Breaking the bead release SUCKS!!

MardiGrasGlass · #1 2008-11-21, 10:16am

Gees.... I decided I was going to try and be brave this morning. I was going to pull a stringer of my favorite color, and use it to decorate a cylinder of another of my favorite colors...

Well all goes along fine, I've got my cylinder looking good, going along and shaping it, and SPIN SPIN SPIN it goes!

Is it just this crappy Hobby Lobby bead release I bought? Or do I not have my mandrels roughed up enough?

And I wasn't pulling on it with the glass either when it broke. I was shaping it on the work surface....

cherylsart · #2 2008-11-21, 11:06am

I have had problems with my bead release too. I use Bucket 'O Mud. I thought it was just because I'd been diluting my old bottle too much to stretch it but I've had some trouble with the new bottle too. My mandrels aren't even new so it's not that they are too smooth.

I thought maybe it was because the humidity has been so low here. Maybe the release is drying too quickly and the structural integrity is being affected. I don't flame dry my mandrels because I hate it when a piece of hot bead release snaps off and comes flying at me. I hope someone posts here who has had some experience with this because it's frustrating when your bead is looking really good and then suddenly you have to junk it because you can't work it anymore.

Cheryl

MardiGrasGlass · #3 2008-11-21, 11:11am

Oh I wasn't junking anything.. LOL! I ended up adding the stringer I intended to, and finished it even with the broken bead release. Thankfully I was done shaping the cylinder. It didn't come out nearly as good as I wanted it to after it broke, but I wasn't wasting precious glass... LOL Now their is little bits of broken bead release stuck to the sides near the hole, but I got the stringer applied...

cherylsart · #4 2008-11-21, 11:24am

I hear ya. I hate wasting glass! I save my rod ends and make my own frit out of them.

Kim Hsieh · #5 2008-11-21, 12:47pm

Hi there!

Yes, that darn bead release can drive you crazy! I am actually trying to call Fusion because the last 3 bottles my student bought, the mandrels come out with a ton of "bits". We've tried adding water to it and it still has them. The problem is the "bits" get hot and then breaks off which cracks off the bead release. I used to use Fusion and loved it. I'm not sure if this is just a bad batch but he has 3 bottles and they're all the same.

I currently use Bucket O' Mud and I like it a lot. Sorry you're having problems. I did notice that I bought a bottle and it was a lot thicker than the one I had before. I wonder if it's been around for awhile if it can get old. Not sure.

Bead separator it's always a challenge.

Cheers!

K

Alison D · #6 2008-11-21, 4:42pm

I was having ornaments fall off all the time and I read this. I used all diferent kind of release.

http://www.arrowsprings.com/html/usi...l_release.html

on the Arrow Springs site and it really worked. The last part about only heating the middle and less heat to the outer parts of where your bead will be. In my case I only heat to red the very tip of my mandrel so that the part of my wind that will be the ornament top is on bead release that was not quite gowing They don't break off any more.

Good luck,
Alison

NLC Beads · #7 2008-11-21, 4:49pm

If Fusion has a bunch of bits in it, throw in some broken beads/marbles/etc to help break them up. I get them occassionally, but a really good shake with some stuff in there works wonders. Whenever a bead cracks, I throw it in - I don't even know what's in there anymore.

Make sure you heat the mandrel to glowing before applying glass and heat the bead as needed so you're not pulling/wrestling with the glass, that tends to break off the release.

Good luck!

MardiGrasGlass · #8 2008-11-21, 5:12pm

OHHHH! See thats what I WASN'T doing. I thought it was BAD to heat it to glowing, so I would only heat until it was hot, not glowing.

I still got a few done today though. I have a few beads to post pics of afterwhile when they finish cooling! Is glass made with some king of illegal drug....I'm freakin addicted! I know I sound like such a goober, but I am having sooooo much fun. This was the perfect thing to get me back into my artwork...

squid · #9 2008-11-21, 5:20pm

LOL Chris - it IS a drug, but thankfully a legal one

BugNerd · #10 2008-11-21, 5:23pm

I like to pretend it's illegal lol makes "making beads" a little more edgy hehe....hey, I need all the help I can get!

Gelly · #11 2008-11-21, 6:37pm

I use Foster Fire and love it! Usually the only time I have trouble with it breaking is if it is too thick. Like tonight! Ugh!!!! I could tell when I dipped my mandrels yesterday that it was a bit thick and needed some water added, but I was too lazy to do it.

Of course, I had two of them break on me midway through the beads... It makes it so difficult to add the critter faces when the bead is spinning round the mandrel, almost as hard as nailing snot to a tree.

But, I LOVE this drug and can't get enough of it.

FosterFire · #12 2008-11-21, 7:02pm

Gelly darling -
You can also add an "anchor" and save your cute creation. What you do is:
1. make a spacer bead near one end of critter.
2. take a thick stringer of critter's main color and make attachment from critter to spacer
3. finish bead
4. melt off stringer, tweeze off extra if needed.

When it's all done and safely in the kiln: add water to your FosterFire and shake, shake, shake. (*ahem* I mean the bead release jar, sweetie)

MardiGrasGlass · #13 2008-11-21, 7:30pm

OOOOH ROBIN!!! I've heard so much about you. Are you going to be at the December meeting for the GBS?

And thanks for that tip! I didn't even think about that!

FosterFire · #14 2008-11-21, 7:57pm

I'm planning on it.

lunamoonshadow · #15 2008-11-22, 7:28am

I've added water & "shaked" so many times to my fusion I can't even count them. I love that it pretty much lasts forever (and doesn't seem to care how much water I add....it seems to work "thin" very, very, very well!)....Um, Nikki? What's in the bottom of my bottle? I *know* there's something down there...I can hear it when I "shake-shake-shake".....(and I didn't add any beads

)
~luna
late-for-work-as-always-'cause LE is worse than crack

NLC Beads · #16 2008-11-22, 9:32am

Quote:

Originally Posted by lunamoonshadow

Um, Nikki? What's in the bottom of my bottle? I *know* there's something down there...I can hear it when I "shake-shake-shake".....(and I didn't add any beads

)
~luna

Ummm...Might be a broken bead... I chuck 'em in to help mix the release. I don't even know what's in my bottle anymore, don't expect me to know what's in yours.

NLC Beads · #17 2008-11-22, 10:52am

Thanks, Kimberly, I only use Fusion, so I didn't realize there was a difference!

MadelineBunyan · #18 2008-11-22, 11:00am

any tips for dirty looie? I use fusion as well which I hardly ever have problems with. but dirty looie sometimes cracks...I think usually when I didnt heat it enough...I think this one is one that needs to glooooowww!

NLC Beads · #19 2008-11-22, 11:06am

Quote:

Originally Posted by kimberly

Oh, no worries That is what works for me. But everyone's experience may be different. I do a lot of "weird" stuff when it comes to bead release because I hate broken release and at the same time I want to be able to get the beads off easily. I used to love Fusion - but it holds so well, by the time I had removed 4-5 long thin beads from the mandrels, my wrists were hugely swollen. Ugh. I still use Fusion and sometimes Sludge for some beads.

My beads are a bit smaller than yours.

Fusion, soaking for about 10 minutes in the hottest water my tap will product with a drop or two of dish soap, and anything removes easily if I make sure it has a nice glow before applying the glass. I have one of those tube garlic peelers I can use to grasp the bead if need be, that can help give some grip that's just enough to break it free.

MadelineBunyan · #20 2008-11-22, 11:09am

somone I know uses the cut off finger of a marigold rubber glove to grip her beads...
(are marigolds vailable in U.S? or is it a U.K thing...I never can tell?!)

char · #21 2008-11-22, 4:08pm

I have tried them all when back to fusion it works great for me also one thing I have changed when deluting use distilled water have had no problems since

PurpleCatJewels · #22 2008-11-22, 4:18pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by MardiGrasGlass

Is it just this crappy Hobby Lobby bead release I bought? Or do I not have my mandrels roughed up enough?

I was going to warn you about the Fireworks Bead Release. Then didn't. Sorry.

As a newbie I break a lot of release! My first experience was with the Fireworks. That stuff is just wrong! I tried flame drying, air-drying, everything. Finally I ordered some "Dirty Looies" and I found that it was so much better. I'm sure the same goes for Foster Fire, Super Sludge and others.

I still break release when making cylinders, disks, and sometimes detailed rounds, but a lot less often. Part of it was the new release, part of it practice.

~Rachelle

zen-mom · #23 2008-11-22, 4:32pm

I mix Fusion 50/50 with Alice's bead release (it's a dry mix you have to add water to). I very rarely have issues with cracking release and as long as I soak the mandrels I never have a problem getting beads off. I am bad though and 90% of the time I skip the soak step unless I have a bead that doesn't wanna come off.

JoyceMI · #24 2008-11-22, 5:22pm

Gritty bead release..... When I end up with bead release that has these bits in them that make the manrels look like they are coated with chunky grit, I dump the whole bottle in a large bowl add a bit of water if needed if it seems too thick and get out the electric hand mixer and mix it till smooth. Works great!....... I've tried the beads in the bottle but it just didn't quite work well to break up the grittyness and make it smooth. Beads in the bottle are great for the shaking/mixing before each use.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kim Hsieh

Yes, that darn bead release can drive you crazy! I am actually trying to call Fusion because the last 3 bottles my student bought, the mandrels come out with a ton of "bits". We've tried adding water to it and it still has them. The problem is the "bits" get hot and then breaks off which cracks off the bead release. I used to use Fusion and loved it. I'm not sure if this is just a bad batch but he has 3 bottles and they're all the same.
K