annealing question

saraconklin · #1 2012-09-28, 7:40pm

i was watching a boro video and the artist said that he anneals this certain mixture of glass for 4 hours at 1150. so, how does that work/ Unless he puts all his beads into vermiculite to hold them and then batch anneals them there is no way that every bead would be held at 1 temp for 4 hours. i don't get it. i make beads over say a 5 hour period and the last puppy in the kiln gets held for 1 hour and all the earlier-in-the-day-beads would be getting the full 4-5. Confused and grateful for some help. Sara

wickedglass · #2 2012-09-29, 4:46am

Considering that boro annealing temp is at 565 °C or 1050 °F it most likely means that he's keeping the kiln there while he works and at the end of the day he ramps it up to 620 °C or 1150 °F to strike or develop whatever colours he's using.
So he's actually striking, rather than annealing at that temperature. Undoubtedly he slides it back down to 565 °C to soak it at annealing temp before running the rest of the downramp.

wickedglass · #3 2012-09-29, 4:56am

I should add that while it's ok to do that with beads, pendants and other such items, be more careful with larger sculptural work and monitor it, boro will bend at that temperature.

saraconklin · #4 2012-09-29, 12:54pm

wow, for a newbie you certainly have a grasp. when you explain it i got it and the whole thing makes sense. thank you.

Three Muses Glass · #5 2012-09-29, 1:30pm

Christian a newbie. That's funny. lol

Sara, I garage my beads at around strain temp, 960-980 so they don't strike at all, then go to striking temps so they all strike at once. Good for matching sets.
Were you watching Doug Remschneider? I never did get that 4 hour hold to work for Dougie Pink or anything else for that matter. Even took his class in the long ago. I do better with some flame striking coupled with some kiln striking.

saraconklin · #6 2012-09-29, 5:09pm

wondered what the comment would stir up when i took the line from his moniker, thought that a newbie would in no way know any of what he was describing.

Thanks Rebecca, yes i have doug's cd and love his color combos. terrible time getting dougie pink to strike anywhere! glad to hear the 4 hour strike time doesn't work before i try and figure out how to program my chili pepper. yet another challenge to face. i guess that's why this glass work is a "moth to a flame thing for me." ouch, i guess that is literally!

Three Muses Glass · #7 2012-09-29, 5:31pm

Oh, I didn't mean for you to not try it! It obviously worked for Doug, I just never got it to work for me. Flame chemistry, kiln atmosphere and true temps, different glass lots (I got a cherrywood so dark it was useless for pink)...all that jazz that keeps it interesting. It actually turned out to be a good thing that his pinks didn't work for me, I spent 3 or 4 months fiddling around to make my own that do work for me. Now if I could only find those darn notes....(sad that I'm not even kidding)

saraconklin · #8 2012-09-30, 10:17am

i guess that's what i like about this art, it is not a slam dunk, can we spell masochist? notes in a ton of file folders works for my post 60's synapse-less brain. my problem now is locating my photographs of beads i liked. i added text to the images detailing how i made them. it seemed smart at the time, but i didn't devise a good filing system for the photos so, in essence, i can't find my notes either. i am a ex museum registrar and if word got out about my lapse, well, "they" would take away my acid tissue paper.

todda · #9 2012-10-01, 1:11am

Kinda funny, you calling someone who's answering your questions and has been a member since 2007 a newbie -lol

Bunyip · #10 2012-10-01, 7:07am

Well, it says it right below his name...It must be true!

saraconklin · #11 2012-10-01, 2:07pm

Yeah Chris i got newbie from his post but didn't know he was joking.

ok, no more jokes about how long people have been doing this, when he calls himself a "newbie" i will say, "yeah, right!"