Thread: Devardi cracks
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Old 2009-11-18, 7:02pm
likes to make glass stuff likes to make glass stuff is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pam View Post
Please, once again you are comparing apples to oranges. Please don't do that. Effectre has a very good track record. When you buy odd lots of almost any glass then you are taking a known risk. It is an odd lot for a reason. You are walking in with your eyes open. So called silver glasses are somewhat experimental at this point in time, although one particular company I am aware of is doing fantastic quality control. People buying this glass go into it with full knowledge that this or that color may not be available again and there could be some problems with the glass. Every brand of glass I know of issues refunds if the glass is not useable. Exploding glass is not a normal occurence and shouldn't be viewed that way. If glass explodes it was not made correctly.

If you want to use this glass, that is fine, just don't represent it to be the same as other glasses available. Everyone has a right to choose and use whatever glass they want. I have no problem with that, but at least let people know what they are getting when they are buying this glass.

I am really glad that this glass appears to be improving in quality, but we won't really know until a few years down the road how well it really works.

And at this point, I am sure all you Devardi fans will be happy to learn that I quit. I've tried as best I can to educate new glass beadmakers on what to look for in selecting a glass to use for beads. Hitting my head against a brick wall time and time again is just not my cup of tea. I wish all of you the best of luck with this glass, but I will continue to hope that you will be honest with new beadmakers about the quality of this glass. If not, you will not only be doing them a disservice, but will be hurting our art form, because every time someone buys a glass bead that eventually cracks, that could possibly be the last time they buy a handmade glass bead.
This will be my last post in this thread, unless it's in response to someone who is actually using devardi glass and presumably having a cracking issue, since that's the title of the thread.

With that said-although Pam said she won't reply, I feel a need to respond.

I don't believe Pam has even seen any rods of glass being sold as Devardi. It may or may not be the same as the glass sold back in '02, but since the name of the company was different as well as some characteristics of the glass itself being different, I have my personal doubts on that.

I have issues with someone who has never even seen the glass being so vehemently negative about it.

I haven't seen posts saying it's a perfect glass. I don't read that off the site one purchases it at. Here's that link. http://www.devardiglass.com/about.htm

It says the rods can be of varying diameters and not always perfectly straight. It says they can shatter, and they give working tips. I'm not usually willing to work slower and cooler, so I have more "stick shaped frit". That's a user problem if others are finding that preheating and slower and cooler helps with that. I can't blame the glass for that.

I can, however, compare working characteristics of glass that costs $30/pound and up to working characteristics of devardi. That would be hand pulled glass and odd lots (usually also hand pulled) that shatter at least as easily as the $6 a pound glass does.

I can also say I'm seeing some unique colors in the 104 palette. Transparent olive, semi opaque peach, transparent purple that is a true grape color. I've got a gorgeous light mint green I haven't seen anything like before. The transparent denim blue is lovely, too.

I've been working 104 glass for more than 5 years.Not forever. No glass is perfect. BE comes the closest, I understand. Someday I'll get the studio pack and I may never look back.

Right now, I can compare devardi to some of the more irritating colors of moretti/vetrofond glass with the exploding rods. There are a multitude of posts about just that problem.

I haven't experienced the cracking problem this thread was started about. I've tried to do what normally happens in a "cracking beads" thread, which is troubleshoot. I refuse to condemn an entire line of glass because a few people are reporting a problem I cannot replicate, so I try to figure out what I'm doing differently.

My beads are not, ever, small spacer sized beads. I'm also pressing or squishing just about everything I make. I use whatever brand I think will look cool when I try out things. I sold a handful of items from when I got my first devardi until two weekends ago, when I did a big show and went through all my stuff. I check everything before I bring it to the show, then again every day when I'm putting it up on the displays. I had no cracked beads, and some of my beads had devadi glass in them. I tend to encase everything, and have had some surprises with furnace glass frit blends, so I check.

If you don't want to use it, don't. No problem. If you've used it and had problems, give loads of information, including how you anneal. We'll help. If you've used it and hate it, I've got some opal yellow I'm scared to use, so I understand.

Getting off the soapbox now.
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