a little question for you..

[flamemoth]

Hi guys..I think this is the best spot for my little dilemma. I'm trying to make some cufflinks with Bullseye. I'm using a boro rod as the punty. At least I think it is..I'm not 100% certain. The problem is when I break the punty off (which I do by laying them on my work area and hitting the boro rod lightly) there is a tiny dot of boro that is left on and I have no option but to melt it in and smooth it off. I was under the impression that boro would just break off cleanly. It doesn't look too bad I guess, I don't really like it, I'd rather have a smooth button showing with no other glass but the bullseye but...my concern is since these are not compatible COE will that little bit of surface glass cause problems down the road? 1 day later there are no cracks that I can see...what do you think??

[BonfireBeads]

I wouldn't chance it. Why not use some 90coe Schott clear as a punty instead? It is a bit stiffer than regular Bullseye although definitely not as stiff as boro.

[G.L.McBead]

why not pull the spot off?
G.

[flamemoth]

Pulling it off would be an option if its going to be a problem. I'm hesitant to spend too much time mucking around with it since so many have cracked on me. I'm trying to do eveything as quickly as possible. thanks for the suggestions Angie and G ..I'll try something else for the punty. I guess I was just surprised that the boro even stayed on. I thought it would break away clean leaving nothing behind.

[e. mort]

There are a couple of different ways of handling the issue.

1. "Butter" the tip of your punty with a bit of bullseye before you attach it.
2. Heat the tip of the punty and pull it out instead of trying to snap it off. It should pull right out and not leave any boro in your bullseye.
3. Use stainless steel punties. I have found this works the best for me when making softglass marbles or pendants.

Good luck.

[flamemoth]

Thanks Eric..I began using stainless steel punties, but tried the boro because the button end attached to the punty would crack off every time. It was fine if I just took the time to shape and added no decoration on the top at all, but the minute I spent any more time on it the end cooled too much. I was afraid that if I went back to heat again I wouldn't get the 2 pieces apart. 1 and 2 sound like the way to go...I'll give it another try.

[meitali]

i work with stainless steel punties when i work with soft glass, then the last punty is glass. i prepare that rod in advance, getting the tip to be cone shaped, and when i have to use it- i heat it, and then wait a moment for the skin to form... and a moment more, so that when i press it agains the object i'm making it's strong enough to hold (if it's not, it just won't stick in the first place so you'll know it's not strong enough and do the heating thing again), but when i'm done i can snap it off very easily. if by any chance there's a tiny spot left, it's the same coe glass so i can safely just melt it in.