Devit?
 

Ok, I feel silly, but I've read about devit but I don't really know what it means. Can someone explain/post examples?? Thanks!

Devit is when part of your color separates and appears to "boil" out on your bead. It is the pits - literally!!! It is a major PITA!! I don't think people have a lot of devit pics hanging around as, at least in my studio, the bead is banished rapidly - hopefully never to darken my door again!! If you want to see it for yourself - take some EDP (the name stands for Evil Devitrifying Purple) and heat it up pretty good then cool it and then reintroduce it to the flame a couple of times without heating it up thoroughly. I hope this helps! :)

Devitrification means that your glass has formed crystals at some level rather than remaining in the amorphous (non-crystalline) state. This will leave you with a dull, sort of frosted look to the surface of your glass. Not as nice as deliberately etched. Somewhere on LE I have some microscope images of old glass that has devitrified naturally, just don't know where the thread is at the moment.

Robert

thanks!! luckily, i don't think i've experienced this yet... haha!

I see Joan's reply to 'what is causing devitrification??' and I am sort of a newbie just now experiencing devit with my EDP (surprised?). The bead appears almost as if it has been etched. My question: Am I too close in the flame (Carlisle Mini CC)? Do I have too much Propane running? Do I need to work cooler? Or is it just when you come out of the flame and go back in, then go out, then come back in (it is happening as I try to reduce things along with my EDP as well). Any replies would be so very welcomed!

EDP does not like being warm then hot, back and forth. The good news is that after you are done creating your bead, you can let it cool a bit, then bring it back into the back of the flame, and heat the bead until just the surface glows orange and gets shiny, then pull it out and (still turning of course for the whole thing) carry it to the kiln and pop it in.
More information here, and you may need to register to see it. Wet Canvas forums,

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/show...+dreamy+purple

Devit is the problem of the glass crystalizing as it cools into individual grains instead of solidifying as one whole crystal.

Some colors are more prone to it ( like EDP ) but over working the glass in the heat can cause it as well even in colors that are not so prone to it.

Sometimes you can coax it back out of devit and sometimes you can not.

Remember that the yellow flare we see with out our diddys on is sodium turning into a gas and burning off so the glass chemistry is changing little by little while it is in the flame.

Some of the window and bottle glass I have played with has gotten a whole lot stiffer and harder to melt because I spent too much time playing with it in the flame.