CZ help - what did I do wrong?

[tracidawn78]

I bought some CZ samplers from Glass Diversions because I was requested to make some beads with CZ's in them. Last night was my first attempt and I made 4 CZ beads. 3 of them are ok, this one definitely is NOT ok.

This one was a verrrry small base of Lauscha Blutonium, a thin wrap of dichro from AS, embedded three of the 3mm (I think?) white CZ's and added more clear on top of them.







The bead was fine until I cleaned it, and the glass around 2 of the CZ's shattered. The 3rd one is fine.

I made 3 other beads with CZ's in them and they are fine, but I'm still slightly worried about them shattering as well. I did use smaller CZ's in these than I did in the one that broke.








Any advice?

[one hot beader]

The bigger the CZ the thicker the encasing over them needs to be.

They are not perfectly compatible, and need a good thickness of glass over them.

I'm no expert, but that's what I've found.

It looks like you may have had too little glass covering those two that cracked.

Anyone else have any ideas?

[Elizabeth Beads]

My one attempt with a CZ cracked. It was a cat treasure troll - lol! I just ordered some more from Howaco to try again.

[Raven Wylder]

Hiya Traci,
I can't quite tell from your pic but size matters with cz's. I can't remember for sure but I believe there's a thread somewhere that says that 2.5mm was the max size for it to consistently work without issues. Any larger was a hit or miss but I could be remembering it wrong and just remembered 2.5mm since that's the size I have.

[ChaseDesigns]

The cz's are too big. I don't encase mine, I just embed them right on the surface. The largest I use are 2 mm. I'd suggest using 1.5 mm and smaller if you want to encase. It's definitely a compatibility issue.

[tracidawn78]

Well crap. I'm wondering why Glass Diversions would sell CZ's that big if you can't use them with lampworking.

Thanks for the feedback guys

[yamaha200]

Perhaps the larger CZs are ok if you use them with a much larger bead, like a focal? Sort of like with larger beads you can use more of an incompatible glass like furnace frit - its about the ratio...

[GlassyEyedGirl]

I'm sure Robin and Katherine with Glass Diversions would be happy to answer any questions about the products.... I know them personally and can vouch for how wonderful they are. I would be happy to shoot them a message for you as well, just send me a pm if you'd like!

Sorry about the beads

[squid]

I would think the bigger they are, the deeper you would need to encase.

[shawnette]

Originally Posted by tracidawn78

Well crap. I'm wondering why Glass Diversions would sell CZ's that big if you can't use them with lampworking.

Thanks for the feedback guys

You can use 3mm if the bead is large, but I personally never use anything larger than 2mm. On the smaller sized beads, like you made, I'd stick with 1.5mm and I probably wouldn't encase. (I rarely encase CZs, anyway.)

[getdul981]

Never tried CZs with soft glass, but I have done several with Boro and to my knowledge, none have cracked. So, it probably is a compatibility issue. The CZ is closer in COE to boro.

Greg

[Sue in Maine]

Originally Posted by getdul981

Never tried CZs with soft glass, but I have done several with Boro and to my knowledge, none have cracked. So, it probably is a compatibility issue. The CZ is closer in COE to boro.

Greg

Greg,

My understanding is the cz's are NOT compatible with boro. I put cz's in a boro piece once and it has not cracked but I have been told by reliable people that cz's won't work in boro.

Sue

[Sue in Maine]

Found this previous thread on cz's being used with boro.

http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/sh...ght=cz%2A+boro

Sue

[tracidawn78]

It was my understanding that you can use CZ's with 104 but not boro, and that you could use opals with boro but not 104. I could be wrong though, I usually am.

[Sue in Maine]

Originally Posted by tracidawn78

It was my understanding that you can use CZ's with 104 but not boro, and that you could use opals with boro but not 104. I could be wrong though, I usually am.

GILSON opals, which are manmade, yes but natural opals? Nope. I tried that and it was so funny. The opals went "pffft" and looked like exploding chalk dust in the bead. It was pretty funny.

Sue

[rkoza]

I suggest using the 3mm CZ's with a focal bead. Your bead looks a little small for using the 3mm size. When I do make a larger focal bead, I have used a 3mm as long as it was a thick bead as well (not too thin aftering flattening) but I typically use 2mm or 2.5mm for most of my beads because I don't make very thick beads.

I don't encase them either, I just leave them on the surface after poking a hole with my tungsten and then giving them some heat to sink them into the surface.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have anymore problems using them.

[theglasszone]

TraciDawn...

Hope you get an answer! Unfortunately I don't have any advice for you at the moment but I'm SO glad you started this thread (in spite of the that caused it). I'm wanting to make a 104 BHB with CZ's embedded and had you not posted this, I would have been trying 4mm ones in there. That would have been a terrible waste of time so I really appreciate it!

De

[tracidawn78]

Originally Posted by theglasszone

TraciDawn...

Hope you get an answer! Unfortunately I don't have any advice for you at the moment but I'm SO glad you started this thread (in spite of the that caused it). I'm wanting to make a 104 BHB with CZ's embedded and had you not posted this, I would have been trying 4mm ones in there. That would have been a terrible waste of time so I really appreciate it!

De

Luckily I just bought 2 create your own sampler packs, so I only had 10 of the 3mm CZ's to begin with. Everything else I bought was 2mm or 2.5mm. I pretty much make only pandora beads, so the 3mm won't work for me. I'll save the 3mm ones for when I'm feeling creative and want to make a focal or something. Oh, and De, I know you like orange so if you buy some from Glass Diversions, be SURE to get the papadarschich-whatever (I know I misspelled that) CZ's. They're such a cool orange.

I've got 5 more CZ beads in the kiln waiting on me when I get home from work so we'll see if there's any more breakage. I'm pretty sure everything made with the smaller CZ's are fine, it was just the big ones in the little bead.

I'd definitely get their sampler packs. Most other places you have to buy a ton of one size & color. I really liked that you can get a small amount of each type so you can try everything.

Thanks for the knowledge, guys

[theglasszone]

Thanks for the tip on the Padparacha - I DO like orange!

And I'll have to check out Glass Diversions...I want several colors but not a crate of each

Let us know how the others did, ok?

De

[EchoTantuli]

I tried using CZ's in Moretti, and all of mine broke, I know there are lots of people who use it in 104, but I seem to be challenged at that for some reason. I was about to give up hope when I tried it with Bullseye, and I haven't had any crack. YAY! One thing to add not all of the colored CZ's maintain thier original colors in the heat, although I can't recall exactly which ones were more prone to color change. Here are some I did trying to get that Papdrascha color. They are a white base, then cased with color. It was either Salmon, or Sunset that I used, I made these quite some time ago so I'm not 100% sure which. The bead on the left has four 3mm round CZs in it, and is about 4 years old. -Echo

[one hot beader]

I imagine natural opals wouldn't work. Most of the colour and refraction in them is cause by water in the layers. They can 'dry out' and lose much of their beauty.

Sticking them into hot glass would not be good I think

[NorLigh]

That last bead in your photos is amazing. So beautiful!

[SuzyQ]

Traci PM me your addy and i'll send you some itty bitty 1.5 mm's to play with. BTW, like Deanna I never encase them and they are much happier.