Boro hates me ......

[hollergrafik]

... and to be honest I hate it too 

I recently bought some to give it a go, I am on 2 oxys and a mini CC but I lose the will to live trying to melt the stuff, I will bung it up in swaps and go back to my 104 <3

[garishglobes]

If you're on 2 oxys and a mini cc, you shouldn't be losing any will to live melting boro. It is slower and thicker and handles differently to clear glass but it shouldn't be impossible, and certainly not with that firepower.
As a boro fanatic, I'd love to help if I can.... what are you trying to do with it? Do you have problems melting clear boro on its own?

[hollergrafik]

I bought Caramello light, went nice murky green and sable something (followed your reducing instructions) had the most miniscule amount of whispy blue. The clear I have is Simax ??

it takes me an age to even get it flowing enough to wind on the mandrel, probably 3 mins of constant heat and then thats only enough for one wrap.

[awrylemming]

Don't give up!!  Remember what it was like learning to use 104, all the frustration then the hurrah moments.  Give it a go (and sell em to me afterwards, yum  )

Sue x

[♥♥Tan♥♥]

Something isn't right there, you certainly have the firepower to melt it, daft question, are the rods a reasonable thickness?

[hollergrafik]

Emma Kindly went through some pointers with me, gonna pull the rods into fat stringers. I was trying to melt fat rods.

[garishglobes]

I think....the rods may be too thick. It does sound as if there is plenty of firepower, but boro is a different animal and requires a different mindset to work it. I've pm'ed you anyway, but just to say here - I'd suggest pulling 2-3mm stringer (remember you often only need small amounts of colour because boro colours can be a lot more saturated than the soft glass ones), wrapping that round the mandrel and then encasing with a 4mm rod of clear.
You can make lovely fritty beads with a wrap of a colour then a couple of rolls in frit, then 2 or 3 wraps of clear and melting it all in.

Clear is definitely "runnier" than other boro colours too (followed by amber purples, some greens and then the blues, some of which are really stiff) so using more clear makes the bead easier to shape.

ETA: beat me to it!! 

[Hotglass28]

Kay, you NEED to be good at Boro...... You needs to be 

One day I'd like to give it a go. I like the idea of going slow and being able to make bigger stuff one day.

For now, 104 has me hooked and shall stay that way. But I'd love to see you make stuff in Boro.

Denise

[hollergrafik]

Given up on it LOL

[♥♥Tan♥♥]

I am just about to start on this boro journey, I hope I have better luck

[hollergrafik]

I just dont have the patience Tan, cant be naffed with it taking ages and only being able to do boro on its own and not make 104 beads at the same time as the kiln temps are very different

[♥♥Tan♥♥]

That is my initial concern........I guess it will be a steep learning curve, I have some clear some shorts and some frit and I'm aiming to keep it simple in the beginning and see how I feel about it rather than rush at it and buy loads of glass then discover I hate it

[hollergrafik]

see how I feel about it rather than rush at it and buy loads of glass then discover I hate it

Yeah I know that one, coming to a for sale section soon LOL

[♥♥Tan♥♥]

Well, looking at the other side of it, imagine if you had loved it then you would have had all that lovely glass to play with

[hollergrafik]

It was worth a go, I had to get some other stuff to see if it was maybe the colours I didnt like, hey ho