Best white?
 

I need to order more white and I would like one that melts easily on a hothead torch and doesn't soot or burn easily.
Here are my options

Messy Marshmallow
Messy peace
Messy Cirrus
Effetre alabaster special white
Effetre pastel Anice white
Effetre pastel white
Vetrofond odd pastel cool white
Vetrofond odd pastel new white


What do you recommend?

I tend to use my cheapo Vetrofond, which snaps, crackles and pops here and there. Effetre white does that for me sometimes too.

I don't know that either soots or burns easily, really, although the eff. white has a tendency to burn out its color more than the Vet. I've heard really good things about Peace. That it has a the highest color density and is easy to work and I've been meaning to try that. The rest, I guess it depends on what you want to do?

I have had some cracking with Peace. Can't really remember what combination cracked though.

Watch out for Anice! It's nickname is "frit on a stick" according to Lunamoonshadow. Don't get me wrong- I love, love, love Anice but it is shocky beyond belief.

Sue

Thanks for the tip Sue!
Thanks Kathy and Kristin

If you want a good white to use as a base for 96 COE frit, Uroboros 96 COE white is a good choice. They have a couple of other whites which are semi-opal. If you use the frit on those, it softens the colors for a different look than what you get with their regular white.

I get my Uroboros rods at www.howacoglass.com

Lisi, I sure wish I knew as much about glass interactions as you do!

Melissa, if you are looking for COE 104, I would lean toward Peace and/or Effetre white. Both are pretty easy to handle and likely to continue to be available. I can't remember whether one is softer than the other. I switched entirely to Peace a while back. No cracking issues for me so far.

Hehe..thanks! :)

I don't know as much as I would like to know. For example, what can I encase safely? Should I stick with same COE? Same line of glass?? I don't encase beads now, but one of these days I would like to, and I will have those questions.

I have done a lot of experimentation with all COEs as bases for the 96 COE frit, and I've learned that I feel safest with the closest matching COE of base color and frit on the surface. I haven't used 96 COE size #1 frit on 104 bases in a long time. I use the small grain frit sizes (#0 and #00) on 104 and I have never seen any troubles. I prefer to use Uroboros 96 as a base with size #1 frit. :)

What I would like to do is try out Reichenbach and Kugler 96 COE cane in white. They carry 3-4 different whites, so I will have to try all of them as a base for frit. I tried Gaffer enamel white cane and it was SO soft, it swallowed the frit right up. Even after multiple layers!

These are the very last beads I made where I used 96 COE size #1 frit with Effetre. (beads on the left) I have sold dozens and dozens of these beads before I stopped making them a couple of years ago. I have some old wonkies that I never threw away, and they must be at least 10 years old, and no breakage. That's good. lol! :D

Messy Peace and Marshmallow are my current favorites. They're well-behaved whites that tend not to shock, and the Marshmallow is a great base for the silvered glasses.

If you want a normal opaque white, it's between Effetre white and peace (I can't speak for the Vetrofonds and chances are you won't be able to find them in future, so probably easier going with the ones that are currently being manufactured).

White is generally the softest glass, so you shouldn't have problems with them on a hothead.

Alabasters are finicky - burn easily, less compatible with everything you might throw at them.

Anise white (aka soft white) can be very shocky depending on batch and is slightly less opaque and reacts differently.

Cirrus strikes from transparent to cloudy white and back again. Can get lovely ghostly looks with it, but it isn't a normal white at all!

Marshmallow's not-quite-opaque from what I know - haven't used it myself.

I use Effetre white as standard. (I have peace too, but it tends to seem less opaque to me in small dots etc than Effetre does).

If I were on a hothead, I would probably go with Effetre White, but I really like CiM Peace.

White is softer and will be easier to melt on a hothead, but Peace is not substantially stiffer. Some batches of White are a little more transparent than others, but Peace is consistently and densely opaque. I find that Peace can soot up on me a little on my Minor with a 5lpm oxycon. I haven't used White nearly as much, so I am not sure if I would have the same thing happen with it or not, and the problem is fairly minor anyway if I work high up in the flame. I'm not sure if the more reducing environment of a hothead would exacerbate the issue, though.

I'm with Melanie - and strive to find the older Effetre White to use on my Hot Head; it's what I use in all my murrini! ;)

While making my Jesus Murrini, for example, I was terrified that my White would go "toasty marshmellow" :(. But gentle heat through the 3.5 hour torching session to create it and using the "Effetre" White especially, made it a success!

See?

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...ini/Jesus1.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...ini/Jesus3.jpg

My humble recommendation...

:)
~De

Wonderful murini, De!

Mimi

I'm sure I fell over then in awe, De, but can I just say again that those are awesome?!

Wow, De! You have beyond just amazing talent, because murrini is one of the most challenging lampwork skills there is!

If you can, look at the end of the glass rod before purchasing. The tiny holes are an indicator of the ones that will be shocky. The air expands when it hits the torch flame and you get the dramatic results all over your work area.

And I like good ol' Effetre 204 best.

Awesome thank you everyone! I'll order some Effetre white!