Vermiculite/fibre blankets

[amber0307]

Hi

I'm about to start lampworking but don't have a kiln.  Am hoping to anneal my beads in Emma's kiln until I decide to invest in my own one but can someone offer me some advice on how to cool my beads?

Do I need to use vermiculite or can I use a fibre blanket? 
Where do I get either of these from?
If I use vermiculite does it need to be heated up (think I read this somewhere) as I'm working out of a rented studio and there's no oven. 
How long do beads take to cool? 
Do I take them off the mandrels after they have cooled and before they are kiln annealed?

Thanks!

[glassworks]

vermiculite can be had from any garden centre or insulation/builders merchant - although lots of folks on here may well have some extra for you?..

if you make a bead, you can flame anneal it by heating the whole piece all the way back up as hot as you dare before it blobs and loses shape.. then let it cool gently right in the back of the flame to let it start losing its glow.. once it has cooled enough so it is not cherry any more you can hold it under you work surface until it no longer glows and then tuck it into the vermiculite or under the fibre.. the reason for letting it cool down under the work urface is so that you do not put it away too hot and pick up bits of vermiculite or distortion from the grains..

ideally you can leave them covered for a few hours and once they cooled to touch temp you can get em off the mandrels and ready for a batch anneal!.

you do not have to warm up vermiculite, but putting it in a slow cooker while you are working lessens the chance of thermal shock cracks a little?..

[Billie]

I went the vermiculite route before I had a kiln, so would repeat what Quinton has advised.  I'd also add that you can remove the beads from the mandrels once they've cooled (I always left my beads overnight to cool) but it's best to wait until they've been annealed in the kiln before attempting to clean the holes.  HTH 

[mzbeezley]

Hi

I use a fibre blanket.

I had trouble finding somewhere that sold fibre blankets (that weren't tiny) and finally managed to get one from Martin at Tuffnells www.tuffnellglass.com  (They weren't listed on his site, so I emailed him to find out if he had any).

Hope you have loads of fun when you get started!!!

[Pam]

I used vermiculite for 2 years and batch annealed. No real problems except with amber, Lausha encased beads and encased silver. If you follow Q's guildline of flame annealing this will lessen the chance of any beads cracking. Like Billie I was over cautious and left them to cool over night. I had tried cleaning them before batch annealing but lost a few so stopped.
The only other thing that might be worth considering is large beads will have a greater tendancy to crack through thermal shock than smaller beads.
Good luck.

[SueP]

Hi

I have been using vermiulite and batch annealling - I started of heating the vermiculite in a slow cooker but have noticed no difference using it cold - agree with getting rid of the "under the bench " glow before putting it in.  I am only having a problem with some encased beads so now I have my kiln might do a mixture of batch and garage.  I soak the beads in tepid water the minute they have cooled down and remove from the mandrel but clean them after annealing and it works fine for me

[beadysam]

I batch anneal, mainly because I'm a tight fisted Yorkshire lass and won't put the kiln on till its full!   I used a fibre blanket to begin with, then vermiculite when my blanket died.  I lost loads and loads more beads in vermiculite than I ever have in a blanket.  I loose maybe one in 1-2 in 50 beads at the moment, and most of them are when I press them.  In vermic I lost almost half!!!   Needless to say I wen't back to the blanket...   I make pretty big beads, and if a beads going to crack its usually because I haven't kept it warnm in the flame properly.  Blankets are also better for putting hotter beads in.  With vermic they have to be pretty cool or they dent, with a blanket they can be put away hotter.  As you put a new bead in a blanket you can move the last bead along so that your new bead goes into a warm spot too.

[Katiequiggle]

I use vermiculite and until I had my slow cooker (£7 in Asda) I used to lose loads of my big and flat beads but since warming it up, actually it gets quite hot, I hardly have any broken ones.  I'm really pleased with it.  Hopefully when I get a job I will have my own kiln, yippee.