Annealing Silver Glass

[Rose]

I'm playing with some of the new DH colors and am wondering what everyone is annealing at these days. I know for some of the glass it was best to anneal lower and am wondering if that has changed.

For encased bigger beads too? I just had one chip rather easily so I'm questioning this.

TIA,
Rose

[jaci]

the striking glasses are best annealed at lover temp (like 940-950 or so) Don;t soak them all day either. This tends to take away some of the colors too. Other than that, reducing glass is OK with normal temps. I keep my kiln garaged at 870 and bring it up to 960 for 1 hour then start the down cycle.

[Rose]

Thanks so much. I'll play with it. I have been annealing at 930 as I think my kiln my runs hot. I'll up it a bit and see what happens.

[Hayley]

That's not necessarily true, Jaci. I know of reducing glass losing its iridescence when annealed too high. It really depends on what kiln you have and how accurate the temp is.

Double Helix recommended annealing Terra at 930 and that pretty much works for all striking silver glass. Someone from my silver exchange just lowered her kiln temp and her Luna 2 beads now retain their colors.

When you anneal lower, just make sure that you soak it longer (15-30 minutes depending on the thickness of your beads) . . . I anneal at 920 for 1.5 to 1.75 hours.

Hope this helps.

[Rose]

Ok, I'll add to my annealing time and stay at 930. No problem there.

Hayley (or anyone else that knows), if you see this... I have another question about reducing glass losing its iridescence. When I encase this type of bead and it takes a lot of heat to shape, the iridescence seems to leave. Is there any way to keep it ?

[Firebrand Beads]

Other than not reheating it so much? Not really.... you stay just outside of the flame to encase the reduction but it takes direct heat to melt that smooth, and some colors will have that sheen 'drift' into the encasing glass under that kind of temperature.

[Hayley]

Rose - as Jenny said . . . you will inevitably lose some of the iridescence under encasement. Some reduction glass "holds" better than others . . . some actually completely goes back to its original colors when encased.

My friend, StephBonniwell, has had success encasing the latest Double Helix Odd Lot T114 Ivory Luster and retains its glorious iridescence! We hope DH will put some of the Lusters in regular production!

[Rose]

Thanks so much for your reply. Yep, that's what I kind of figured. Ohhhh welllll, I guess I'll just have to go off in other directions then. Still lots of fun to be had. O:)

[Carolyn M]

You can get a wonderful shimmery mother of pearl look encasing Nyx, Triton and Terra odd lots (the last needs special treatment)

Also, silver glass beads using colours like Nyx should be made at the end of your session as they will continue to change colour while annealing over several hours.

[Hayley]

You can get a wonderful shimmery mother of pearl look encasing Nyx, Triton and Terra odd lots (the last needs special treatment)

Also, silver glass beads using colours like Nyx should be made at the end of your session as they will continue to change colour while annealing over several hours.

Carolyn . . . therein lies my problem . . . all my beads have silver glass in them! lol!

[jaci]

Hayley you have a good point! And play ALOT more with silver glass than I will ever play with!!! :)

[Carolyn M]

Carolyn . . . therein lies my problem . . . all my beads have silver glass in them! lol!

Yeah, most of mine too!

[Firebrand Beads]

Guess that's an argument in favor of shorter torch sessions, more often! LOL!