Asian Color???

Dreamscapes Studio · #1 2010-09-26, 7:12am

I was looking at ABR site and noticed they have some of this and it's really inexpensive.

Haven't done much in boro but have some ideas for Christmas ornaments I would like to experiment with. Noticed they have lots of the basic colors I am looking for to play with for these ideas.

Has anyone used this?

Thanks
Cheryl

Pyroglasstic · #2 2010-09-26, 7:16am

It works fine and its very cheap.Colors are limited.The asian white is supposed to be very good.Ive only tried the transparents and black.
Jeff

pierces*designs · #3 2010-09-26, 7:42am

I personally have the white. It is a super duper melt and stays pure white, but every single bead I made with it cracked. Now, it could be user error. But I do a base of clear, coating of white, encase in color and frit, then encase in clear. And every single one developed cracks at the white moving outward.

Dreamscapes Studio · #4 2010-09-26, 8:05am

Hmmm - so maybe it's not compatible with other boro?

I have tons of clear from when my Mom did spun glass.

So the Asian colors (except for white) are clear?

cheng076 · #5 2010-09-26, 10:24am

I use quite a bit of the white and have had no cracking or devit problems. And it stays a very crisp white. I understand the black is also very easy to work and stays crisp. I got mine from Trautman - White Tiger.

indyglassman · #6 2010-09-26, 10:58am

I purchased a pound of each of their available colors.

White - I like it, very creamy and no boiling issues.
Black - I love this black, very smooth and creamy.
Red - Trans in rod format, but strikes to a opaque red.

All others - I've used these over white to get different colors and they all work fine. I'm not the best at picking/mixing/using colors effectively so maybe there is more I could do with them. But they worked pretty well. I did get some bubbles in the pink but it didn't look like it boiled. Could be more user error than anything. Made some nice pink hearts with asian pink over asian white.

oldschooltofu · #7 2010-09-26, 11:10am

the white is the bomb....just almost impossible to re heat. seems to want to scum up when healing punties/re-heating.

the black is hit or miss. its very green when thin. and the 16mm i got explodes in the kiln.

the translucents are good.

gmkcpa · #8 2010-09-26, 11:18am

I use a lot of Asian blue, which is kind of similar to cobalt, to cover the back of my marbles as a base for putting my dots on-never a problem. Although with my one pound I did get some rods that were a little more transparent than others. The Asian white cracked on every bead I used it for, but I also used it on about ten eyes that I made (for the whites of the eyes) from Wickedglass's tutorial and it was great-no boiling, no bubbles, easy to work, and no cracking at all. I've used the green as a base for beads and have had no problems (Asian green base, roll in large mystery aventurine frit, cover with clear). This is not a solid green but kind of translucent-I got nice depth with it, and had no cracking problems. I could not get the pink to turn pink, and I could not get the purple to turn purple. I did get the red to come out red, but not with the flame-only with kiln striking. My 'go-to' red is NS Light Ruby.

Cosmo · #9 2010-09-27, 8:14pm

I use a lot of the Asian amber. Works great. I've tried most of their other colors (except the white). Some work okay, some not so much. Not a fan of the black or red.

malem · #10 2010-09-27, 8:19pm

I tried a sculpture with clear and asian black. It endend up breaking and falling in half on my table... I find this black very shocky compared to other boro colors. This never happened to me before. I did get cracks before but nothing like this, nothing even comparable, so I tend to think it is this black, this batch anyways. But it was very nice to work before, didn't boil.
But it also thens to smear and have a dull finish on some spots... weird.

Wonker · #11 2010-09-28, 2:19am

I used Asian black for a while and it worked very easy. First batch was great. Second batch cracked on most of the pieces. Seems to be really hit or miss to me so I stay away from it.

Dreamscapes Studio · #12 2010-09-28, 4:41am

Thank you for your help everyone - greatly appreciated!

I'm thinking as a newbie to boro ... maybe I should play with the tried and true boro ... sounds like the Asian on average is a hit and miss.

Cheryl

TheNovice · #13 2010-09-28, 12:00pm

Red is transparent as tubing, and ends up striking to dark red and almost a burgandy sometimes. If you use it for multiple piece items the weld spots are always a solid dark burgandy.

Cobalt tubing is OK, a little cracky.

Black tubing is extremely cracky, but stays black no matter what you do to it.

The violet light purple is really easy to work.

The thing I like about color tubing, ESPECIALLY for a newbie, is that its extremely easy to see what's hot and what's not. The glass color while melting is so nice.

Hope this helps!