirty. I cleaned it up as best I could, because it's a nice, good-sized oven. I still use it (I bake on the back patio, don't want to bring it inside.) But I have to be even more careful than usual with my light-colored clays. Now that summer's coming, I'd like to try another baking method. It'll get too hot outside for me to bake, and I'm a big sissy about the heat! A convection oven is unfortunately not in my price range, although I saw some really nice ones at Costco! So, I'm curious about this roaster idea…

Roasters, how's it going? :~O

@Rose: That is an excellent question! The small amount of cornstarch that you use to rub out fingerprints or do a final roll in, won't compromise the strength of your clay at all. It is just when it sits in a bed of it that it draws out the plasticizers.