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Boro Room -- For Boro-related tips, techniques, and questions.

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  #1  
Old 2006-02-23, 2:36pm
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Default Best Boro White and Black. Opinions please!

Hi,

What is the best working boro white and black, and who makes it.

Thanks!

Eric
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  #2  
Old 2006-02-23, 2:43pm
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I like the lil 4" sticks of white I think they are called borosticks....I heard egyptian white sands is a great white too but havnt played with that yet ....as for black dont know what to tell yeah cause I dont use it ....use colors that can look like black but arnt when you look at tham under bright lights.
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  #3  
Old 2006-02-23, 2:44pm
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I use a lot of Northstar Star White and Northstar Ninja (for black). I like both. You have to be carefull with the white. It will boil easily. Work it far out in the flame until there's a lot of heat absorbed. I'm not sure how the Ninja behaves if encased. I use it for surface work mostly.

BRad
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  #4  
Old 2006-02-23, 4:44pm
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GA Sno White and GA Black Violet.

Sno White can be worked pretty hot and not boil. There is a white out there called "trillium" that works well, but I don't know who makes it or where to buy it. Precision just came out with a white that is supposedly even better, but I haven't tried it yet. NS Egyptian White Sands is a nice white, but it's not completely "white". Usually it's close enough, though.

Another good black choice is NS Onyx. A third "black" that I use really isn't black at all. GA Cobalt 6 is black until it gets really thin. Cobalt colors work really nice and melt like butter. So, if it's a large area I use Cobalt.
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  #5  
Old 2006-02-24, 6:28am
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My favorite white is those little short sticks that were from cathode tubes (or something like that) but they're tough to find now. I got some GA snow white in Tucson and it seems to be pretty darned good. It wants to try to boil but never quite succeeds.

I like Northstar Ninja for black. It's just very, very black, and well behaved.
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  #6  
Old 2006-02-24, 6:37am
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Those borosticks work okay, but they burn out if you work them too long. I used to use them, but now I switched to Sno White pretty much exclusively...
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  #7  
Old 2006-03-12, 5:28am
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Ok, can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong with the GA Sno white? I don't know exactly what "boiling" refers to, but when I work it, even further out in the flame, the surface of the glass get lots of little bubbles. Is this normal?
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  #8  
Old 2006-03-12, 5:35am
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Borosticks white is the best white, and Abes Super Ubaterium (sp?) at Pacific Borocillicate is the best boro black
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  #9  
Old 2006-03-12, 8:33am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tanya
Ok, can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong with the GA Sno white? I don't know exactly what "boiling" refers to, but when I work it, even further out in the flame, the surface of the glass get lots of little bubbles. Is this normal?
Turn your oxygen up and your propane down. That results in a cooler flame that will not boil the color as much.
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  #10  
Old 2006-03-12, 12:45pm
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White Dwarf is the best white EVER made..... IMO <J>
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  #11  
Old 2006-03-12, 1:00pm
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Where do you get "White Dwarf?"

Thanks,

Eric
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  #12  
Old 2006-03-12, 2:30pm
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Well, White Dwarf is out of production... it used to be made by Corning, as a supplement to their television tube business, but they quit that whole deal a few years back. So, supply is dwindling... this is also the reason for the cancellation of Moss, Aqua, Creamy White et al. back in 2000.

Which is best depends what you are using the white or black for. Different colors are better for different application, such as whether it will be thick or thin, and whether it will be stretched out in the final piece.
I really like the New Color Company (Parasilicate) white. It's very smooth and the rods are always quality. It's more expensive though.
Star White and Egyptian Sands are good also. Egyptian sands melts easier, but is more cream colored.
Sno White is great, I've just started using that. It's a little more blue than Parramore. The old Aardvark/Borostix is okay too, when the rods aren't exploding.

As far as blacks, GA Black Walnut has the best working properties, low boiling, no reducing, but it is a transparent dark brown if you use it thin. Cobalt 6 mixed with clear is very good, and also Raven. And of course, black violet, but it's a little more transparent than I like for some applications.
Black Blue is good too, but reduces to grey more easily than Raven or Walnut.
NS Onyx is nice. Onyx and Raven are similar, but Onyx is more green and melts more easily.
Momka's whats it froozit ... um, Obsidian is very good. Very dark, like a black violet/cobalt mix.
I really like Precision 'Obtanium', a dark sparkly black and it's true, that color is very good. It has great working properties and a beautiful sparkle. Not 'Unobtanium', but "Obtanium'. Unobtanium is sparkly green-blue.
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  #13  
Old 2006-03-12, 5:10pm
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Wow, thanks for all of the in depth feedback. I was mainly looking for a white and black that I could use to back pendants.

Eric
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  #14  
Old 2006-03-12, 9:53pm
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Parramore (New Color Company/Parrasilicate) and the GA Black Walnut are my favorites for pendant backing.
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  #15  
Old 2006-03-13, 5:37am
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Thanks for all the information. And thanks Chad, I'll try that.
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  #16  
Old 2006-03-14, 3:37am
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Hey Tanya, it might just be gas in the rod.
I have a rod of Sno White that is real smooth and one that has a lot of 'air' in it. Rods with excessive gas in them release little bubbles as you heat them, but it's not boiling - boiling looks like a whole ton of smaller bubbles, and the surface gets rough and doesn't stretch right anymore. If you aren't heating it to white-glowing, it probably is not boiling, bu rather bubbles in the rod arecoming to the surface. This is the most common manufacturing defect in boro color, unfortunately each company will now and then give you lousy rods with big ol' air lines and bubbles in them.
To use rods like that, heat the rod in a normal flame from end to end, let it cool down, and reheat it. The bubbles should pop as you repeat this process - this is what NS would recommend for star white because it frequently had this issue. You can also mix the color a bit to get the bubbles out.
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  #17  
Old 2006-03-14, 5:38am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Juln
Hey Tanya, it might just be gas in the rod.
I have a rod of Sno White that is real smooth and one that has a lot of 'air' in it. Rods with excessive gas in them release little bubbles as you heat them, but it's not boiling - boiling looks like a whole ton of smaller bubbles, and the surface gets rough and doesn't stretch right anymore. If you aren't heating it to white-glowing, it probably is not boiling, bu rather bubbles in the rod arecoming to the surface. This is the most common manufacturing defect in boro color, unfortunately each company will now and then give you lousy rods with big ol' air lines and bubbles in them.
To use rods like that, heat the rod in a normal flame from end to end, let it cool down, and reheat it. The bubbles should pop as you repeat this process - this is what NS would recommend for star white because it frequently had this issue. You can also mix the color a bit to get the bubbles out.
Thanks! I'll give that a try. I really didn't think it was getting all that hot.
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  #18  
Old 2006-03-15, 1:39pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dwaine Scum
Borosticks white is the best white, and Abes Super Ubaterium (sp?) at Pacific Borocillicate is the best boro black
The super is a dark blue...Does not really pass for black.
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  #19  
Old 2006-03-15, 1:59pm
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"Obtanium" is a black though, and it has bitchin' working properties.
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  #20  
Old 2006-03-30, 7:55am
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For black I like onyx(its a lil green sometimes), alaska night is ok too, or really thick turbo if you can get away with it. Im with Jglass with the white dwarf. They stoped making it about 5yrs ago. That stuff kicked arse. Whats the saying about champagne & toilet water?
B
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  #21  
Old 2006-03-30, 8:35am
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I backed some pendants with NS Onyx rod yesterday, and I really like the way it worked.

Eric
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  #22  
Old 2006-04-01, 9:02am
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I love The New Color Company's White. I think that Glass Craft is the only supplier selling it....here is a link.

http://www.glasscraftinc.com/product/product_list.cfm
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  #23  
Old 2006-04-03, 6:59am
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I still consider Northstar's Star White the best white. You do have to work it carefully. Start heating it in the back of the flame and slowly bring it in and it will not boil as bad.

I haven't had much of a chance to work with Sno White and know that Precision is working on White Widow (we were able to get some Odds and Seconds of this and were somewhat happy with those).

The best black that I have worked with is Precision Jet Black. It is a nice solid black that stays black in stringers and every application.
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  #24  
Old 2006-04-04, 7:56pm
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Kristian, I just got my order of Star White and White Widow from you. I can't wait to try them out.

BTW..Thank you for the GREAT service!!!
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