I may be the only freak here but I don't believe in intentionally trying to induce breakage in my beads. I make them, anneal them then store them in a box with all their friends for a couple of weeks before selling.
What I see happening when a bead is dropped on the floor intentionally, placed in alternately hot and cold temps. or shook roughly in a box with other beads to "test them" is actually introducing unnecessary stress in a piece that was ,very possibly, stress free before the whole torturous "test" process was completed. I may be totally wrong and someone with more knowledge may correct my thinking but I believe you are actually creating more stress in your beads and making them more likely to break in the future. If you hit a bead lightly with a hammer once it probably won't break. Hit it twice and it still may not break. And so on and so on until one day it shatters with the slightest tap of the hammer. Each and every strike has cause unseen damage which makes the bead more likely to break especially when struck in the exact same spot again and again. Each and every whack those beads take on a charm bracelet introduce a few more stress points in the beads. Eventually one of those whacks will cause a bead to break. Kiln annealed doesn't mean unbreakable. Glass does break. Hit enough times and in the right places each time and even a kiln annealed piece will break period.
So if someone can prove me wrong that's fine because I already said I may be but this is the way I see it.
But please quit torturing your beads.
It's really not necessary. If you are running them through a proper kiln cycle then you have done all you can do to insure the stability. Once in a blue moon they just break even when you have done everything right. It's glass. We love the quirky stuff.
Tracey
What is the worst stress test you can give a bead??
