Newbie Question - Annealing

[crimsonorchid]

I know that I need to (or at least want to) anneal my beads after I make them. I do not have a kiln at home but have access to one for "batch annealing". Once cooled in my fiber blanket, do I have to leave the beads on the mandrels to anneal them or can I remove them and thread them onto a copper wire, for instance, when taking them to the local study to have them annealed? I have only a certain amount of mandrels and want to be able to continue working...

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
-Jenny

[cswilson53]

I have a kiln at home but I still cool my beads in a fiber blanket - once cooled - I take them off the mandrel, clean out the bead release - and then do a batch anneal later - seems to work fine for me.....

[GrinAndBeadIt]

I took my first class last week and my teacher had me take them off the mandrel and clean with a reamer and then she said when I have enough of a batch to bring them back in to anneal them. So, it sounds like what you are doing is fine.

[crimsonorchid]

Thanks guys, I just wanted to be sure!

[profusion]

I were wondering if leaving the beadrelease in there while annealing would be a problem?
I suppose not, since beads annealed on mandrel have release in them, but there might be release particles on the outside of the bead, and I wonder if these would burn into the surface?
I have a lot of beads break while I clean them and it's so sad, so I would like to not clean them until they are done cooking.
P~

[lunamoonshadow]

You can clean them either before or after--it doesn't matter.
I clean mine before, because if I wait until "after", I'll never do it. Also, I figure if they survive the cleaning before, they're good & sturdy! (and then shipping, annealling, & re-shipping, I'm *really* not worried about later breakage!)
You'll have less breakage if you heat them completely evenly before you cool them (so they've got an even glow) to a "hard surface" (no glow under the table), then put them in a fiber blanket or crock pot full of vermiculite & DON'T PEEK until they're completely cool. Then have them batch annealed after that. That's the "formula" that will give you the least amount of breakage (other than straight to the kiln ;))
~luna