Frit with a mortal and pestle??

[Sharon Smiling Camel]

Has anyone made frit using a mortal and pestle and stringer? I figure this is a good way to get rid of the shorts of stringer and the ones I pulled too thin.

I am a newbie so I would appreciate any input from you experts!

Thanks,
Sharon, Smiling Camel Creations

[one hot beader]

I guess you could,

Cover it with a towel and wear a mask you really dont want glass dust flying everywhere and breathe it.

Most use a frit crusher made from steel pipe to make their own. The advantage being that a magnet can remove any steel that ends up in the mix.

[SilverRiverJewelry]

I use the frit crusher made from a steel pipe. Works great.

[SilverRiverJewelry]

and the parts cost maybe $10 at home depot

[blong2001]

I use a coffee grinder. Easy and quick!

[Sharon Smiling Camel]

While I was waiting for replies I tried it. I have a glass mortal and pestle just because it was cool looking and I bought it a long time ago. I poked a hole in a paper towel and put the pestle in it. Wore my glasses but didn't think about a mask.

I'm not very mechanical so I'm not sure I could make anything that I'd have to buy the parts for at Home Depot.

Thanks to everyone who answered.

Sharon

[NLC Beads]

My mortar and pestle are stone, I'd be worried about the stone chipping and contaminating the glass, too.

I heat shorts, squoosh them, and drop them in water to make frit.

[Sharon Smiling Camel]

Ooh, a coffee grinder sounds like a good idea, too.

Thanks!

Sharon

[squid]

I even have a coffee grinder I bought specifically for frit and I've never used it . Guess I should break that bad boy out and makes some Z-99 powder out of the pounds of frit I have.

[Sharon Smiling Camel]

What is z-99 powder??

[squid]

Zimmerman Purple Rose - it's worth it's weight in gold - almost

[Astrid Riedel]

I ruined my coffee grinder, the glass "ate" the blades in no time! LOL. You do need to use a magnet to pick-up metal dust out of the frit.

[Sharon Smiling Camel]

I torched this morning using frit that I made with my mortal and pestle. I got very excited so I went out and bought two lead pipes with caps. Is there supposed to be something else too?? I had trouble busting the glass to consistant size. I got powder and chunks. Ended up using the mortal and pestle to break up the chunks.

Any advice please and thank you!

Sharon

[Kalera]

If you preheat it in your kiln and then take it out and drop it in a bucket of cold water, then crush it and let it dry, you will get more evenly-sized pieces. Also, crushing it when it's wet minimizes dust.

[Sharon Smiling Camel]

I did some in water too (I'm trying it all!)

How do you get the frit out of the water. Probably very obvious but it evades me at this point!

Thanks,
Sharon

[Kalera]

I just pour most of the water off, then dump it all on a paper towel and let it dry.

[Sharon Smiling Camel]

Simple!

Thanks

[PaulaD]

I have ruined two coffee grinders trying to do this and the mortar and pestle didn't work all that well either. Or the stainless crusher. Still looking for nirvana...

[Col]

I do the water method, after trying a hammer and paper bag and then the tubed masher, I love the water method, no digging out paper or messing with metal flakes, it's makes really clean frit. I save my small leftover strings and break with my fingers, then heat the glass and put into the water, drain and dry! I take my glass that shatters, and beads that didn't make it to the kiln (cleaned of bead release), pick up with a hot piece of glass (usually clear),or hemostats heat it in my flame and plunge into a pyrex bowl with some water in it. I love doing it so much cleaner, hardy any mess.

[Sharon Smiling Camel]

I just cleaned the beads that I made with the mortal and pestle frit...it was a bunch of leftover stringers, twisties and litlle shorts. I lOVE THEM, they are so colorful. Look like a circus!!

I just wish they were all the same size and perfectly round....hence the frustrated newbie handle.

[RSimmons]

You can run all of the water through a coffee filter and then sort the sizes though a screen, or several of different sizes.

The mortal (or maybe mortality) part becomes an issue if you breath the dust you create when doing this. The water method is highly recommended as it keeps the dust out of the air and your lungs.

Robert

[tiptrinket]

Will someone explain this water method better?

[KJJames]

Get a metal or glass container and fill it with ice cold water. Get your clean rod of glass and heat up a nice size glob of glass at the end. Then mash that blob into a paddle shape. Reheat that paddle so it is nice and hot then plunge it into the ice cold water. It will shatter. Hope that helps.

[tiptrinket]

Thank you for the more detailed instructions!

[SunDoorBeads]

I have used the water method and the coffee grinder method and prefer the water method for regular colors but i love the coffee grinder for making instant powder of the reducing glasses and SIS stringer. Have fun!!!

[J. Savina]

I have a glass crusher thingy which is no more than a heavy metal pipe that has a bottom welded on and then I crush the glass with solid pipe that has some weird heavy thing welded on the end of it. To clean it, I just blow it out with compressed air. I sift the glass through 3 sizes of mesh. Mask wearing is a must.

My Grandma used the mortal and pestle for grinding chili for salsa. YUMMY! I wouldn't think to use it on glass because the glass is to sharp and hard and would definitely chip the stone.

J.

[Sharon Smiling Camel]

It's cool to have so many ways of doing the same thing! Thanks to everyone who posted.

Sharon