More silly questions...

[Thirteenmoons]

I just found the boro room! this rocks!

I keep asking myself "why am I getting into yet another type of glass?" and then I open the kiln in the morning and see the boro. : ) I woke up to this! I'll never do sculptural in soft glass again!

La la laaaaaa!!!!!!!


Anyway, I have questions...

Can I use silver foil with boro or will it just burn to nothing? Does it do anything good to boro or should I just save it for the soft glass?

Why do I get a white cloud on some of the reactive colors when I use them on the outsde? I've noticed this with the Amber Purple family, Blue Moon, and Butterscotch so far. It usually happens when I'm "trying" to strike it.

Are some bead releases really not good for boro or are some of them just using "good for boro" as a selling tactic? I hate my bead release and am planning to switch. I'm thinking Foster Fire...

Thanks bunches!

[boroburner]

Hiya lauren,

Welcome to stability. Nice bead!

I use silve ingot to fume boro, but i have not seen anyone do a roll up bead like with soft glass. My guess is itll burn up. Ingots are about 12-15oz and 1
will last forever(at least almost)

If i had to guess about the cloud, i would say maybe your over striking??
Blue moon is not a striking color. It has silver in it and will reduce in nature. You want to work it in an oxydizing flame then reduce at the end to make it luster. I belive buttersctoch is too. AP is a striker.

I have VERY limited mandrel experiance(like 1 bead) but ive heard some releases are deffinetly better than others. I remember hearing somthing about fosterfire, i think it was good, but dont quote me.

Hope this helps.
B

[Cosmo]

I have done a few beads rolling them in silver powder. It gives a nice effect. Silver foil will do the same, but you have to encase it quickly. And, even then, you need a lot more foil than you do in soft glass.

For bead release I use Foster Fire regular. I find it works better than their "heavy duty boro" formula.

[kbinkster]

I find that the regular FF works "ok" for boro, just like it says it does. I use the Heavy Duty for soft glass, because I do a lot of sculpting stuff, as well as boro.