My first Bullseye compatibility problem
I am having what I suspect is my first compatibility issue with Bullseye. I made a small barrel of Serena's Blend and encased it with Schott clear and added a few BE murrine. The next day both of the beads I made were cracked down the mandrel in 2 or 3 places on each bead. Thinking it was possible, but not likely, that I hadn't kept the beads hot enough, I made them again - same thing - I could see the cracks when I looked in the kiln.
Thinking it might be the Schott, I remade the bead using BE clear and added only one murrini to see if it might be part of the problem. This one was cracked in 3 places, so it wasn't the clear and it wasn't the murrine - it has to be the Serena's Blend. I have used this color many times before with no problem, but I don't generally encase, so I am thinking it just doesn't like being surrounded. |
Hey Squid: How 'bout a base of clear, thinly encase with Serena, complete bead and encase. Some glasses like to be over something else...
Worth a try! Lea |
ooh, great idea! I will try it tonight!
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I have a bunch of Serena's blend so please post results. I hope the over clear solves the problem.
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Hmmm... weird! I've encased Serena's Blend many times with no issues.
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I never try Serena's Blend but my beads always cracked everytime I encased antique rose (I tried encased it with schott, BE clear and light pink striker) even on spacer size.
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My antique rose never cracked, but I didn't like the color. I think they weren't even annealed. They're still floating around in a bead bowl somewhere. I've never encases Serena's blend.
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oh yes, and I keep forgetting to come back and report - it worked fine with the base of clear under it. Strange, huh?
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How hot are you annealing them? When Lunesse had cracking problems with her encased BE beads it turned out that her kiln temperature was off by a couple hundred degrees. I've made hundreds if not thousands of encased Serena's Blend beads (I've gone through ten pounds of it and encased most of it) and never had them crack.
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I anneal at 925 - I have tested my kiln numerous times - I have a stand alone pyrometer. I had 25 beads in the kiln that night and the next and the only two that cracked with the ones with the SB encased. I could look into the kiln and see the cracks even while it was still full temp. I am probably going to try it again just because though.
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I would definitely kick the temp up to around 970 for BE. I know a lot of people anneal lower but I've never had any cracking problems with any BE color at 970, except for that odd-lot opaque mint color which apparently had to be annealed hotter.
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this is the only time I have ever had that problem at 925 - I wonder why putting it over clear kept it from cracking at the lower temp if that is indeed the case?
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There's been a handful of glass(es) over the years that have had the same issue, but once layered thinly over a base of clear are fine. Pity though the memory who can't begin to recall which ones they were~~~~~~~:razz:
Glad it worked for you! Lea |
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Btw, I anneal all my soft glass at 980 for 1 hour than ramp down at 50 to 680 then 250 to 400 and off. |
Squid, if I were you I would contact BE as they are always very interested in any problems that occur and very often give great advice.
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Possibly because some glasses are more forgiving than others, and Serena's Blend is not very forgiving, is my only guess. Making clear the base reduced the proportion of Serena's blend in the whole bead and acted as a stabilizer. IME pinks and purples tend to be more persnickety than some other colors about being annealed in their preferred temp range, especially when it comes to being encased. |
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I've never had any trouble encasing the Serena's Blends...I, II or III. I always use 1101 Clear to encase. 970. But for what it's worth, it's SB II that I always find the most shocky to work with. It was the least transparent of the batches...I'd check the ends & try one of the rods that is more transparent :)
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HI Breezy,
how are you? |
Hey Squidly ~ Just wanted to add my latest BE crack-up. It's Bullseye Steel Blue, encased in Bullseye clear. Perhaps your problem lies in the clear encasing, and not the frit.
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Is that the regular steel blue or Opaque Steel blue?
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Hi Squid ~ It is 0146-76F1 Steel Blue that I picked up through one of the Bullseye bulk buys thay Rebecca Sanchez hosted back in 2005. It is considered an opaque rod.
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That is their regular color then and technically, it is an opal - they have a new version that is a true opaque called Opaque Steel Blue.
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I've encased both without issues.
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The straight-along-the-mandrel crack is typically thermal. I hate to sound like a broken record, but if you're putting them in the kiln glowing and annealing at 960-980, and you have this problem more than once in a while, you might want to borrow a pyrometer and check your kiln's temperature calibration. The 0146 steel blue has been part of their normal line for a long time, and it's a color I and many other have encased many many times with no issues. It's also a very popular kilnforming color, and is often topped with clear, and kilnforming is in some ways more demanding of compatibility than lampworking, especially with large pieces.
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Yup Kalera, it definitely looks like thermal. I had to walk about 20 steps to take my bead from torch to the kiln at Cape Coral Arts. The exit door was continually being opened with gusts of wind blowing at our backs. It's highly possible that my bead cracked enroute to the kiln, and went un-noticed until it was finished being annealed. I can't seem to remember what Kari has the kiln temp set at. It may not have been the optimum temp for annealing BE.
Isn't that a gorgeous blue though. The Bullseye clear is the most crystal clear of all of my clears that I have. I'm almost inclined to say that it is clearer than Lauscha, or pretty darned close. |
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