I purchased a sample pack of Alchemy boro at the bead show in Tennessee. I am off to purchase my glasses but I just remembered that boro has a different annealing temp. Can anyone give me a breakdown of temp and ramp times, please?
I hold my oven at 1050 F for working and raise it up to about 1150 for striking. I have the ramp take 3 hrs to get from 1150 to 700 and don;t open the oven till it's under 500. Bigger solid stuff takes longer and some smaller stuff can survive without going into the oven but it's best to anneal everything. I've been told that hold time at 1050 should be 1 min for each mm of thickness. E
This is what I do, exactly. Hold at 1050 while working, spike to 1150 for ten minutes to strike, then slowly down to 500 and shut off.
Some blues and greens do better without the temp spike, but I get really good reds and purples with it. You can always anneal everything at 1050 as you work and then run a second, reds-only annealing batch.
-Kalera
Cool. Now all I need to do is get some clear boro without having to pay a ton for shipping.
what cha need? I know they are selling boro at the AGI and I can check prices etc for you. Be warned though - I know nothing about boro so you'll have to tell me just what you need. They seem to be selling everything with a discount (wish they had some soft glass!) so I'm going to get a few tools.
I'm new at this too. I just want some clear boro. I know they sell it at Frantz for about $10 a pound and that would work for me. What tools are you going to get?
I'll let you know tomorrow the prices. What mm do you need? They have what I think of as "regular" and then a bunch of other thicknesses.
I know I'm going to get some new mashers and maybe a marble mold (to make ring tops with), and probably one of those little brass shaping tools (can't remember who it's named after now).
I would like the same thickness we get with soft glass, around 5mm-7mm. Please do let me know the prices. :-)
The brass tool is the stump shaper. I haven't used mine once and it was kinda spendy too. I found that I can do almost everything I want to do with a pick or another tool.
will do. Yep - stump shaper - that's it. Yeah Tink said she doesn't use hers much and Donna (Tink's studio wench) says she uses hers all the time! I've got a few more days to decide!
Auralens is a great source for CHEAP clear and their shipping isn't an arm and a leg. Also, Generations gives you free shipping if you spend over $50 and tell them your WC username.
-Kalera
Thank you Kalera. I just want a pound or so right now to see if it's a good fit. I have about 65 color sticks to try out but no dang clear.
I like Simax the best of any I've used so far, and the price can't be beat.Kimble is good too, and all the clear stringer I'm using is Eigenschaft. It all seems fine, to tell the truth.
I like Aura because their price on Simax is something ridiculous like $4.50/lb. I mean, unbelievably cheap! They say they have boro frit, too, but I swear I've looked everywhere, and I can't find it on their site anywhere.
When you buy your clear, I recommend getting some 3mm, 6mm, and 8mm. 3mm is good for patterning your base bead, 6mm is nice for encasing small beads, and 8mm is nice for encasing large beads, and as a base for building cane. Clear frit is nice as well. If you're interested in any other boro tips, I'd be happy to share what I know.
Ooooh, for anyone who cares, I just noticed that Generations is having a SALE! Their Northstar color is way cheap, and they have NS special colors... essentially odd-lots... for $22/lb! Holy crap!
-Kalera
I'm ordering the Simax from Auralens in the diameters you suggested. I have no idea what I'm doing at all.
I did make my first boro beads this morning. I got on Drew Fritts' website and saw the colors with varying degrees of strike. They are annealing now and should be done in a little while. I just hope they didn't come out muddy but I only did 5 so if they are it's okay.
Can you give me the website for Generations? Sounds like something I could afford right now.
Generations is at AGI - that's who I bought Starlia's clear from. Glass Alchemy is also here.
Starlia I got you a pound of 6mm Simax for 3.75. They have all the diameters if you want something else.
Kathy K
Very cool Kathy. Please send me an email with the cost plus postage so I can send it to you. :-)
will do my dear
If your order is over $50, don't forget to put "My WC username is _________" in the "comments" field so you will get free shipping.
I can't wait to see your first boro beads! The thing that helped me most was watching Doug Remschneider's video... not so much the color recipes, but the techniques he showed. I bought it used, watched it twice, and then sold it for what I paid... definitely worth the time spent! Some of the techniques for working boro are completely unlike soft glass techniques, and I would never have figured them out on my own.
Use the 3mm stringer to lay down a wavy line of stringer on your base color, then encase the whole shebang in clear. The places where the stringer is overlaying the base will be a different hue.
-Kalera
I wonder why they don't sell it that cheap on their website??
-Kalera
Too cool. I'm looking for a used copy of Doug's video. I hope to find one soon.
My first beads are ok. They aren't wonky but some of the colors are awful. I know I need to learn how to work the colors first and then everything else falls into place.
I think we are getting major discounts. Must be a deal they have worked out with the AGI people.
I got a pokey tool (Ok so I don't know what it's really called - it's got a point and is sorta six-sided. Tink said she uses one for handles), and the Drew Frits Marble book for 30.00.
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