Baking Soda Beads on opaque glass- consistency?

[Genea]

Hello everyone!

I am trying to figure this out and seem to be at a loss. I am trying to achieve a perfect pitted stone texture on opaque glass every time, but it seems like sometimes it's hit or miss.

Here is a photo of some of the things I have gotten.

The desired look is the first photo with the amazing pics on Dark ivory glass. I believe I just heated the glass, rolled it in baking soda, decorated the rest of the bead and came back, reheated the glass and the pits came out wonderfully. It seemed like you get them from making sure the glass is nice and hot when you add the baking soda, letting it cool a bit until almost too cold and then gently re-heating it. The second bead seems to happen if you super heat the glass and add multiple layers of baking soda to it. It seems like the glass absorbs it and turns it into a crackle which is cool, but I want TEXTURE! The last was a text to see if I could get a cool looking crackle like pottery.

So my question is, does ANYONE know how to get consistency in this wonderful pitting texture??

Here is another image of my bead with the perfect effect.


I do this by heating the area to slightly molten, roll in baking soda, heat off baking soda, let cool, gently re-heat, repeat until desired texture, anneal. Then soak in hot water, etch, and scrub with a soapy tooth brush.

Can anyone else help me figure this out?

xo Genea

[pamsummers]

Hi,

I have been wondering the same thing, not sure how to get that pitted look all the time. Does some glass work better than other?

Also, I read that they can break apart easily over time, that worries me. I do soak the bead in vinegar after it is annealed. I have had a few break after a few days - they crumbled apart. I wonder how many times you can roll them in the soda safely?

I love the look, is there any other way to get the same look without baking soda?

Pam

[MistyCherie]

Some previous threads on this topic show the unencased baking soda type beads can be very fragile and possibly crumble later on. You may wish to search for them and read them all to see if a resolution to that is available.

Also, not sure if it is the type of thing you are looking for, but there is another technique called scavo, which does some amazing texturing to glass, link is to a free tutorial:

http://www.anndavisstudio.com/scavo.html

[Genea]

Hey ladies!

Thank you for your responses

Pam, Seems like some do work better than others. For instance I have had the best luck with: Messy Clear, effetre black, effetre coral, Vetrofond odd lot Parrot Green.


I love the look of Messy Stone Ground, but some pit really well and others don't. I wonder about humidity in weather having something to do with the effects. I live in Kansas City, Missouri and it was really humid when I made beads the other day.

I don't soak in vinegar. It doesn't seem to do much of anything imho. My beads are annealed and I have not had any problems with breakage. I usually only coat them in baking soda once, maybe twice, but it doesn't seem like more is better. It seems like it's harder to remove all of the white residue the more you roll it in baking soda.

I have read that some tumble them in a tumbler. That should really get the beads even more clean and should etch them too(think of sea glass).

You know, this is the only way I know. I'm not sure how else to achieve the look.

Misty Cherie- I did do some searching, but didn't really come across anything helpful(could be that I am not the best research searcher?).

Thanks for the link! I will check it out.

I appreciate your posts I'll keep digging and post here if I get any more answers

xo Genea

[Genea]

Hey Misty Cherie! I just check out that tutorial! Yeah, this may be what I was thinking people were doing with baking soda! This is very helpful! Thanks so much!

xo Genea

[Genea]

I would still be curious to hear more responses on the baking soda front as I'm not totally set up to try this stuff out at the moment. If anyone else wouldn't mind responding

[MistyCherie]

It can be hit or miss when searching, due to search terms and such. I haven't personally used baking soda, so didn't really have a knowledgable response to that part of your question.

However, I had seen that tutorial and thought maybe you were going for the effect and weren't as concerned with the method. =) I wish you luck!

[mtnglass]

Originally Posted by pamsummers

Does some glass work better than other?

Absolutely!

[Roo Blaty]

I'm just thinking out loud here....

I've only used baking soda inside beads but logically thinking about this, I'm wondering ~ if you roll it lightly and the baking soda is on the outside, then you haven't created bubbles/fissures inside the bead. I think doing a couple of clear beads would help you better understand how far in your bubbles actually go.

Seems to me if they stay on the outside, that would be safe...However, the acid might work its way into those teeeeeny tiny pits and then no amount of brushing would get at it. I think that would be where the crumbling may occur. (Maybe a long soak in baking soda while aggitating them around?)

I would think, there might be more issues with beads that were encased breaking than that of the baking soda bubbles/pits on the outside only.

As beadmakers we try to not have any bubbles inside which could make the bead fragile. So...having a bunch of them ...????

....

[mtnglass]

I always tumble my soda beads after they are annealed and removed from the mandrels. I have jars of them that have been sitting in my office for more than a year and have never had one fall apart.

[Roo Blaty]

Julie, mine haven't either.

I was just sayin'.....logically....

[Genea]

Misty- yeah I have found that myself too with the searching. No worries. I appreciate your input for sure!

Yeah for sure! Thanks for that tutorial. I will most likely give it a try when I move studios. I'm over carpet right now with a dual window fan instead of my vent hood at the moment so I am keeping stuff to a minimum for now.

Roo- I'm pretty confident the bead is nice and solid on the inside. The pitting you see on the outside was just from one light dip in the baking soda. With my other results of trying to apply more it just made it super chalky looking with not any more bubbles yanno?

I'm honestly not worried about the crumbling because I think one application doesn't disrupt the structure enough to make them fragile.

I agree with your encasing comment for sure. The encasement of bubbles is SO much easier to achieve than the outside imho. For those encasing bubbles you need such a teeny tiny amount to get that look.

Mtn- Good to know. I wondered if tumbling was worth buying a tumbler to have nice clean pitted beads. There is a harbor freight down the street and I believe they are pretty reasonable.

Yeah I am not worried about the structure of my beads either. Like I was saying I have only used one dip of soda on the outer edges. I think there is enough stable glass on the inside of the bead to keep it nice and stable. I haven't had any problems with my beads breaking at all.

I did receive a few really nice e-mails back from a few other ladies I messaged outside of the forum. They are telling me the dip in baking soda 3 applications cooling more inbetween each application for bigger pits. Guess I will just keep at it.

Thank you all for your responses!!

xo Genea

[pamsummers]

thanks everyone for your replies, they were very helpful !!!

Also thanks misty cherie for the info on scavo, that looks interesting.

Pam

[Cabaribeads]

What I have a problem with is getting all the baking soda off afterward. I end up with white soda stuck on my beads.