why, oh why is this happening?

[tluvs2create]

I am making beads with a tiny, tiny base of moretti, I put a thin layer of lauscha clear, roll it in frit and then encase again. I have been working my butt off making beads for a show and am now finding that 1 of every 4 has a small crack in it. Why, why, why? I am so frustrated with this darn clear. I've bought tons of Moretti and Vetrofond just to have it dirty and foggy (not clear). I've bought a lot of Lauscha and never had any problems with it before. What is wrong, is it my annealing program? I anneal at 960 for 6 hours and slowly ramp down to 700.Is it my combo of glass - but the amounts are so minute, except for the clear encasing. Please Help, I can't afford to waste any more time on cracked beads.

[wendbill]

Is it the frit? What is the COE of the frit?

[beadgirl]

Tricia,
What kind of cracks are they? Stress cracks...Do they run from end to end??
Anyhow Lasha clear is beatiful and clear but with frit that has any silver glass( K or R) COE 96 it will crack most of the time. Even if you use just alittle bit of frit. Doesn't like silver ivory beads that are encased either.
There are several threads about it do a search here for more answers.
MarieAnn

[LyndaJ]

If it's some of the commercial frits, they have lots of Reichenbach and Kugler which are not truly compatible, and probably can't handle being fullly encased in any clear, especially the Laucha which seems to be picky.

[tluvs2create]

They are little cracks, rarely end to end. The frits are from Glass Diversions, so 96 coe, I believe. So, if the Lauscha is the culprit, then what kind of clear do I use for this kind of technique? Also, will the others eventually crack? Do I risk selling the ones that aren't cracked now? Thanks

[Teague]

You might try buying some uroboros, it's 96 coe and the clear is very nice. It's not expensive and you can buy it from olympic color rods -http://www.glasscolor.com You can also buy a couple rods to try from http://www.bridgetownglass.com

[artwhim]

Often the cracks will show faster if you put the beads in the freezer. It isn't a guarantee they won't crack in the future, but may help you make the decision if many more crack. Frit beads that have incompatibility problems often take several days to show up.

Opaque blends are more likely to cause problems on 104 than transparent because the transparent ones have a higher lead content which helps them be more compatible.

[Leanne]

everything I have ever made with lauscha clear cracks. Even if i use lauscha and laucscha together it cracks. I can only put raised decoration on any colour of lauscha I have.

I personally would start using vetrofond clear at least you know it's not going to crack after a customer buys it.....most of my lauscha beads took up to a week to crack (at the time I was batch annealing) but all would crack in the batch annealing cool down.

[Judi_B]

The uroboros is a really nice clear and should work well with all of coe 96 frits. If you use it, your base will also need to be a COE 96 glass. You can't mix any other coe with the uroboros.

[Carolyn M]

I don't know if it would work in this situation but I use R4 diamond clear all the time to encase silver, silver glass, raku etc etc and have never had a bead crack.

[glassactcc]

It's the Lausha clear in my opinion!

[lenora]

I use my Lausha clear as punties now... :(

[tluvs2create]

Well, I read a post over in wet canvas where they talked about annealing at a slightly higher temp. and ramping down slower as well as putting beads in the kiln while they were still glowing hot. I tried this and so far no cracking (of course, it has only been a little over a day - but seems to be better than it was before). I have used the uroboros but as you said I can't use with moretti and I just don't want to get into a whole lot of another coe. I have also used the vetrofond and it has been scummy, or scratched (just not clear enough for my liking). I am so frustrated with these darn clears. I also looked into the diamond clear, but it is pretty pricey, especially considering the amount I use. I am hoping the annealing cycle will clear things up. If not, I am beside myself as to what to do. Thanks, though, everyone for your suggestions.

[kimberly]

I would suggest if you are intent on encasing 96 COE frit that you use 96 COE for the base AND for the encasement. If you look at what you are doing, you are using three different glasses - Effetre (soda lime glass), 96 COE glass and Lauscha (leaded glass) PLUS you are encasing. This is a pretty good recipe for cracking. Not only do you have some pretty good COE differences, the viscosity differences are great as well.

If you don't want to go to using 96 COE glass for the entire bead, then I would get rid of the Lauscha and as others in this thread have said, use Vetrofond, Effetre or the Diamond Clear (my favorite, by far). This is still no guarantee against cracking, but it should help. Encasing 96 COE with 104 COE is always going to be risky. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

[meadowesky]

You might try buying some uroboros, it's 96 coe and the clear is very nice. It's not expensive and you can buy it from olympic color rods -http://www.glasscolor.com You can also buy a couple rods to try from http://www.bridgetownglass.com

yep I would suggest that too. The clear is gorgeous and it is cheap too :)

[evilglass]

From what I've read, it's not the transparent vs opaque, it's the red family that doesn't have lead, making it less likely to be possible to 'ease' the COE differences.

When I make anything with a red frit and encase, it cracks. doesn't matter what clear I use. And I've got icky moretti and vetro clear that I used as a base, with one layer of the frits only, then encased thickly and thinly. Didn't matter. Straight in a kiln, or batch annealed. I have *not* tried these with TAG or CIM clear, those are next on my list. But I have used vetro, moretti, and lauscha. I need to get some 96 COE glass to use that stuff with, yippie! I actually really, really want to expand my glass sometime, and there are some gorgeous colors out there ;)