I've just made some lovely little murrini sized piecews from two rods of CIM Freman.
Problem is I would have preferred to use it as a rod. It shocked everywhere right down the whole length of the rod. Now I know that I'm quite bad with introducing glass into the flame so I even turned my flame right down, held it right at the end and was VERY slow with it. It still did it!! The weird thing is I'm used to glass shocking at funny angles and having very irrgeular lumps. This one was nearly perfectly sized murrini pieces all the way.
Anyone else have issues with this glass?
Me too >:(
I couldn't believe how badly behaved it was. I have never had a glass shock that much.
I thought it was just me cos no-one else had mentioned it. It also went all nasty and grey for me. Fortunately it was on a tree bead so I just call the patches of grey storm clouds :P
Really!!
Not at all, I've loved using this glass, how wierd. I got a batch a few weeks ago, made lots with it and really liked it. K x ???
I just tried to use my first ever rod of fremen & quit after about a quarter of the rod shocked. Its all in a little jar and they are all odd shapes. I even got it to start melting, even though I could see cracks for the next few inches, but then the melted bit fell off too so I gave up.
i`m like kate, never had a problem with it, how odd!
I've used it for one or two birdies... I don't recall having that problem either ??
I remember the frustration we all used to get with Anise White..... frit on a bloody stick was that stuff, LOL
Mine is quite a thick rod - maybe that's why?
oh dear - it's one of my favourites and I've had no problem with it at all so far ..............
should have got you to use it then Trudi - your magic touch just might have saved me some glass!
Grrrrr >:(
It must be worth dropping Kathy Seamands (Mrs CIM) a line, she's really helpful and I'm sure she'd want to know if there's a problem.
Grrrrrrr ... I hate shocky glass ... >:(
How annoying. Might it be worth sticking what's left in the kiln and annealing it?
I thought it was just me! Mine shocked the moment I put it into the flame, it's totally unusable. I've never had a glass shock in this way, the pieces literally just dropped off. ??? Bizarre! And such a shame, because it looks like a lovely colour.
Although I ahven't had any trouble at all using itI just remembered I made a set of beads last week and used Fremen for the base of an encased round, it was one of many where I'd used different brights as the base colour, it cracked >:(
I made a replacement and it did it again, it had cracked in the kiln in 4/5 different directions from the hole at each end!!
Quote from: sublimekate on May 04, 2009, 10:04:18 PM
Although I ahven't had any trouble at all using itI just remembered I made a set of beads last week and used Fremen for the base of an encased round, it was one of many where I'd used different brights as the base colour, it cracked >:(
I made a replacement and it did it again, it had cracked in the kiln in 4/5 different directions from the hole at each end!!
Oh thank you for posting this, I had an encased Freman set of 6 crack on me, I thought I had done something wrong with them.
Haven't tried my rod of Fremen yet so I will be careful with it.
Did spend yesterday afternoon showering my studio with little chunks of Bullseye Orange though . . .
Carole
I got some at flame-off I only made one bead - encased lentil & its cracked - in several places :( also the glass did shock a couple of times before I managed to start wrapping on the mandrel / whilst wrapping - thats partially why it ended up a lentil just could'nt balance it :(
Yeah a really pretty colour but damn - its bad for cracking...
Hmmm seem to remember reading that some CIM colours may need higher temp / longer annealling in the kiln? Might have been on LE..
Maz
Quote from: mazmeabead on May 06, 2009, 10:32:07 PM
Hmmm seem to remember reading that some CIM colours may need higher temp / longer annealling in the kiln? Might have been on LE..
Getting it as far as the kiln would be an achievement right now :D
I've not tried this colour but I'd be emailing CiM if I were you lot...
I had another try today, I did some 5 petal flowers on an encased donut, just took them from the kiln and they have cracks running from the flowers to the hole on every flower.
Time is money and all that, never mind about the price of the glass. If its not working as it should, CiM need to know.
Just message Kathy and pointed her at this thread.
I had another go at this and even tried prewarming the rods on a hot plate but it didn't like that either.
In the end I tried picking up the little bits and using it as murrini and although it worked the beads were rubbish! LOL!
Quote from: hollergrafik on May 06, 2009, 11:59:50 PM
Just message Kathy and pointed her at this thread.
I'll send this thread to CIM right now...
QuoteMight it be worth sticking what's left in the kiln and annealing it?
Oooo - good idea - I'll be trying that!
I have to admit I am going off CiM...beautiful colours but I've had a nightmare with Pulsar and Leaky Pen too; it's a pain having to encase them just to stop the pitting.
I have only ever had problems with pulsar and leaky pen and they are OK as stringers. I have not had any problems with Fremen and have made a couple of sets of beads with it. The only problem I have with it is that it looks like Aquafresh toothpaste ;D
Kazx
Funnily enough I had terrible problems with leaky pen pitting, but when I used it recently (same batch) it behaved perfectly!
I'm sorry to hear about all your Fremen woes!
We strive to make the highest quality 104 coe compatible hand pulled glass rods. To that end, we perform what I call "shockiness tests" before each batch leaves the factory. I've found that occasionally we have a color that requires an even more rigorous standard than the one we normally use.
Our workability testing results were similar to this thread in that a number of people had no issues, and a number of testers struggled with severe shockiness. Our results were only different from this thread in that our shocky reports were a small minority of the group.
Although those testers constituted a minority, I upgraded the standard by which we tested Fremen for the next round of production. That next round has already arrive at Frantz and is on the way to Tuffnell. I did send the new batch to the complaining testers for confirmation that it would not qualify as "shocky" to make sure the upgraded standard was working.
The fact that a number of Messy Colors require higher annealing temperatures is unrelated to this issue.
Also, the Leaky Pen and Pulsar (scumming, frothing, pitting, whatever you want to call it) issue is separate. Sapphire has also had its share of complaints. We have found through testing that this seems to be a function of individual artists' working atmosphere. Most of these colors prefer to be worked cool, so if you work hot you are more likely to dislike their working qualities.
Anytime that you experience problems like Fremen's shockiness, I would appreciate it if you sent me an email heads up and I will address it in the scope of our quality control system. Photos are especially helpful. The more information I have, the faster/better I can improve the quality of the glass!
Kay & Donna, thanks for bringing this thread to my attention.
Kathy