Kalera, thank you so much! You have always been a generous beadmaker and Netizen, but this goes beyond anything I have seen. I am definitely going to try your recipe with the tobacco brown -- I never did figure out that frit, even though I love playing with frits, and of course I have a stellar source ... my sister (
That Frit Girl). Seriously, peeps, if you need small amounts of *anything,*, likely Leslie has it or can get it. I know she has all the frit ingredients Kalera has mentioned--I pulled and packed for her while I was visiting at Christmas, so I know what her stash is like!
As far as sizes of frit, most people selling plain (not pre-blended) frit colors will also sell them according to specific sizes. If you get Val Cox's book,
Frit Secrets, there's a listing and description of the various frit "standard" grind sizes. Each manufacturer also has that info available on the web, but Val puts it all onto a concise page or two.
You can grind frit down to powder using a small coffee bean grinder ($10-$12), or make your own
frit pounder using two different sizes of steel pipe or similar materials.
I do have a question--about mandrel sizes, not frit. I noticed that a lot of your beads are on 5/64" mandrels, rather than 1/16" or 3/32". Is there a particular reason or advantage to using that size--i.e. do more jewellery designers prefer that size? Or is it that you just had a bunch of those mandrels to hand?