View Full Interactive Version Of This Page : got my boro! please help!
meadowesky
2006-03-31, 10:52am
okay the boro arrived. Wow those rods are long!
anyway, is there anything else I need to know before I get started? Anything at all? Thanks!
Anything to know like what?
Just stick them in the fire and go. It does take more heat than soft glass, so you'll probably want to work closer to the tip of the torch than you are used to...
e. mort
2006-03-31, 2:09pm
If they aren't too thick you can shorten them with a glass cutter. Otherwise, just use your torch to fire cut then into shorter more managable pieces.
Have lots of fun!
Eric
firefreak
2006-03-31, 10:47pm
Beware!!!!! the bite of the boro bug has been known to cause instant addiction!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Over the Moon
2006-04-01, 3:19am
No kidding, Bryan! Have fun with it - there's tons of info in this forum and others...
HardwoodTrailGlass
2006-04-01, 3:59am
Beware!!!!! the bite of the boro bug has been known to cause instant addiction!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ummmm yeah, that's me. Haven't touched the soft since, I like hard better now. :-\"
It's only been a couple of months and I don't see any going back.
Have fun Meadow.
Wow those rods are long!
anyway, is there anything else I need to know before I get started? Anything at all? Thanks!
Never get tired of hearin that....Any specific questions?
:twisted:
HardwoodTrailGlass
2006-04-01, 5:11am
This thread is getting a little racy. Woohoo.
Over the Moon
2006-04-01, 9:03pm
I agree Carrie - hard IS better :-D ...so much better.....
meadowesky
2006-04-05, 5:24pm
Holy shit! I broke out my boro in the new house last night and it ROCKED! When I use soft glass for my implosions on a 11mm rod usually the rod will start cracking while i am working on the implosion. Plus the hassel of gently heating it up for 5 minutes to stop the initial cracks. :( Well I stuck that sucker in the flame and no pops no cracks it was awesome! a bit slow on the minor even with tanked ox but still a blast. Never pushed my minor so hard before. I think I scared the new neighbors. LOL Anyway, ran out of ox when I was finishing my loop but ohh well. Hey, can I stick it back in the flame when I get more ox? thanks!
warm it in kiln first if you can, if not bring it in to the flame REALLLLY slowly. and use a big bushy flame, not much o2
meadowesky
2006-04-05, 5:59pm
Cool I should have my kiln Friday so I will try that. It didnt turn out too bad. I would take pics but my camera is packed in some box somewhere... Ohh the joys of moving.
i usually bring up to temp in kiln before reworking anything, use reverse anneal cycle for size.
ro
Ummmm yeah, that's me. Haven't touched the soft since, I like hard better now. :-\"
It's only been a couple of months and I don't see any going back.
Have fun Meadow.
Carrie - it's me too. I took a soft glass class with Larry Brickman in January and he showed us how to make "Tobinaters" with pyrex rod and I had so much with it that I signed up for a class with Lauri Copeland and I haven't touched soft glass since (ok, I touched it to move it off my work area.) Problem is, I have SO MUCH soft glass. I was thinking I could make some nice glass Easter egg beads... I'm not crazy about working with the boro crayon colors because of the cadmium and boiling problems. So, if I want to use those sorts of colors, guess I'll use soft glass.
"Tobinaters"
What is that?
It supports the end of a mandrel. It's like one of those brass mounted in wood things, but it's longer (as long as you want it since you pick the pyrex rod) so it can rest on the table and still support the mandrel. You melt one end then sort of poke it with a large mandrel which also bends the end a little which sets a comfortable angle. You do whatever you want to the other end so it can be propped on the work surface without slipping too much. In class, he called it a "Tobinater" after his dog Tobie. The name stuck, with us anyway.
HardwoodTrailGlass
2006-04-11, 4:58am
Tanya, OMG, I have sooooo much soft glass, I mean really A LOT, but I guess I'll just keep it, in case I want to go back. I wouldn't want to sell it and then need it again.........now that would be a hassle, especially w/ all the S&H costs.
PS Have you posted any pics of your work? I can't remember?
No, I've been putting it off. It's not the posting that's the problem, it's taking the pictures. I've done this before, it isn't that hard, not a big deal, got a nice digital camera and pretty much know how to use it so what is my problem???? My bead pictures are lousy. I just can't get the lighting right. So I postpone. Also, whenever I get some spare time I'm off to the torch. That really has to stop now that Spring is here (with all the yard work.)
BTW - thanks again for the bead. I was so hyper to get the box back out again, I was pretty oblivious. Great colors and a great shape. I haven't done much with my lentil molds and boro - I tend to put at least 2 or 3 beads on a mandrel which is pretty challenging when using a lentil mold. Which mold did you use? It's nice and plump.
for borosilicate crayon colors use an oxidizing flame, preheat slowly, pull off tip and should be good to go. either work far out or close to tip where flame is cooler. i use a gtt mirage and dont have to encase crayons, i have some of ga chocolate, i didnt even know it was a crayon till i had to reorder it. although i do have a few wierd greens that nomatter what i do are bubbly lots of seeds , sometimes pulling color to smaller cane helps too, or you can encase with thin walled clear tubing, (just big enough to fit the rod inside) tack in one spot on one end so it doesnt move, close other end around colored rod, heat from closed end to open end thats tacked, rotating, if you can put a blow hose on open end of tubing and suck slightly to remove air, fastest way to encase color i have found. you can tell if the rod will be an issue by feeling the bumps (seeds) in it or seeing lots of striation (cords) in the rod. i have also found that different batches or rods of the same color can be different to work in the flame.
ro
Thanks for the info. So you use a blow hose to suck the air out? I know you're supposed to be able to do this using just your mouth but I really do think about all those possible bits of glass that I could be inhaling. Even if there aren't any, I invent them.
There is no possible way you can suck hard enough to suck glass into your mouth (assuming the tube is clean before you start).
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