Newbie annealing question...

[Darlah]

Just made my first beads last night and now I'm not sure what to do with them. I put them in the fiber blanket and have now checked out my work (not bad for a first attempt) and removed them from the mandrels. I have a tiny kiln and have planned on using a bead rack and mandrels for annealing but I keep hearing people say just pile them in....on the kiln floor? Which is best? Mandrels or piles....and should they not touch? One more silly question if you have time...how can I do a better job of not having sharp bits on my holes?

[Jammy]

Hi Darlah
There are so many differing opinions on annealing beads. The best thing to do is make sure the temperature doesn't go over the annealing range if you pile them on the floor, so the glass won't soften to the point it gets tiny nicks or kiss marks from touching the floor or each other. Certain colors are more apt to do this. Raku (Iris Orange) is one of them. IMO (and this is only my opinion! ), the best way to batch anneal beads is to stack them on mandrels, say 5 or 6 per mandrel, make sure they don't touch each other and lay the mandrels horizontally across a bead rack in the kiln. Starting at room temperature, SLOWLY bring the temperature up to annealing point.
As for the sharp bits at the ends of the holes -- make sure that when you start adding glass to the mandrel initially (when you first touch the glass to the mandrel) -- wrap a small amount of glass around the mandrel making sure to only touch the glass that is already there to make a small donut. In other words only touch the mandrel with the glass ONE time (the initial footprint) and then continue to wrap the glass onto itself as evenly as possible. Well, reading that it sounds kind of confusing.... maybe someone else can come up with a better suggestion!

[Darlah]

Thanks Jammy for responding! I was told both ways would work but the bead rack just sounds safer to me although the other quicker and easier! And the sharp bits at my holes actually makes sense....gonna go try it now! Thanks again!

[Jammy]

Your welcome I hope someone else jumps in here with maybe some other suggestions about the bead holes.

[rdbeads]

Mandrels or floor? It all comes down to preference. I put mine on the floor. Just do whichever feels safer to you.

For me, a good footprint was the hardest thing to do. Soon enough it will be second nature. The number one rule for learning lampworking is practice, practice, practice. Actually, that rule never seems to stop. Always something new to learn and practice.

[Lorraine Chandler]

Unless your kiln is digitally controlled you will have to baby sit by monitoring the temps throughout the annealing process which is to ramp up the beads because you are batch annealing, ( I use a slow ramp ) and then slowly ramp them back down THROUGH the stress zone temperatures listed for that glass.

Also you need to anneal according to the thicknesses of the items you create. It is all very scientific. Buying a very good lampworking book and learning all of these things will help you to know what you are doing and why.


Many people think the garaging at a high temp is the annealing part. It isn't.

This is why people just get the digital controllers. Babysitting a kiln for 6 hours is NO fun.