Ends breaking of northstar glass?

[Maggie]

Does anyone have an idea why the ends (only the very edges of bead hole) are breaking of beads made with northstar glass ,think it was monet.I got lovely rich colours from it but the ends all chipped. Is glass with a high silver content more likely to crack like this?
This is my first play with northstar and dh glasses and maybe I'm doing something basically wrong but can't think what.
thanks,
Maggie

[Steampunkglass]

Are you encasing it, some of this silver glass seems to hate being encased and then cracks.

[Trudi]

silver colours don't usually like lauscha!

[Maggie]

No, haven't encased it or used lauscha, just the plain northstar alone. Can't understand why it seems so much more brittle at the edges.

[beadysam]

I had that problem with one of the Bead Releases I was using.  As soon as I swapped to Foster Fire it didn't happen any more.  Is it only the Northsar that is the issue?  Also, just check you haven't got any burrs on the end of your mandrels, that could be a cause of chipping as you pull them off.

[Maggie]

Will check the bead release, all other glass is always ok (moretti, cim etc) and doesn't chip.Would it be something to do with the temperature as the bead is being formed , or some kind of stress?

[ejralph]

I think high silver content in glass does make it more brittle. Think for example how brittle SIS stringers are compared to plain old ivory. Also, have heard some reports that silver wire on beads can make the glass brittle where the two adhere.

So it stands to reason that a high silver content could make the glass more crumbly around the holes I guess.

Emma