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Tips, Techniques, and Questions -- Technical questions or tips

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  #1  
Old 2010-06-27, 2:55am
ShellyJo1969 ShellyJo1969 is offline
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Default Can you Batch Anneal your beads?

I need to know how to anneal my beads. I've seen a good number of books and dvds and some of them have their kiln preheated and pop the finished beads straight into the kiln. Then again I have read the term "batch anneal".

I am assuming that batch annealing is where you save up all of your finished beads for the day and pop them all into your kiln at the same time and then let your kiln do it's thing, is this correct?

IF that is correct (about batch annealing) and you can truly batch anneal glass, WHY wouldn't everyone just do it that way instead of keeping a kiln hot the whole time and heating up your studio and using up all that electricity as you'd have to do if you had the kiln running the whole time and popped the beads in one by one./????

I'm needing to learn this asap as I am starting to make some beads now.

Thanks so much for the info
Michele
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  #2  
Old 2010-06-27, 6:52am
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Two schools of thought, 1st. going directly from flame in hot kiln will prevent any chance of bead thermal shocking or stress cracking in interim between time bead is completed in flame and then into annealing process. 2nd. if bead is is cooled properly after creation (thermal blanket or vermiculite process) the bead is ok to keep around for a while then when a large volume of beads are accumulated its ok to batch anneal.....

Batch anneal is merely loading cold beads into cold kiln and ramping up SLOWLY to annealing temperature and then through cool down cycle vs. putting bead into hot kiln a few degrees below annealing temperature (or garaging) and then completing annealing process....

My though is if you are producing "lots of beads a day" its ok to garage and then complete annealing process. IF you are only going to do a "few beads a day" it probably is not economically feasible to to run kiln all the time (probable only costs a few dollars a month in actual money though).

Though I do not lose many beads through batch annealing it also is a question on how many you want to survive (realistically) .... Yes I know we want them ALL to actually survive....

Dale
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  #3  
Old 2010-06-27, 6:57am
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I was not able to run all my equipment and the kiln at the same time due to the electrical situation I had (would trip the breaker circuit occasionally)....so I learned to batch anneal.

I also found that the annealing bubbles (from Artco) worked better for me than the vermiculite and is less dusty and cleaner overall.
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Old 2010-06-27, 7:05am
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Michele, you have to understand glass first. Glass must be annealed to remove stress which allows the bead to become strong and tolerant of life's little accidents. Annealing is cooling the bead at a rate that allows the bead to cool at the same rate from all sides and from the inside out. If you don't anneal a bead, as it cools it may crack due to thermal stress and stress built into the bead as you make it - adding one color to another, manipulating the glass, all adds stress to your bead. Cracks can be all the way through, surface cracks or interior cracks that you can't see. All these cracks weaken the structure of the bead. When you cool a bead without annealing these type cracks can happen. Some of them you will see and some of them you won't. It's a risk you take. If you never anneal the beads, the cracks or flaws will eventually cause the bead to be destroyed. If you take your cooled beads and put them in a kiln and batch anneal them, then you will be removing the stress built up and the bead will not continue to crack or be destroyed because of this stress, however any cracks cannot be healed by annealing.

Large beads or sculptural or pressed beads are harder to successfully cool without garage annealing. Small round beads have a greater chance of survival.
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Old 2010-06-27, 11:07am
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I've been batch annealing for 10 years and I do loose a few but it's not that many.

Sara
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Old 2010-06-27, 1:47pm
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I batch anneal, and have lost very few.
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Old 2010-06-28, 5:01pm
ShellyJo1969 ShellyJo1969 is offline
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Ok, IF you choose to batch anneal, How do you do it?
I've heard about a crock pot and vermiculite. Is vermiculite bad to breathe? I wonder if you can use sand instead? I know you have to have a mask anyway to use frit and enamels but I didn't want to have to wear one the whole time if a bucket of vermiculite is sitting there.

Can somebody explain how you do your batch annealing? And can sand be used or no? And must you wear a mask?
Thank You
Michele
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Old 2010-06-28, 5:23pm
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I use the annealing beads or bubbles from Malcolm. I like them much better than vermiculite.

Here's a schedule; I'm a bit more conservative with my ramp up and down timing, and I don't take my temperature as high because I use so many striking glasses.

http://www.chockadoo.com/Annealmoretti.html
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Old 2010-06-28, 6:16pm
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I liked a fiber blanket, I batch annealed for years. Insurance heat - bathing the whole bead in heat - before tucking it away always worked nicely, and no peeking.
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Old 2010-06-28, 11:32pm
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I batch annealed for about three months and never lost any, but of course, my beads are small. No more than 12-13mm. I used the annealing bubbles without a crockpot and I got those from Dogmaw Glass.
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