Using fine silver wire?

[Firelilly]

I've tried a couple of times now to use .999 silver wire on a bead. There's no shine to it by the time I'm done with it....just dull grey. Am I working it too hot?

Should applying the silver be the very last thing you do to the bead so that you're working fairly cool?

Any tips?

Thanks so much!

Lil

[e. mort]

The first thing I would want to check is that it is truly .999 fine and not sterling silver wire. I have had some people try and sell me sterling as fine. The fine silver should be more white than grey if it is not shiny. Try giving it a light buffing if it is exposed, and see what happens.

Eric

[MaryBeth]

I agree with Eric. Your silver should not be turning gray if it truly is .999 fine silver. I encase silver wire as well as use it on the surface and I give it a lot of heat so that it bonds correctly. I never have had any turn gray. As a matter of fact if it has some slight tarnish on it that gets polished off in the flame. So double check what kind of wire you have.

[Firelilly]

D'oh! Really?

Well, it's turning grey for sure. Geez, I've had the stuff so long now I'm not even sure where I got it. I bought it from some site I found online ages ago. I bought it to use with PMC.

Ok you guys...thanks for the info!

Lil

[Jeri]

It sometimes helps to polish it up with one of those polish-impregnated cloths. Of course, that's only if it is fine silver. jeri

[Wonker]

Are there any special tricks for encasing .999 silver wire. I made a few beads and every single one of them cracked. So I decided that it wouldn't work. Is there a limit to the amount of wire that you can encase without problems?

Thanks

[MaryBeth]

Are there any special tricks for encasing .999 silver wire. I made a few beads and every single one of them cracked. So I decided that it wouldn't work. Is there a limit to the amount of wire that you can encase without problems?

Thanks

I make beads like this all of the time.

The first thing is that the bead must be heated to an even medium orange heat base prior to putting it into the kiln. Do not wait for the glow to wear off of the bead as one would normally do for Moretti.

The second thing is - put the bead directly into the kiln. I don't think these will survive in a fibre blanket.

The third thing - check your annealing schedule. I anneal at about 970 degrees. I soak at that temperature for at least an hour after garaging my last bead. My ramp down schedule is very conservative - I ramp down at 1 degree per minute until I reach 700 degrees then my kiln shuts off (it is firebrick so I can do this.)

Check your whole process - I bet there is something you can change so you can be successfulO:)

[Wonker]

Thanks MaryBeth, I was waiting for it to lose the glow like I usually do for Moretti and I bet that was the critical error.....Well this could prove interesting...silver in a bead is beautiful.....Dots.....lots of dots. Thanks

[Miss Clar]

Does that just apply to wire, or to silver foil as well? I just got some yesterday and am ITCHING to get home and play with it (five hours and counting :grin: ), but I don't have a kiln. If I encase foil (unlikely to happen today - probably I'll mostly be burning it off and shouting at it for the first few hours), is it going to crack?

[KristyN]

Even when my fine silver wire is tarnished, I can apply it to my hot glass, and it goes on shiny silver. So, I haven 't found the need to clean tarnished fine silver. I remember the first time I applied sterling silver to glass; gunmetal. grey, lackluster yuck. Sounds like what you're describing.
Kristy

[Rhapsody Fire Beads]

I am out of it and can't remember where the heck I got it! Anyone know where to get more?
Thanks!
~Suzy~

[MaryBeth]

I am out of it and can't remember where the heck I got it! Anyone know where to get more?
Thanks!
~Suzy~

I purchased mine at Rio Grande. They sell it by the ounce. Mine is wound on a nice big spool - when I use it I just pull the end of the spool. There is much less waste this way as you don't have little tiny pieces left over as from those 1 yard cuts8-)

[amybfromtc]

Howaco Glass carries it in smaller quantities, too!

Amy