Talk to me about white...

[miss-spider]

|Am I going nuts or is regular effetre white more translucent than it used to be? The batch I'm using now is really wimpy. I can't get good opaque tiny dots for my the teeth on my skull beads, or for tiny flower petals. They just seem to wash out and lose their opaqueness.
Some of the rods also seem to have a bit of black grit or dust on the surfaces, even after cleaning.
I tired the CIM Peace White but it really isn't any more opaque. I wish there was a white equivalent of intense black, that did't devit like the white centers of filigrana.
:love:Glass goddess? If you're out there, that's my request! :love:
My apologies if this has been discussed, I haven't been reading as much of the forums as I should.

[parisgal]

I've seen threads where people talk about the more translucent thing... you're not the only one ;-)

Though most people are happier with CIM Peace.

[crystalflipz]

Peace from CIM would be my first suggestion - I've been really happy with that. If you want to try something else, try Lauscha's Kryolith white - it's a pretty dense white.

[DesertDreamer]

I've been very pleased with CIM Peace, but I do mostly rounded dots. I can see where small, flattened dots might be a problem.

How about the dreaded Anise white?

OR, how about a gather of whatever white you wish, dipped in Thompson enamel white, and pulled into a thick stringer? Kate Fowle taught that trick to get a true black years ago, before Intense Black came on the scene. (She dipped transparent cobalt blue in Thompson black enamel, worked great...it still use it when I want a stiff, very thin stringer.) You might need to test this if you're encasing those dots, though. Cracking might or might not happen.

[truegem]

Isn't anise white even more translucent that regular white?
I've noticed a change too, I used to be able to tell the difference between the anise rod and white rod just by looking at them and now I have a hard time telling the difference.

[Three Muses Glass]

I second the Lauscha Kryolith White. I wouldn't say it's as white as IB is black but it's a nice white.

[miss-spider]

Thanks all! I'll try the Lauscha. The enamel tip is a good one, but for the skulls I also use intense black on the mouths so it's out for those.

[Tutti-frutti]

If that's all that troubles you with white, youre lucky. For me my latest buy of white is all explosive. even annealed prior my whites fly off the bench. My only luck is that I have old manufactured stringer of white that I am using now. But I also noticed the rough outside of my white and it's not Anise white.
Katja

[Bright-eyed Beads]

I have found that the commercially available white stringer is better then pulling your own stringer in white. You can also try pulling an encased stinger with a core of light grey and white on the outside. I hope this helps,

Cheers

Jenny

[Dasi]

I have found the white to be weak. I need to put two dots instead of one to get the white not to wash out. I have some old white and I use it for important pieces. I just got some of the Lauscha white and I plan to try it in the next few days....

[twiggyinaz]

If you watch your white rods closely, you will notice that every once in awhile there will be parts of the rod or even a whole rod that is more opaque than the rest. When I find a bit of good white I immediately pull it into stringers and save it.

I order white only a pound at a time because I keep hoping that the next pound will be better. If I ever get a good pound I will turn around and order as much as I can afford. The last good white I ordered was moretti and about 5 years ago.

I love the idea of encasing the light grey! I wonder if a pale sky blue would work, since you add bluing to make whites look whiter and the pastel blues have good opaque qualities. I don't have any super pale pastel blues, but I will try to add just a tiny bit to the white and mix it up really well and see if that works.

[DreamMuse]

My white stringers are also far more opaque than the rods. I can really tell the difference if I use both in the same application.

I've been getting a lot of shocky glass lately, in all colors. Cobalt blue, grass green that's really really bad, and even black. I don't remember it ever being this bad.

[Bright-eyed Beads]

This is my solution to shocky glass. It may not work as efficiently as an Italian Rod holder but I didn't have that kind of money. But what I did have was a 6x6 inch graphite tablet and a square baking tray. I put it on one of those iron bowl holders. It is about 10-12cm off the table. Here is a picture of it. Sorry it isn't all that clear but I took the photo to explain what beadmaking is!

Cheers

Jenny147309

[PaulaD]

Jenny that is a great idea!
We have a lot of Kryolith White in stock and a lot of people are buying it so we should see some photos soon!
Paula