horizontal crack
 

I have an annealed bead that has developed a horizontal crack (along equator). I have had plenty of beads crack vertically but this is the first I have seen like this. It is about 3/4" and is just an encased round bead w/soft glass. Is the cause for this the same as a vertical crack?

Thanks,
Penny

Horizontal cracks are usually due to incompatibility. Some colors do not like being encased and/or are not compatible with certain clears. What color did you use with which clear?

I have no idea what colors I used. They appear to be standard moretti but I'm not sure. I had gotten some CIM in around the time I made the bead and I believe some of those colors don't like to be encased. I will have to experiment to see if I can recreate it to figure out what I did so I won't do it again.

Thanks!
Penny

I find that keeping notes on what combinations I try really helps me to keep it all straight.

The Moretti colours that I've found don't like to be encased are reds, oranges, corals, and yellows (they're from the Special classification and are actually COE 109!), and also mosaic green (and odd petroleum mosaic). They look very pretty as floral bases, but they just don't make it. :(

Thermal shock can create horizontal cracks, too. If the upper part and lower part of a bead have very different temperatures, it would crack somewhere in between horizontally. When I make a mistake and quit a bead in the middle of making it and leave it on the table, occasionally I see a horizontal crack. I know it is not compatibility problem because it happened to a solid color bead, too.

Compatibility cracks appear around the colors of the problem as tiny fractures.