Dichro and Rubino Oro okay to donate?
Hi - I had read that no metallic and reduction beads should be sent - but I'm wondering does this technically apply to rubino oro beads as well (or am I getting too technical in my metals here)? Also - what about dichro? I'm thinking maybe encased dichro would be fine, but its sparklier unencased - thoughts?
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Hopefully Robert will weight in soon.
I know we can use silver glass if it is encased, so the encased dichro should be OK. |
i thought the guidelines said "no metallic finishes" most glass has some form of metal in it.
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Silverlilly you are right. I'm just corn-fused and tired. For some reason, I had it in my head that Rubino Oro had fumed gold finish, but I've got to be over thinking it. I figure encasing will be the way to go for sure on the dichro - and the silver and gold stone. Thanks.
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Colored glass does have some metal in it, the issue becomes what the metal is and where it is concentrated. High lead content glasses are a problem, period, as the Consumer Products Safety Commission has placed a ban on virtually anything with lead in it going to children. In most colored glasses the metal colorants are not regulated, in low concentration and remain locked in the glass matrix. Reduction can cause some metals to lose oxygen and form a more-or-less pure metal coating on the glass surface. Without microanalysis you can't tell one metal from another so we've had to ban all metallic finishes on bead surfaces. The 'metallic finishes' specification in the guidelines refers to reduced surfaces that look like metal.
Rubino Oro must be encased in clear to be considered safe for Beads of Courage, reduced or not. Testing has shown that it is a high lead content glass and that the gold colored finish on the reduced glass is, in actuality, lead. The color will change based on the size and distribution of the lead particles on the surface. This was published in [i]Microsopy Today[i] and [i]Glass Bead[i]. EDP is another glass that should be encased because of lead content. As for Dichro, I would think that the clear overcoating on glass with the dichro coating on one side would be sufficient to shield the metals. Exposed metals on dichro tend to burn off so encasing of some sort would pretty much be needed to keep them intact. The bottom line is that it is safer in general to stick to non-reduction colors of all kinds for Beads of Courage beads. If you have any doubts about a specific color drop me a note and we'll see what we can determine. Thanks for asking about this! Robert |
I didn't know about the EDP, so thanks for posting that Robert.
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Wow thanks for the info on EDP and Rubino! I will take care to encase them from here on out!
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Messy Color Cranberry Pink is also a lead glass and needs to be encased.
Robert |
I've been trying to incl. dicro in lots of the BOC beads as I think that it adds a bit of extra interest for the Children. I do encase all dicro that I use in the BOC beads.
Thx for the info about the other glasses. Thx for all that you do, ginger |
Hummm I had some EDP beads about ready to send! Will pull them out before I do.
Is there a list somewhere of the glasses like EDP and CIM Pink that is available so we can watch which glasses we use? Besides the silvers of course ;D |
Dichro does add a lot of flash and color to the beads and the kids (and their families) love the effect. Encased dichro is cool. Dr. Baruch and I were talking about this very thing the other night, though - metals and heavy metal glasses are expensive for you and potentially problematic for us. Aside from encased dichro it might be better if everyone worked with standard colors for BoC and didn't use the metallic glasses for donated beads. Save the really expensive glass for things you are going to sell.
I'm still working on the list of leaded glasses that are the big problem but microanalysis is expensive. So far I am funding that work out of my own pocket so it's not going as fast as we would all prefer. It's coming along, though. Robert |
"...I'm still working on the list of leaded glasses that are the big problem but microanalysis is expensive. So far I am funding that work out of my own pocket so it's not going as fast as we would all prefer. It's coming along, though.
Hi Robert! Thank you so much for all the extra little "behind the scenes" things you do. We all appreciate it! Duane |
I ran a few more samples this week and can tell you that CIM Sangre, Maraschino and Evil Queen are OK, as is Effetre Pink 256.
Raku Frit is leaded and is definitely NOT OK for exposed surfaces. It needs to be encased if you use it. Robert |
Wow - I am so glad I asked! Thank you for all this research and the helpful insights Robert!
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Robert - what about Aventurine - like lime green aventurine or any goldstones? Do they need to be encased if we are NOT reducing them?
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Aventurine and the other 'goldstones' are usually copper or chromium crystals embedded in a glass matrix so they're OK. These glasses are usually encased before using them because they tend to burn out otherwise. I haven't seen any lead in the matrix glass so far in the samples I have looked at so they are OK.
Robert |
copper green?
Metallic finish removed. |
Copper green has copper and zinc so it's OK so long aa you remove the metallic finish.
Robert |
Bump!
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