What happens to encased frit?

[Rudy]

I made a couple of beads with Moretti glass (104) and Glass Diversion frit (96), and then encased it in clear. I then dawned on me that I read something about the potential consequences. Can anybody tell me what I might expect? Pleeeeease.....maybe I should hold off on trying to sell it???

[chrissij]

Often times, if much frit is used, there can be compatibility cracks.

[Rudy]

Do these cracks generally happen quickly, or is it usually the ole "surprise" cracks. Maybe the answer is "unknown." I'm just trying to decide whether it's safe to sell (or try to sell) these beads! Not much experience in this area. Thanks!

[chrissij]

It's an unknown, and often a surprise. How much frit would you say you used? I tend to make rather small beads, so the encased frit beads I made cracked fairly early. It's a ratio thing.

[Rudy]

I rolled an inch long portion of my barrel bead 2 - 3 times...melting between rolls. Geez, I can't say exactly how much frit I used except to say that I rolled the bead in it....pathetic answer huh? LOL

I think I'll play it safe and not sell. They are so beautiful that I'll wear them for a while and see what happens.

[Firebrand Beads]

I know some folks who stick questionable beads in the freezer, and then out in a sunny car to see how they can handle the temperature swing. A little extreme, maybe? :-)

[Rudy]

AHHHAAAAA! That's it!!!! Nothing is too extreme to assure reliability. I can beat that test...LOL! Here's extreme....place beads in the freezer overnight..then...now get this, throw them in boiling hot water. If they don't crack after that....I guess I'm golden...ha...ha..... Thanks for the feedback...I don't think I would have thought of this without your input. I forget who shared the details of this drastic test...but it was a while ago! Thanks!

[playswithfire104]

There is some kind of light you can look at the beads with that reveals stress. But that is all I know about that.

[Karen Hardy]

I have some 104/96 frit beads that cracked after 5 years.
There's no guarantee. That's why I'm so anal about not mixing
COE's.

[Lisi]

I would not take the chance and encase frit with 104. I use frits only on the surface of 104, but only in the size #0 or smaller. Size #1 is too "chunky" and that makes me nervous, but not if that size is melted onto a base of 96 glass.

I can't wait for Reichenbach to make more 104 COE glass, and offer more in frit! :)

[Kevan]

Keep them a while if you think you might have used too much frit. I've had some crack after a while.

[DesertDreamer]

I've been mixing 96 frits with 104 glass for several years. In my experiences, if you have a thin layer of frit (no more than 2 passes of melted in frit) and plenty of spaces in between for the encasing layer to melt into the base layer to form a "mesh" of contact, you'll be fine. You need to avoid heavy layers. I've also found that doing silver reactions, even with a thin layer of actual frit, can cause the most problems. Another way to 'cheat' is to make stringer using 104 as your core, rolling it in 96 frit several times, and pulling it out. It sticks just fine and can be easily encased if you wish.

If you like the colors and want to explore silver as well, then I suggest investing in some 96 COE glass. I have a "split" bench and often go back & forth during a torching session. Uroboros is a great starter glass, and their clear is excellent.

[Dragondee]

Hi,

you can test the 'crackabilty' with a polarising filter, but this only works with transparent glass. The test set-up is: a lightsource (if it's unpolarised light, you need a second polarising filter, (a polarised light source would be a TFT monitor)) - then the bead - then a polarising filter. If there are tensions in the bead, it looks like rainbows inside.
I do the freezing/(nearly)boiling-water test with all the beads I give away, but the final test ist the cleaning of the bead-hole with the electric drill. The vibrations cause the stress cracks to split.
I hope this is understandable, my english is't that good espc. in technical explanations.. ;-)

Cheers!
Birgit :-)

[Elegance_1]

So you see Rudy, there is no clear answer. I've used 96 frit on 104 but just lightly. If you totally encase your bead with frit it is the same as using 96 on 104 with rods. You know that's not going to work! [-(

Frit ratio I believe is 10% of the bead (?) You can do a search here. I know there's been discussion in the past.

[Rudy]

Thanks to all who replied. I'm going to do my freezer to boiling water test, but I'm still going to hold back on trying to sell the bead! Thanks again!!