Question on Frit...

[brimmy]

Okay, I was going through my various tiny samples of frit that I have received from many wonderful people and have some questions.

First, I have quite a few that are labelled "Purple Rose" but they all are different colours. Some more blue than purple, some more purple than pink... etc. Are these the same product?

Secondly, what do the codes mean? Ie. R139 is Strawberry (consistant with two samples from two different people), R48 is Copper Blue, etc. I have quite a few different R- and G- labelled frits. Do these codes stay consistant between suppliers? What do they mean?

Third, I know Raku reacts under specific conditions, are there any other frits I should know to watch out for? Many frits I only received enough to do one or two beads, so I don't want to waste them if they are special.

[J. Savina]

Purple rose can stike many colors from deep blues to deep purples and even lighter purples. It's a surprise in every bead, so to speak.
The R in the codes I believe is the first innitial of the manufacture that makes the glass, and the number is their specific code that they give to the color of the glass.
Any Iris glass as in Iris Orange (raku) or Iris gold, or any other reduction frit or reactive frit will have a reaction depending on the amount of heat, and propane used. I get most of my reactive and reduction frit from Val Cox. Most of her items will have a picture of the way the bead reacts in certain conditions.
J.

[brimmy]

Thank you, but I have no idea what most of the colours are or even if they are reactive. The majority are tiny samples with either just the R-130 (or whatever code) written on them or something like "Pansy Passion". Many don't have anything on them at all.

[yeepers]

I think the R stands for Reichenbach. You can cross reference the numbers at Olympic Color Glass (www.glasscolor.com).

Hope that helps!

-Yee

[pierces*designs]

R and Q are both Reich. colors. G is likely Gaffer. K is Kugler. Z is Zimmerman.

As someone else mentioned go to Olympic color www.glasscolor.com

[Lynn Larson]

I'd bet the ones with names and no numbers are custom mixes. Gail Joseph (ggglass) and Val Cox among others have some marvelous blends. Just play with them...experiment with them, see which ones reduce prettily and which ones turn to ick :D

[SuzyQ]

Brimmy, just play! If you run out let me know and I'll send you my frit "shorts". The bottom of containers sure to make at least 8 beads worth.

[Kevan]

The reason they look different might be because they strike differently. The glass they ground up might have come out more one color than the other. They could be the same color when you use them. Just like sometimes pink rods don't look all the same.

R is Reichenbach and G is Gaffer. The number is the stock number put out by the company that made them.

I have been buying frit and glass all month and haven't been able to use it yet! It's like having Famous Amos cookies in the cupboard and being on a diet!!

[Jenn L'Rhe]

Brimmy:
For the ones that you have the least of ..... Stay away from Ivory.... If your going to get a yucky muddy brown reaction, it will always be on Ivory. When I have limited amounts I try to start with white, clear or a light transparent in the same color family.....the safe route... Just my 2 cents worth.
Kay

[lunamoonshadow]

Coral turns weird sometimes too with frit...at least on my hothead (and I'm pretty sure that's what you're using too)
Descriptive names like "pansy passion" are most likely blends from either
Glass Diversions, Glass Diversions, Spiral Dance, or ggglass.com.
Like others said, you can find most of the #'d frits on the Olympic Color Rods website (and Debbie P. gave you the abbreviations that I had everyone in the frit swap use last winter, and that Kay/Listenup had everyone on WC use in the frit swaps use over there--so likely that's what most folks who've sent you frits are "programed" to automatically put on their packets when sending them out!!)
R- & G- are NOT the same glass shade (Reichenbach & Gaffer--2 different manufacturers/companies, 2 different glasses, 2 different frits :)) but most any vendor selling "R-48-Copper blue" would lable it the same, either by the color, or by the number or by both, *usually* (but not always) with R or Reichenbach attached. Make sense?
~luna