This morning I have tried to use Effetre soft white, its been a nightmare. The first rod just broke, spat and left me with just enough to make one bead. That bead has now exploded as well!!
I warme the glass as I do with every rod, and can't beleive that this has been so volatile, I am a bit frightened to use the rest of the bundle now!! Am I doing something wrong or is it plain bad luck???
Hiya
It's not just you. The current batch of Effetre white is a nightmare - very very shocky. There have been a few posts about it on here. The only other thing you can try is to anneal your rods by sticking them in the kiln, or just persist. But it's not your luck, or anything you are doing wrong. xx
Hang on, if it's soft white then you mean anise, not the regular, presumably?
Anise is always a bit tricky. If it's the regular effetre then I'd contact your supplier, perhaps?
QuoteIt's not just you. The current batch of Effetre white is a nightmare - very very shocky. There have been a few posts about it on here. The only other thing you can try is to anneal your rods by sticking them in the kiln, or just persist. But it's not your luck, or anything you are doing wrong. xx
Glad you said that - I am having a mare with it, so nice to know it's not just my ineptitude ;)
its effetre soft white 591208 not the anise variety. I am quite new at this and I was really shocked it went everywhere and worse the bit that actually melted then flew off the rod and landed in my lap (made a nice burn on my funky red welders apron!!) I think I will let Tuffnels know, it could me off for life!!
Effetre white, frit on a stick, and the reason I changed over to peace. I have about a pound of the stuff gathering dust - mind you, it's excellent for twisties since it shocks off onto the paddle, don't even need to melt it off ;D Everything has it's place, eh?
Yes everything does have its place, as long as its not red hot in my lap!!!!
Anice is ALWAYS very shocky, which is why most peeps give it a wide berth tbh!
Anice white = Frit on a stick
The white probably has very small air bubbles trapped in it. As the rod is heated these expand and cause the glass to shock. Even if you anneal these rods the problem will persist as you won't get rid of the air bubbles. I have the same problem with some thickish rods of Effetre ivory.
You can however, preheat these rods by ramping them up in your kiln - that'll make them much easier to use
So does this effect some colours more than others?? Is there a stable white that I can use?? Does it vary batch to batch??
I feel a bit peeved as I don't have a kiln I have to batch anneal, so I can't heat them up beyond putting them in my george foreman or oven!!
I bought some white stringers from Tuffnells and they are fine they melt beautifully, perhaps a little too fast, but I have used them to make some little spacer beads.
I think today I have made my first set of beads (as opposed to lots of different ones!!)
Quote from: lyzzydee on March 26, 2011, 01:40:40 PM
its effetre soft white 591208 not the anise variety. I am quite new at this and I was really shocked it went everywhere and worse the bit that actually melted then flew off the rod and landed in my lap (made a nice burn on my funky red welders apron!!) I think I will let Tuffnels know, it could me off for life!!
208 is anise, aka soft white. Normal Effetre white is 204.
Other than that, yes it varies by batch. My 204 from a while ago is just fine, and my anise is actually mostly fine too.
CIM Peace is what I use, I shove it straight into the flame, not shocky at all. A bit stiffer than the eff white though, not sure if I would have liked it so much on the hothead.
I have just been using some of my anise white and didn't have any problems with it, bead is rubbish but the glass was OK! :) Must be a batch thing to an extent? :)
Quote from: awrylemming on March 26, 2011, 03:34:01 PM
CIM Peace is what I use, I shove it straight into the flame, not shocky at all. A bit stiffer than the eff white though, not sure if I would have liked it so much on the hothead.
Peace is what I use, on a hothead, with no problems.
My anice has been send in shame to the shorts jar although it is VERY long shorts, even sticking it in my kiln didn't really help it much. What I did find, and I know this is a bit of a faff, was I cut it into shorter lengths, about two to three inches, held them in my tweezers, waved it at the flame and then used it as normal.
It was still shocky but at least I didnt' have that horrible jumping off the rod business. I also found if I used a base of normal white and aimed the rod at that as I was melting when it did pop and shatter it just landed on the warm white bead so ended upwhere I needed it anyway, if that makes sense?
I have anice, soft white and find its OK if i play it in the end of the flame for a bit before I melt.
I like CIM peace best, I am on a hothead and works great, its good for encasing as its a bit stiffer and doesnt try to escape from the encasing ;D
Thank you for all the assistance, I tried another couple they are all as bad!! I have loads of bits all around 1/2 cm long. I expect I will be able to use it as large stick on lumps!!
Peace for me to and on HH
If you are after soft white try CiM marshmallow it's a little more translucent than soft white but give it a base of peace and it comes close.
You don't have to have a kiln to preheat rods - lots of people use a portable electric ring heater - bit like a Baby Belling: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Double-Boiling-Table-White-Colour/dp/B0013HGFF8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1301218633&sr=1-3
Obviously - bit of an expensive faff for just using your white but if you have a continuous problem then they can be helpful.
It usually is a batch problem - but a few colours are definitely prone to it. They are usually are the soft opaques - ivory, white, periwinkle and so on. Also - thicker rods are shockier than than thin ones - this is why you didn't have a problem with your stringers. You could try very slowly heating up a huge gather and then pulling it out thinner (as long as you can heat up enough for a gather).
I use Effetre opaque white alot and never have any problems with it. I did buy a pack of the semi opaque white once and I gave up trying to use it. It eventually ended up in the kiln and slumped into a plate.
If your rods are cracking off an inch away from the tip then the problem is the glass. It is proably been manufactured with stress. i.e. the core fo the glass rod has been compressed by the skin as it cools too quickly. As soon as you apply some heat the energy stored in the comressed core is able to cause a crack.
Another possible problem is that the colour is not mixed well enough, leaving small areas of transparant and opaque glass. Different colours radiate heat at different rates and therefore heat up at differnt speed and expand differntly. (Just try using a mixed glass rod).
Annealing can help but think about using a higer temperature than normal 520- 530 (because you dont have to worry about deformation). Softening temperature is about 550.
Thanks for all the advice, To be honest I am a bit of a chicken and I am frightened to use it now. I can cope with the little bits popping off and the likes, its when it breaks off away from the gather which means you have flying glass with a very hot end and no control. I am very pleased that I bought a leather apron!!