How long?

[SilverGems89]

Hi everyone, I am just trying to compose my first ever proper boro order and wondered how long a rod is on average? And then how long would half a rod be? Trying to decide what colours I should order more/less of!

[Steampunkglass]

It does seem to depend on who you get them from, what brand etc, but the average would be 500mm I'd say, although most uk suppliers seem to do them a lot shorter. I've had some only 150-200mm when sold by weight once, and if you go for borostixs they are only about 100mm!

Personally I prefer long rods as you don't end up with so many stubby ends lying around, and the label end is (slightly) more likely not to end up getting scorched when you put a hot rod next to it (although that could just be me!)

[June]

The lovely TAG colours are not that long and shorter than your average Effetre etc  . Do they not say somewhere?

[June]

Just looked at Sean's site and he does two lengths in Tag now, which might be useful 

[SilverGems89]

hmmm, so a half rod should be around the length of an average soft glass rod...I can probably get away with half rods of most colours I want then!   I feel utterly spoilt for choice!
I am sulking because no one in the UK seems to have NS Alaskan Thunder in stock at the minute  
And boy is it a minefield trying to pick a good black  

[SilverGems89]

Just looked at Sean's site and he does two lengths in Tag now, which might be useful 

The only thing stopping me from ordering from Sean is he only has TAG and Momka, and not a vast selection of either 

[garishglobes]

I think a full rod would be about the same as soft glass, depending on where you get them from - but usually a half rid is significantly cheaper so you can tell what length a supplier is selling!! Don't forget that a little colour will go a long way, you can get away with using mainly clear and that many colours are broadly similar across manufacturers - so TAG caramelo is close to NS Caramel is close to Momka Almond nugget and so on... 

[garishglobes]

....and along those lines, it may well be that Momka's Alaska Night is similar to NS Alaskan Thunder.

[Steampunkglass]

Do expect your tastes in colours to change as you go along though before you go and buy loads of one colour, I have some colours I used to use all the time which I now barely touch   As Emma said, a lot of the makers seem to do the same (or at least almost identical) colour with different names, and sometimes within their ranges you get the same formula that's more concentrated/got sparkles/got extra silver etc but all are really the same colour with small tweaks to the formula. (Just look at the amber purple family!)

Mind you it's not surprising a lot of these makers have such similar formulas, as people left Northstar to set up new factories and have taken and tweaked their favourite formulas

This is why if you can afford them the sample packs are so good to start off with, you get to try out loads of different colours, and can quickly compare one make to another too  

[SilverGems89]

I am going to get the momka sample pack from Kev, but I haven't managed to find any from the other makers! I'd love to try some GA colours but don't know where to start! I'm going to get a few rods of Chinese White and a black (haven't decided which one yet though!) and some more clear of course!

[garishglobes]

You'll have plenty to play with  Boro colour does have a habit of never quite being the same twice   

[Angie]

Have you checked what colour Josh has at Elements glass?