Air holes down rods...

[Ness]

I recently bought some Opal Yellow,I waited ages for it... but there are air holes right through every rod which give me horrible bubbles that pop and ruin what I'm trying to achieve... No point trying to do dots....

Is there anything I can do?  Or should I see if I can return them?   

[Redhotsal]

Opal Yellow is often holey - it's pretty rare to get hold of so chances are if you return it you'll get the same thing.

Can you preheat it? Sometimes having it in the kiln (if you hot anneal) and ramping it up will help. The other thing is to put the rod in the very top of the flame and just on the very edge of the glass. When you get a glow start really slowly bringing it down. Don't "waft" it in the flame at all - this will only make it shockier. I know lots of people "waft" but that's not what you want to do with a rod like this. Just heat on the very edge of it. Pulling stringer will help with dots - the stringer won't be shocky.

[Studio Girl]

Thank you Sal
This has really helped me I stopped using it be cause of shocks and holes
I'll try again now
cheers

[Ness]

Thanks Sal  I haven't had too much of a problem with shocking, it's just the bubbles popping on my beads really - I shall pull some stringers though. It's useful to know that it's common to find holes down it though. Thanks again