HI
One day I hope to be able to buy my own kiln... that day is sadly a long way off.... but I have a "burning" question. (ha... sorry, not even funny)
I am making beads and have started to clean some up, so I can look at them and dream! They are not annealed though so can't really do much with them. WHEN I eventually do get my own little kiln, and I want to fire all the beads I have made to date, will I need to fire these beads back on mandrels, and if so do I need to dip them in bead release first to stop them sticking? Should I be cleaning them up and whizzing a pipe cleaner through the cores till they're sparkly and spotless, or just leave the bead release intact until after they're fired in the future?
Would dearly love to know, one of those niggling little things that I wonder about... ho-hum.... Also, would be a waste of precious time to clean them up if they were only to need smegging up again, hate duplicated effort.....
I know this is probably a really daft question, but I am fairly new to all this and would really appreciate an answer.
Mand :-[
You can clean the holes and then put the beads back in the kiln to anneal - when annealing, the glass shouldn't get hot enough to actually melt so the beads don't need to be on mandrels, they can just lay on the (probably best protected with some kind of kiln paper, just in case) kiln floor (or be strung on mandrels on a little rack for convenience, or whatever..).
One reason for not cleaning the holes first would be that sometimes unannealed beads have stresses in that make them more likely to crack when cleaned. Annealed beads are stronger so less likely to crack..
Mand - if they are straightforward Effetre type beads I am happy to bung them in my kiln for you as I tend to batch anneal. PM me if you want.
Kaz
Maybe I won't bother cleaning them out then, don't want my hard turned elementary efforts trashed! -Especially as it's taken a while to get my beads non-wonky! Thanks very much for the advice Garish Globes.
Kaz - wow, really? Thanks ever so! Vicki at Pureshore very kindly annealed my first 10 efforts from my intro course earlier this year. She's a star and a half. I wasn't actually hinting at getting my stuff annealed .... feels a bit cheeky, but that's so kind of you to offer. I may well take up your kind offer, cos then I could wear my beads, yay! Am off on 1 week's hols on Sat, but will defo PM you on my return. Cheers m'dear. Mand x