using aventurine and goldstone

Harry · #1 2012-07-31, 8:52pm

Hi all,

I have seen people use goldstone to twist canes. The other day I was looking for aventurine frit and goldstone and noticed that there never seems to be any COE info with these products. I'm not sure I understand how people integrate these glasses without being sure about compatibility. Anyone know?

H

Eileen · #2 2012-07-31, 9:18pm

I've never seen it fully explained. I am guessing that because it's mostly tiny bits of copper, edited to say the following was an assumption on my part that may be totally false, maybe it is just pressed back together or something?.held together by an unknown COE of glass, then encased in your COE and pulled into stringer, that the amount of unknown glass is small enough that it works OK most of the time. I think it's just experimentation to find out if it works with the particular glasses.
But like I said, that is just a guess on my part.

LarryC · #3 2012-07-31, 9:24pm

Aventurine is a generic name for this type og glass. Reichenbach and kugler both have multiple colors in 96 COE. There should always be a nominal COE listed. If not I wouldnt use it. Mixing different COEs is not smart.

Eileen · #4 2012-07-31, 9:26pm

Larry I bought a slab of goldstone, broke it into chunks, and encased & pulled my own.

I guess I was also just assuming (and yes, I know what that makes out of u & me!)

that the copper flakes were mixed with some type of glass before it was allowed to harden & sliced up into slabs, but I don't really know.

Harry · #5 2012-07-31, 9:31pm

Could be that it's the small amount. It's just a bummer because I've gotten really careful with it in spite of the colors being so amazing. I made the below gorgeous pendant with just a little implosion around the rim and the aventurine apparently was enough in the 104 glass that it fractured the lense. The picture is 1 day after annealing. You should see what it looks like now; like I took a sledgehammer to it.

H

LarryC · #6 2012-08-01, 12:05am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eileen

Larry I bought a slab of goldstone, broke it into chunks, and encased & pulled my own.

I guess I was also just assuming (and yes, I know what that makes out of u & me!)

that the copper flakes were mixed with some type of glass before it was allowed to harden & sliced up into slabs, but I don't really know.

No. Just glass. The sparkle is formed when the batch is melted, not added later. Just because it has held together doesnt mean it isnt considerably stressy and unstable. Just a bad practice to work in the dark with unknown materials.

Three Muses Glass · #7 2012-08-01, 5:58am

Harry, the green aventurine is notorious for being incompatible with 104. I have big chunks of gold and blue I've been using for years and never had a problem with. Never had luck with the green.

Kym · #8 2012-08-01, 6:03am

I had a nice chunk of very lime adventurine that I didn't ever have any problems with when using with 104 but most times it likes to break in the stringer. Otherwise I can't say it ever seems to cause an issue in small amounts.

Kym

Harry · #9 2012-08-01, 8:37am

When I put the aventurine on the back of a pendant it doesn't give me any trouble. I think in the pendant the problem was that I imploded it into the pendant and that caused the breaks. Interesting thing though: the cracks only appear on the front side where the 104 glass is thickest, not on the back where it is much thinner. Weird.

LarryC · #10 2012-08-01, 9:59am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry

When I put the aventurine on the back of a pendant it doesn't give me any trouble. I think in the pendant the problem was that I imploded it into the pendant and that caused the breaks. Interesting thing though: the cracks only appear on the front side where the 104 glass is thickest, not on the back where it is much thinner. Weird.

Not a surprise at all actually. Based on your description the glasses are obviously incompatible. Whether the finished piece breaks or holds together is based on a lot of factors. Any breakage at all is a warning.

Harry · #11 2012-08-01, 10:50am

True, I'm not using that aventurine anymore

H

LarryC · #12 2012-08-01, 12:54pm

The kugler blue and gold are 96 coe and very nice. The reichenbachs are 96 but not quite as sparkly. I believe Gaffer has a 96 green.

Harry · #13 2012-08-01, 7:04pm

awesome, I'll look into those. Appreciate it Larry

LarryC · #14 2012-08-01, 9:04pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry

awesome, I'll look into those. Appreciate it Larry

I may still have some kugler blue large frit laying around if you want to try it.

PaulaD · #15 2012-08-02, 11:51am

Lauscha just came out with a 104 green aventurine sparkly rod. I just got it but have not had a chance to make test beads with it yet. They mix it with clear over there.
Paula

rainygrrl · #16 2012-08-03, 6:45pm

I've also only had issues with the green + 104. With the green in modest amounts. it took 2-3 months to crack, darn it.

I did a small experiment on July 4th and wrapped the green aventurine ribbon from Frantz around COE90, COE96, and COE104. One month later all 3 small beads with wraps entirely encircling are intact.

But I still don't trust it.

EchoTantuli · #17 2012-08-04, 9:19am

Green adventurine is around 90 coe from my understanding.