can etching be undone by re-annealing

[cgbeads]

I made a few beads that look like stone so I etched them. Now I'm sorry that I etched one of them and was wondering if I stick it back in the kiln and (batch) anneal it will it soften the surface enough to undo the etch?

[Heidi von Frozenfyre]

Nope it need to be fire polished, and the etch will create a hazy crud on the surface of the fire polished bead.

Give it up... make new ones :)

[cgbeads]

<sigh> well I guess the new one will be better than this one anyway, that will teach it to screw up and get etched. Thanks. I would have tried it, ruined it and thrown it away, you have saved it's life.

[dogmaw]

You can always flat fuse it. That will make it shiny again, even if it is flat. :)

[MaureenKennedy]

I have often put a etched bead back into the kiln (it was still on it's mandrel when being etched) and brought it back to annealing temp, and then popped it back into the flame and it came out a shiny bead. You must be sure that the bead is clean, no residue of bead release water on it.

[CorriDawn]

moving this to the tips and techniques area

[Jeri]

I'm with Maureen on this, I do it with beads I have etched and those I have sandblasted. It can be tricky to make the leap from kiln to flame, but I rarely lose a bead! Once I'm in the back flame, I walk the bead in slowly to give it a chance to get up to temp, and then I firepolish it, and pop it back in the kiln. Jeri