Thread: Boro Sticks
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Old 2013-07-26, 11:09pm
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Liquidsand Liquidsand is offline
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They are pretty much unusable until you melt the stick down, mush it around a little, gather it all up and draw it back out into a rod or stringer. I actually like to melt two together and draw it out into a longer piece, it seems to save me a little time.

Certain colors are very smooth and friendly. The Bright White is very nice, Blush, Uber Blush, Cotton Candy, Eggplant, and Lapis have all been good to me, although they almost all devitrify if overworked even a little.

I got a pound of Spring Purple on sale, and I don't know if it was a bad batch or the color itself, but when it melts it kind of breaks up all boily and grainy, and I absolutely hate it. I had a similar experience with what I think was Lime Green. If you can have the patience to gather this type of problem-stick up with a very low, oxidizing flame, heating slowly, you can encase the gather with a very thin layer of clear to protect it from boiling, or another transparent to get an interesting effect. I found that encasing the awful Spring Purple with Momkas Obsidian gives an interesting effect when stretched out over the surface of a piece. The bubbles and inconsistencies actually lend some texture to the color, making it very unique in the boro palette.

There are some compatibility issues with deep encasing, and I think the frit is known to crack inside-out pieces frequently. My favorite use for Borostix is in murrini, because you can get a lot of both high-contrast and shading effects, and the murrini are small enough so that there aren't any coe problems or much surface boiling. I have heard others complain about "fading" when the colors are stretched thin.

They have their uses - but they're high maintenance.
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