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Sam_W
2005-08-16, 1:02pm
So, the other day, in a fit of misguided creativity, I made a bunch of vetrofond dark ivory base beads and encased them. Tossed 'em in the kiln, just as fast as I could make them. And every . . . last . . . one cracked. The cracks are like rings perpendicular to the mandrel line and appear to extend out from the ivory cores through the encasing, almost to the surface of the bead. The ivory itself does not appear to be cracked.

These weren't particularly enormous beads - maybe 1/4" thick and 1" long. They were all experiments, so not like it was a huge loss, but wtf? Anyone else ever have trouble encasing ivory?

Nejoum
2005-08-16, 2:11pm
Dark Ivory doesnot like to be incased.
Very tempermental.
Diana

Sam_W
2005-08-16, 2:38pm
That's too bad - it looks so nice when it's encased in amber, it makes me sad I can't use it that way. Thanks for the info - I'll stop glaring at my kiln now.

DreamMuse
2005-08-17, 10:26am
This is really strange. One technique that I learned from Corina's Spotlight on Silver has you make a Dark Ivory bead, wrap it in silver, lay several different transparant colors on most of it, then heat well. I made quite a few of these, and they were easily 85% encased, and they all are doing fine. Is it because of the silver, or the fact there was a teeny bit Not encased??

Or maybe it's because I used Moretti Dark Ivory?

Sam_W
2005-08-17, 10:54am
I'm not sure, Disa - I make lots of different kinds of ivory beads with lots of transparent glass layered over them, but these were the first I'd ever made where the base ivory was completely encased. I think the uncovered portions may act as a sort of 'expansion join' that allows the different glasses to give and take as they expand and contract. With the ivory completely encased, it's got nowhere to go and - snap - stress fractures.

Of course, I'm not glass scientists, so I could be wrong. :)

Sam

Curly Irish Girl
2005-08-17, 11:55am
Early in my torching, I had that same experience with ivory & clear encasement. After some reading (think it was one of the Corina books) I tried again - using silver foil or transparents with color = no problem since! Might be just dumb Irish luck, but maybe not.

DreamMuse
2005-08-17, 11:59am
Hmmmm... that makes me wonder. Sam, what if you tried to make your dark ivory and amber beads like white hearts instead?

WhiskerWood
2005-08-17, 1:50pm
What if you used a clear base, encased the clear with ivory and then encased the ivory with clear?

BillBrach
2005-08-17, 2:06pm
I'd say you've got a COE mis-match.

1. Are you SURE you used a 104 compatible clear and not BE or Spectrum ??

2. Try other brands of 104 Clear, maybe Moretti or Lauscha is happy over the Ivory.

Sam_W
2005-08-17, 2:28pm
I've got some Lauscha clear on order for experimentation, but the only glass in my shop is COE 104 - all Effetre except for the Vetrofond Dark Ivory used as the base bead. Just to further clarify, the encasing was a medium amber, not clear - not sure if that'll make any difference.

I'm going to try and do some white hearts and other experiments, just to see what happens. It was shocking to me, because I've never had anything like it happen before - every once in a while I lose a bead because I admire it too long befor tossing it into the kiln, but this is the first time I've had a whole batch go bad in the kiln.

Weird stuff!

BillBrach
2005-08-17, 6:11pm
You might want to try a 'thread test' to see if it is a COE problem.

Lara
2005-08-17, 7:38pm
What if you used a clear base, encased the clear with ivory and then encased the ivory with clear?

Yeah try this, you can substitue "clear" for amber. This should work better for you.

I don't like to use dark ivory as a base cause it spreads so much, esp the dark V. Ivory, which is my favorite ivory BTW. So pretty!

Sam_W
2005-08-17, 11:14pm
Lots of good stuff for me to try in here - I'll be experimenting this weekend and will post the results of my Frankenstein flamework early next week. Thread tests, clear/ivory/clear encasing and a few other things are all on the to-do list.

Thanks so much for your advice, folks - I'm once again humbled by the helpful and knowledgeable folks of this community.