Goldstone question

[neagle]

Hello everyone,

I just received blue, gold and green goldstone slabs from a mineral supplier. He doesn't know the COE, but they are manmade out of glass. It's a fun site to go to: color-wright.com. Does anyone have any idea if glass goldstone (besides the new ones specifically made for Moretti) is made in different COEs? Thanks for anyone's help in advance!

Nina Eagle
Arpeggio Beads

[playswithfire104]

Goldstone is compatable with most COEs. I don't know about boro. Something about having so much copper in it that it makes it compatable.

[jana]

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but Goldstone is whatever COE you encase it with.

You cannot apply the mineral to the glass, it will burn, so you have to encase it first, then pull stringers or rods.

I like to take my goldstone chunks and encase it with Rubino, teal, or clear.

[squid]

Goldstone is copper suspended in glass, so it already has its own COE, but I have heard conflicting information about it.

[mikefrantz]

It must have been five years ago, if not longer, it was when there was a shortage of Goldstone at Effetre. We rented a car at Marco Polo airport and drove to the factory that makes the goldstone. I was given a tour and was very impressed with the machines that were making tiles, some of which were the goldstone colors.

Soon we were taken to the part of the factory that makes the goldstone, I wish I had a camera back then! But by the time the process was finished there was this rock of avventurina marron, it was about four feet long and about 2 or three wide wide and at least three feet tall! It weighed at least a ton!

There were two employees sitting on wooden chairs and they both had rock picks and they were breaking the goldstone up into three different groups. There was the stuff that had green running through it or was just dam ugly and it was tossed into the trash. They divided the good stuff into either small stars or big stars. As you look at a piece of goldstone you see that shimmer, well the smaller shimmering glass is called small stars and it is used for jewelry. The bigger stars go into glass production. I really wanted to buy 2,000 pounds, I think the price was around $5 per pound, (can not really remember) but that included the good and the bad, but it probably included the labor to divide it all. But still it might have cost $7 per pound which was a lot less than I paid at Effetre....but at Effetre I can buy as little as 11 pounds, sure I pay alot more, but I do not have to buy 2,000 pounds.

Well what I was told about the COE is that the maroon avventurina is made to be as close to 104 as possible, while the blue is not as compatible as the maroon. This was some time back and I was talking to a sales rep, and you all know they can be wrong.

There are lots of places that make goldstone, and I bet lots of it will work, but I stick to Effetre, as it seems to work.

Last trip to Murano I picked up some samples of goldstone ribbon. These were strips of goldstone that were anywhere from 3 to 12 mm wide and in lengths of around a foot. They were probably 1/4 mm in thickness and make fine beads. I am trying to get the last 15 pounds.


Mike

[Reenie]

Wow...interesting information. What a job to sit in a chair and pick at that huge rock. Sometimes I am in awe of people who could do that day in and day out. Makes my job seem so simple:-)
Irene

[neagle]

Thanks for everyone's posts, especially Mike Frantz's, which was totally fascinating! I feel a little more comfortable trying out the goldstone slabs that I got. I only encase them and pull stringers, so it should all work fine. I've been into trying COE 96 type glass, too, so they should work with that too.

I'll tell you, though, the green goldstone does some really cool stuff - the sparkles will spread out over the surface when you heat it enough and it looks extra sparkly!

Thanks again for all your posts!

Nina

[glassartist]

I'll be looking for those, Mike! :-)
Thanks for the mental trip to Italy!