Warming rods in vermicultie

[eregel]

The room I'm working in until my shedio is delivered & set up is really cold this time of year, enough that it makes a lot of things a challenge.

I'm doing fine warming most rods in the end of the flame, but some colors are a real challenge - Anise White Pastel, for instance, is hilarious - sounds like popcorn popping as it spits off little sections, no matter how slowly I try to heat it up. So this morning it occurred to me that my crock pot of vermiculite is sitting there heating up anyway, why not warm the rods I'm going to use in there?

Seemed to work really well - I was even able to actually use some tri-layer Lauscha that I'd really been struggling with.

So, any reason not to warm the rods this way? Obviously I have to dust them off a bit before I put them into the torch, but is there any other issue?

[bexrox]

Might as well try. Anise white and others are extremely shocky glasses that are gonna give you problems no matter what, but certainly preheating will reduce the extent. I'm not sure if the warm vermiculite would be hot enough to make a difference or not. Some people use mug warmers or rod warmers which can be purchased through some of the merchants on this forum (sorry, don't know who offhand)... Salon supply shops sell similar contraptions for curling irons I believe. Personally I stick my shocky rods atop my kiln. It gets very hot up there! That pretty much always does the job for me. If you try the vermiculite, please post your results.

[essiemessy]

I'm not sure the crockie would be a help for me - I'd need to have the lid off to do that, and I'm a bit of a baby in that regard. Only removing the lid to put beads into the pot is enough for me.
I also got myself a gravy boat warmer, but since then, I'd discovered that if I rest my rods/murrini directly beneath the torch or flame, it stays nice and hot there, which helps as much, if not more than the hotplate. I have a high rest that lives under my torch (I have it set in a vise so it goes a smidge over level), so it can grab any downward heat.
If your torch is set up at an angle that makes it possible, it's a great way of utilising what you already have

[Elizabeth Beads]

Actually that is an excellent idea. I may have to set up my crockpot and annealing bubbles just for that purpose. I do have a curling iron heater stove and it works pretty well but it isn't very roomy.