Devardi
 

Has anyone used Divardi glass, and if so, what do you think of it?
Thanks for your input!

As a newbie, I use a lot of devardi glass, and even more of their tools, as I simply can't afford many others while I am learning, and they do fine for me.
The glass is very tricky, and for people used to Italian or more expensive glass, it is unworkable. Here is the trick. You must pre warm the rods, if not in a rod warmer, then slowly in the far reaches of the flame. Very slowly!
I think this works for me as a newbie, cause I was afford of heating glass too fast to begin with anyways, so I always introduced it slowly, and with mild fear. Now that I am more accustomed to shocky, and just startled, it doesn't bug me. And like I said. Prewarm it! I have one of their rod warmers sitting on my desk, and I just load it up with what I think I will use that day, turn it on, use other glasses for 20 mins, then away I go.

It does not always mix well with others, but that's the same with many glasses. Lauscha doesn't play well with others, we all learn to just experiment.

Devardi has colors that others don't offer, and they all give a neat organic/recycled look that I simply love.

Yes, it is tricky to work with, stiff and needs to be warmed, but it will always have a place on my bench, and the tools are awesome, in my limited experience, and for the price, simply enable me to do this hobby at all. Without devardi, I would still be using canister gas and second hand graphite hand me downs.

People either tolerate it or hate it.
Its slower to work because of the need to preheat it more.
It can pop if your not careful.
Soft glass is a lot more expencive then boro, but you need a bit more torch.

Divardie has a few colors other suppliers don't.
And its a bit cheeper.
Tools tend to reflect the cost.
Brass prices have dropped a lot so it may start reflecting tool cost in the next few months.
There are a number of suppliers depending on where you are.

Beautiful, inexpensive, but surly stuff. They tend to pull their rods very thick and there's a lot of air trapped in them, especially their twistie rods. Pre-warming is essential, or all you'll get is a lot of bench frit. (That's not so bad, actually, because it does work well as frit, particularly in marbles.) Approach their dichroics with care; the last time I bought their dichroic stringers, all the sparkly flaked right off before I even got it near the flame. Their selection of mandrels and their range of tools is very good.

I don't use the glass, but have bought glass for others who like it, and silver & other metals, frit, etc for me. You can not top their customer service for being quick and courteous no matter if it was your goof up or their mistake.

dj

It's not my first choice of glass. They do have a few colors that are unlike anything else, so I use them. I use it alone because I'm afraid to mix it with other glass. I have a lot of their brass presses & love them because they're unique.

Thanks so much everyone for your speedy replies. I'm a newbie, so have been checking out different websites etc. Devardi caught my eye because of some of their colours and metal Frits. I'll give some a try, but thanks for the consistent pre-warming advice, otherwise I would have ended up with just piles of frit ��

Indeed, either heat VERY slowly in the flame or get some sort of rod warmer. (I used a curling iron heater/oven from Sally Beauty Supply.)

Some of the blues devitrify terribly for me. The one rod I really like is the black. It doesn't sparkle and pit when reheated. I used it as the base for lots of my beads.

I think they have some really gorgeous colors, but I also think that if you are a beginner, you will want to go explore other options. I wouldn't want you discouraged by popping glass and getting burned. I like the stiffness to it, and the opals are pretty, and the price is right, but it's seriously moody.

You either love or hate it, that is what I have learned.

I am too inpatient to wait for it to warm up so I don't use the glass. I did start off with it though. Their tools are pretty good and inexpensive and as someone else mentioned, their customer service is GREAT!

Asking about Devardi is like asking which clear is best, it usually results in an us vs them type thread and can get pretty heated :lol:

So, are you an "us" or a "than" :-)

Oops. A "them"?

I like their tools, although myself and someone else got a marble mold where the graphite smelled so strongly of fuel we had to toss them. I've tried a couple of colors, like the metallic silver one, it's nice but like others said you have to preheat, I just stick one end into the kiln.

What colors do people suggest, those that are not in the other palettes...and, how are their purple & pinks? I heard one pink was not compatible but heck if I can remember which one.

The rose one wasn't, although I don't recall if it was the med or the dark

Gorgeous colors, I wish they were easier to use. I'd love to see if the smaller 4-6 mm rods work any better. Until then, I just get the tools and misc. stuff from them. Tools work fine and the customer service is great.

Just depends on what you need, I guess. It's not expensive to try a few things and find out if you can work like that.

I love the luscious pink, and the bi-color rods. They are all really big, but I pull them down into stringers, and it's fast easy and really pretty! The transparent purple over opaque lilac is my favorite!
The flat encasing strips are kind of fun, but not as clear as I had hoped, but good if I take my time.

I got some of their dichro strips & wasn't happy with them at all.

Excuse me. Have you ever even used Lauscha or did that comment come from Devardi??
??

Yep, Devardi discussions tend get heated fast, and there's your evidence. the tools are cheap but functional, and I love their flower presses! And with a rod warmer, the glass is quite functional. Great for learning on.most people do tend to move on to better glass if they stick with beadmaking. But there are several colors they have that you can't get elsewhere.

I can't believe they came out with flower presses, great price too.

I agree many start with it, but it's very frustrating and may be discouraging to new folks. I would say get some experience, then come try it for the colors and see if there are some you don't mind working with,

Their families of pinks and peaches can't be beat for colors. I just have to remember to preheat them, and they're fine.......and cheap, too!

No offense Paula D. Actually I got it from your own website, and from using the few lauscha rods I know I have, cause they are labeled. Your site describes a very specific annealing schedule that I can't attain as yet, since I don't have a digital annealer.
My statement was not 'lauscha is bad', it was simply that not all glasses play well together.
Pretty fair statement. I like the lauscha I have, but I am saving the rest of it until I have a better kiln. No point wasting it now, is there?

I like the lauscha colors, and lord knows it is easy to handle, I just can't afford that quality to learn on. It's like giving a 16 yr old a Ferrari to drive to school!

[ I got 3 but haven't played with them much. I'll post pics when I get some done :) QUOTE=KJohn;4686093]I can't believe they came out with flower presses, great price too.

I agree many start with it, but it's very frustrating and may be discouraging to new folks. I would say get some experience, then come try it for the colors and see if there are some you don't mind working with,[/quote]

I use Devardi and I only starting in Oct and had never used anything else.. So I am a beginner but to be honest the glass never turned me off. It is a stiff glass and does shocke easily but you just have to have the patience and time . I have prob ordered 15 different color's from them and I find they are great. But that's just what I think. I do have the rod warmer which makes it that much easier and I find they mix fine together I enjoy Devardi color's as well they all seem to work well with each other :)

I hope you do get to try Lauscha someday with an annealer as it is beautiful glass. You are correct. It does not work well for many without being annealed. It does mix well with almost everything if you reheat your bead before putting it into the annealer and us the annealing schedule. That incompatibility rumor has been going around for a long time and it hurts a lot of innocent people (such as the people that work at Lauscha). And keeps people from trying a nice brand of glass. :waving:

Oh, I intend to, in fact I have several rods of it and double helix that I am saving for that time when I can do it justice! I was drooling at your site just the other day, cause I am having horrible issues with the clear I have, but I just can't accurately anneal it yet. (Pout pout ). When I have my beehive annealer paid for, you better have some awesome stock on hand!! Cause I'm coming your way!

Love it!
 

I personally bought their big start up kit to get started with lampwork! It included torch, tools, and pretty much everything I needed. I like the glass if only for the reason that it has taught me patience :) I tend to rush things when I'm trying anything artsy so I can just see the finished product, and this has FORCED me to slow down or else I won't get anywhere. I find that it all works quite nicely for me :)

I've seen perfectly competent beadmakers wrestle with some lauscha colors being incompatible, so there is some issue there despite what the lauscha distributor with a vested financial interest wants to tell you. It happens depending how often folks want to say something along the lines of, 'you're just not working it right.'

If a glass is that finicky it's not usually worth the hassle.

As for devardi, it's cheap enough to try. If you like it, great. If not, now you know. At least it's not 50-100.00 a pound to find out.

I'm all for working any glass you can find, you never know when you'll find something new that you love.

Devardi is shrapnel in rod form unless you really preheat it. They do have some LOVELY colors, but I find that many of the opaques devit. And I won't mix it with any other glass after the problems I had with some really nice focals with Devardi surface work... when the Devardi popped off (and I'm not a newbie, they were melted in just fine).

As for Lauscha, I'd have to keep a spreadsheet next to my torch with a compatibility list- don't encase this, or use this to encase, don't use this color with this color, this one's ok with that but not with that. And at over $20 a pound for decidedly pretty colors and nice clear, I end up tossing probably 25% of my pieces because I don't want to have to reprogram my kiln for their exclusive annealing schedule to make the glass "work for me". I have to do far too much work for IT to get it to work. Silver glass, pressed? Ha! Never with Lauscha, and do not even think of mixing Tangerine, which is a LUSCIOUS orange over or under anything. I can't even get it to not crack under Zephyr clear and that stuff plays with EVERYTHING.

As a beginner, I second that thought that you would be better coming back to Devardi later after some time learning how to control the glass when introducing it. I would hate to see someone turned off of glass work by being pelted with hot glass constantly (avoid CIM for that, too, mostly) and cracks. Start off with some nice easy to play with Effetre and then move onto the more experimental stuff :D

what in the hell are you doing here? :confused:





ETA: this post was directed at Amy. :lol: