Making devardi glass less shocky
 

As an alternative too, or in addition too using a rod warmer - has anyone ever tried annealing the glass in your kiln before using it?

It would be pretty easy to do in batches, and seems like it might help quite a bit too make it less shocky and easier to work with...

Devardi Glass is Shocking!
 

It may sound like a crazy way to deal with the problem of DeVardi glass being shocky, but I love their colors and was looking for a way to solve the shocking and exploding glass without buying something else to plug in. I rarely use my fiber blanket, so I place it on top of my kiln (I have a kiln door) and place the rods I want to use under the blanket with about 5 inches sticking out so I have a cool end to hold. The heat from the kiln keeps it pretty toasty under the blanket, and the weight of the blanket holds the rods in place until I need them. It sounds a bit tricky, but it works.

I've "annealed" Devardi rods with no success. They were as cranky as ever.

Like Gail, I set rods on top of the kiln to warm up. I also use a curling iron oven from Sally Beauty Supply to preheat them.

I like to calculate the cost of all of the things one has to do to make anything workable when lampworking and add it to the price of the item. ;)

does that make for expensive beads? ;)

Only if I had to kiln anneal or buy a special warmer before I could use the glass. :lol:

I just cannot understand why Devardi does not just pull the rods to a reasonable, usable 5mm size. They have "stringers" on the site that they charge way more for that are about 3 to 4mm. I don't get it.#-o I will not use it for this reason alone. Any rod that is 10 mm will be shocky. I have 10mm clear Effetre rods that will explode if not heated very slowly. They really need to start to improve their pulls. If the rods were of even and managable size, it wouldn't be half bad.

How do you preheat your Opal Yellow, Anice, Vetrofond glass, Effetre Pinks, Powder Pink, Coral, Lauscha Glass, Chek Glass, some CiM colors, some Bullseye colors. You can preheat the Devardi the same has you would these other glass rods.

I do agree there are some glasses that are shocky in all of the lines, but the thicker the rods, the more shocky they are. I think if the rods were pulled smaller and more uniform, it would eliminate a lot of the problems of being shocky in the first place and perhaps eliminate having to prep the rods before using. That is not to say that all of the colors would not have ANY issues.

I use a heater that I purchased from Sally's beauty supply to pre-heat lots of things including Dichroic glass, thick rods of any make, murrini, etc.
Anise is the only color you mention that I would have to pre-heat but I don't use it anymore. I don't find that the others give my any trouble.

I totally agree with you on this. Devardi has some of the most amazing colors. but the uneven rod pulls do play a major part in the shocking issues. I have had quite a few Devardi chunky rods that went right into the flame after a few swipes of preheating in the torch, with no problems. I have had a others that exploded like fireworks. I treat them as I would my Vetrofond rods and the like. There are 3 or 4 Devardi colors that I have not been able to tame at all. However there are others who have been able to accomplish it because I have seen the glass colors used in their beads.

I don't understand why hand pulled rods always end up uneven. If you look at the hand pulled colors of Effetre's, they have the same uneveness, along with reports of the glass being somewhat finicky. Why can't all manufacturers use whatever machine it is to pull straight rods. And why can't the rods from other manufacturers that machine pull them, go into the flame without exploding.

I have never had anything as shocky. The opal yellow goes on top of the kiln, and that seems to be enough.

I work with anise white all the time and have very few problems and I haven't had any trouble with the other colors listed. I must work cooler than most...

Ya, ya, we know you hate it. Beat a dead horse much?

Well, she should be able to hate it if she wants to, don't you think?;) We all have our own opinions.

Oh, absolutely, hate away. All opinions welcome. All I'm saying is it's ok to pass on an opportunity to repeat that opinion once in awhile too. Give the broken record a rest, so to speak. ;)

Telling people to shut up never seems to go over well on forums.

Opal yellow IS shocky!

P.S. I like to gut dead horses and climb in them to stay warm.

Though my early experience with the opaque and semi-opaque pink rods were the WORST, and they were probably 5-6 mm in diameter. They were downright anorexic compared to other Devardi colors. No matter how diligently I preheated those pinks under the kiln door, they would just snap off an inch away from the flame. I have not bought either color since.

The semi-trans colors that I have tried are just awful. There is no hope for those. Just the other day I was thinking of just chucking them and yes, they are 5mm rods. I wonder why those are so uniform but they cannot pull the other colors like that?

I wonder if someone could capitalize on making it into frit blends? It wants to be frit anyway..

I go to an open torch sometimes, and I won't sit beside anyone using Devardi any more. I have a permanent scar on MY boob because someone's rod exploded and got me from 4 feet away. It cannot be cost effective to invest in a warmer, heat it so slowly, have so much wasted raw material and try and turn a buck or two on beads, in my opinion.

I'd like to know how many brave soles there are out there that just stick a cold rod of glass directly in the flame without even wafting it, in and out of the flame until it is preheated. It seems to me that everyone has some sort of preheating stage in their lampworking routine. I've seen videos of professional lampwork artists using those stainless steel rod warmers placed behind the flame, and to be quite frank with you, I have never seen any Devardi rods on those warmers. My two personal methods of preheating my rods are either a cup of boiling hot water, or an old coffee mug placed on a coffee cup warmer. My lampwork mentor used a hot plate to preheat her rods. She only used Effetre glass.

Talk about dead horses. :lol:

I do this all the time. I work Boro, though. My first experience working a torch was with a hothead and soft glass. Lots of exploding rods and way too slow for me. The memory of that made me a boro diehard. I work off mandrel and often start with 15mm rods with zero pre-heating needed.

I use one of those curling iron heaters to preheat shocky rods. I really don't like to use it because it is really HOT. I almost feel like they're a little dangerous to use. I might make some frit with some of my devardi glass & see what I can come up with. I really enjoy sitting at the torch & making frit.

Well, the good news is that when people graduate to better glass, they'll be so stunned by how easy it is to use that they'll probably make outstanding beads.

I find it funny (and kind of a bummer) that beginners gravitate to it because it's so cheap, because shocky/boily/persnickety glass is so NOT a good beginner's experience.

If they can get the hang of it, they'll be ready for anything.

Oh, totally! It's just such a crazy handicap to throw on top of an already steep learning curve.

I wondered how people found out about glass in general. I just did a google search for "cheap glass lampwork rods" & here's what came up.

Lampworking Supplies | mountainglassarts.com
www.mountainglassarts.com
September Sales! Quality Service, Same Day Shipping, Great Prices
Devardi Glass Rods - Lampwork, bead making supplies.
www.devardiglass.com
5.99/lb Great glass rods, low price
Buy Glass rods bead making | DelphiGlass.com
www.delphiglass.com
Fusing and Lampworking Supplies Glass Tools, Kits & Value Packs
Flameworking Lampworking Glass Beadmaking Supplies and ...
www.sundanceglass.com/glass-bead.htmSupplies for every aspect of making glass beads, buttons, and sculptures with a torch: tools, glass rods, kilns, torches, books, videos, equipment, and kits.
Frantz Art Glass, Your Ultimate Source for Flameworking Supplies
www.frantzartglass.com/... Glass Rod & Stringers • Soft Glass Frit & Powder • Soft Glass Sheets • Soft Glass ... Gift Certificates glass, flameworking, lampworking, Lauscha, Effetre, Moretti, ...
Arrow Springs' Home Page
www.arrowsprings.com/Arrow Springs has the largest selection of lampworking tools, supplies and equipment ... With the old taller version, short glass rods would slide off easier. ...
Devardi Lampwork Glass Rods, 5.99/lb, Lampworking, Bead Making ...
www.devardiglass.com/Devardi Glass, Flameworking Rods, Lamp work Bead and Marble Makers Tools, Supplies. Lowest prices.
Olympic Color Rods - Glassblowing Color & Supplies
www.glasscolor.com/Lampworking Cane Added to Overstock Sale!, Overstock Sale on Select Sizes, ... the largest inventory in North America of glass colors by Reichenbach Colors ...
Lampworking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LampworkingJump to Types of Glass‎: Many manufacturers who once only sold their glass in sheet or very thick rod now provide rods for lampworking use. Window ...
glass beadmaking (lampwork)
www.forestheart.com/bm1.htmlForestheart Studio stocks complete supplies for lampwork. ... cheap diamond shoulder smoother /reamer set 9.95. Dip /n Etch matting liquid 6 oz. $16.95. Moretti glass rods COE 104 (more expensive colors, you get shorter rods) $1 ea. ...
Devardi Glass Rods and Lampworking Supplies, Homepage Sister ...
www.devardi.com/Rods, Frit, Lampworking Supplies and Tools by Devardi Glass.
Flamekissed Glass, Serving the Lampwork Community
www.flamekissedglass.com/6 days ago – Flamekissed Glass : - Tools Bullseye Glass CiM Glass Dichroic Strips Supplies Double Helix ... Gift Certificates Vetrofond System 96 Rods lampwork, glass beads, glass rods, glass supplies, ... If it's cheaper, I'll send it that way. ...
ABR Imagery, Inc. - glass blowing supplies, lampworking ...
www.dichroicimagery.com/ABR Imagery is a one stop for all of your artistic and scientific glassblowing needs. From kilns and torches to glass and color we are Americas number one ...

Sure is. That bad experience early on Kept me away from the torch for years. Sometimes I think we do beginners a disservice with advice on setups, material choices, etc. Shame really.