Hi,
just been looking at lovely colours of Bullseye glass on offer, just wondering does anyone on here use this type of glass?
It doesn't seem to be so widely used, does it differ in some way from popular soft glass like Effetre and CIM?
Thanks! :)
id love to know about this glass aswell also what coe is it
Bullsete is coe 90 - not compatible with the coe 104 glasses like effetre, moretti, etc, but some pretty nice colours, still...
Sean
I have used it to make some murrini to put in a fused piece, but I haven't used it other than that, mainly because I'm scared I'll mix it up with my 104 glass. Izzybeads uses it and she makes the most beautiful beads, I saw some in the flesh at Harrogate bead fair and the colours were lovely especially on her flower beads. I'll find a link:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/izzybeads
:)
Sue (awrylemming) uses it too. I gave it a go but did manage on one occasion to mix with 104 - you don't want to be doing that! Nice glass and colours though :)
I love Bullseye glass - it doesn't pull down as well into stringer and murrini on some colours, so you do have to be picky about your choices, but the pinks are second to none, they have a lovely palette to choose from, and the glass is fab to work in sculptural and in rollers as it is stiffer than Effetre. However, it tends to be more expensive, the vanilla rods are incredibly shocky, the white I never use as I find it marks up easily in the flame regardless of how careful you are - and I think the reason it isn't as widely used is pure and simply the lack of a silver glass manufacturer in that COE. Shame.
I learnt using Bullseye and I really like it. It is a lot stiffer which can be good and as Sue says the pinks are yummy! I don't use it much now simply due to the wider choice available in 104. Funnily I was thinking of having a Bullseye day this week.
I think I noticed that some colours have lead in, is that right?
Some Bullseye sheet glass contains lead, so I guess it's the same for the rods of the same colours. I found information on the lead content on Bullseye's web site. If I remember correctly it's some of the red/pink and violet colours (those often seem to require either gold or lead or both).
I've used Bullseye a little for lampwork, I like the colours and the stiffness. I also use it a lot for fusing.
The good news for lampworking is that you can use the same kiln schedule as 104!
So you can use both glasses in the same session (just not on the same beads). Just make sure you label your glass! ;)
Bullseye transparent pinks are gorgeous - the fuchsias are strong, bright pinks and the transparent lavenders are lovely too.
Its stiffer than 104 and I wouldn't recommend it on a hothead but its lovely glass.
Sarah
xxx
In the last twelve months I have used more than 750KG of Bullseye and it is beautiful glass but I rarely use it for lampwork as I much prefer the fluidity of Effetre. I use Bullseye for fusing and casting because I love its versatility it comes in sheets, frits, confetti, stringers, billets and rods all fully compatible and with a very big choice of compatible dichroic.
About the only time I use it for bead making is if I want to use the beautiful green and blue Aventurine's in which case I use scrap sheet glass rather than but rods so there is less chance of getting it mixed up with 104.
I started with Bullseye and it is all very well-behaved, apart from some opal pinks and occasional whites which can be shocky (though no worse than some of the 104s). There are some lovely colours, a wide palette range and the lustres are fun. However I have recently been giving effetre and cim a go and have liked them as well (well, most of them!). Bulleye rods sound more expensive, but they are bigger, and sizes are more consistent. Also, you can buy them singly from many dealers which is nice if you want to try them out without stocking up too much. All of the dealers I use label each rod, so you have less chance of muddling up Bullseye with the 104s. Bullseye give loads of info on their website and tell you a lot about the chemistry of the glass, so that you can work out which glasses are likely to react with each other, also they give info about how to work a colour, see http://shop.bullseyeglass.com/legacy/torchtips/
What Bullseye does not seem to have is the fantastic reactions you can get with some of the 104 silver glasses like clio - which is why I am giving the 104's a go.
re the mention above about lead - do we know that the 104's don't contain it? Bullseye address the issues of lead and cadmium food safety of their sheet glass at http://www.bullseyeglass.com/is-bullseye-glass-food-safe.html Does anyone know if it is any better or worse in this respect compared to the 104's?
Here is a useful chart ................ http://www.bullseyeglass.com/methods-ideas/glass-reactivity-chart.html
Quote from: Glyn Burton on April 02, 2012, 05:36:11 PM
In the last twelve months I have used more than 750KG
Wow Glyn....that's a lot of glass!! :o :o
Do you have any pics of what you have made with it?
Quote from: flame n fuse on April 09, 2012, 10:51:03 PM
Here is a useful chart ................ http://www.bullseyeglass.com/methods-ideas/glass-reactivity-chart.html
Thanks! That's great, I should print it and put it on the wall :)
Quote from: GaysieMay on April 02, 2012, 09:39:44 AM
I have used it to make some murrini to put in a fused piece, but I haven't used it other than that,
Me too. I tend not to use it that much as I can't mix it with the other glass. I bought the stuff I have for a particular fusing project and it is much more expensive then 104.
But it is good when you are fusing and you want to make your own stringer and bits and pieces in your fused work. And there are far more reasonably priced bullseye colours then those compatible for float. I will be branching into float this year. You can use small amounts of bullseye frit with your 104.
I did some research on the lead topc with Bullseye Glass. There are few colors with lead, most of them are the gold rubies (pink, cranberry, purple) plus the old black and dense white. They reworked the black and removed the lead from the recipy.
A qualitative test for lead in the glass:
Grind about 20-50mg og the glass in a ceramic mortar and mix the powder with 300-600mg of a 50/50 soda potash mix*. Take a 20cm length of a 1mm stainess steel wire and bend one end into a 5mm ring. Herat this ring to visible glow in the end of an oxidizing flame and dip it into the powder mix. Melt the powder and dip the ring again into the powder, continue untill all powder is molten. The melting process is done once you see the molten powder nicely flow on the ring. Let the molten sample drip into the mortar and grind it into a powder. Leach the powder with three portions of water and discard the extracts. Leach the remaining solids with 5ml of 5% acetic acid and put the extract into a test tube. Add one drop of a 2% solution of poiassium chromate. If there is lead in the glass there will be a precipitation of yellow lead chromate.
* = If you have just one of both chemicals use it for the whole amount. The analysis will not be affected by this fact. The mixture is just for a lower melting point.
Quantitative detection of lead:
For this analysis I leached cut, cleaned and measured pices of the lead bearing glasses with 5% acetic acid for 24h at room temperature. The original detection was per atom absorption spectroscopy. For an estimation I added potassium chromate solution to the sample. Samples with safe (low enough to be tolerable) concentrations of lead did not show precipitation of lead chromate.
Qualitative setection of cadmium:
The sample preparation (grinding an melting with soda potash mix) is performed as done for the lead test. Put about 50mg of the powderd sample into a small test tube (7*70mm borosilicate glass) and add the same amount of sodium oxalate. Heat the bottom of the test tube to a nice glow in a well ventilated place. If you see a dark metallic mirror on the colder parts of the tube add a small amount (5-10mg) of sulfur and heat the tube again. The mirror should turn orange or yellow if cadmium is present.
Discard all leftovers with lead, chromate or cadmium as chemical waste with heavy metals in accordance with the local regulations.
I recommend to cap the blanks for plates or dishes with a thin layer of clear glass, if the lead and/or cadmium bearing colors are used in the design.