Cracking with GA Amazon Lagoon?

[Sue H-K]

I finally have sat down and played with some boro I bought at the Gathering and every single bead I have done with GA's Amazon Lagoon has cracked. I have been using it as a base and then encasing it in clear. Should I lay down a footprint of clear and then the AL and then encase or does it just not like to be encased? Anyone else have problems with this color???

[suzanne]

I haven't had problems yet, making a footprint in clear is always a good idea. How does the crack look, random or straight? Could be a thermal crack ( I thought that wasn't possible with boro :D...silly me)

[Sue H-K]

I don't think it is a thermal crack as they aren't straight along the mandrel. I think I'll try laying down some clear and then the AL on top before I encase.

[AVCKimberly]

I haven't played with Amazon Lagoon, but...if it is green, they just don't like to be encased. Yes, sometimes laying down that clear footprint helps, sometimes it doesn't. Brent was explaining it in a thread a few days ago. Maybe he will chime in here.

[hotflashwanda]

I've used alot of Amazon Lagoon with no problems, and I never gave it special treatment. It's possible the rods you are using could have more metals in them (glass really can vary from batch to batch). It's a cobalt/silver color so it shouldn't be cracking from encasing as in the chrome-based greens.
It might help to lay a clear base under it as you've suggested.
Anita
www.fireflybeads.com

[wildfirelauri]

This is a stretch, but is it possible this is a from the line where your color wrap joins or overlaps? It is common to see a shift of color at this join and it really looks like a crack beneath the encasement. I try to avoid this by adding multiple layers to my base bead.

Just a thought.

[Mr. Smiley]

It's not one of the colors that have been a problem for me. I've playied with it in mostly off mandrel stuff. It may be the batch. ;)

[Sue H-K]

Thanks for the response everyone....I have another set in the kiln with a base of clear and then the AL....so we will see how they turn out!