Boro advice

[kizzy1]

Hi I'm wanting to try my hand at making small glass boro beads, never used boro before only 104COE
I'm on a mini CC with x2 oxycons and a kiln, I would like to know if the annealing point is the same as soft glass or not?
Also can I put the rods in flame without warming in the outer flame 1st?
I'm not aiming for any fancy colours just regular primary colours, I just want to use boro as its a stronger glass and will hopefully be more scratch proof for silver set cabochons, is there anything I should know before I make the change from soft 104 to boro glass?
I really would appreciate any advice from folks that are used to working with this glass x

[Steampunkglass]

The annealing is at a slightly higher temperature, around 565-567 (1050deg F) and there are a few schedules here; http://www.frit-happens.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=21693.0
With two oxycons you should be fine as some boro colours suffer more from reducing, however you will find that they don't 'flow' as easily as soft glass, and for that reason I find making beads in boro a lot more difficult than soft. I would though put them straight into a hot kiln rather than batch annealing (even if its at a lower temperature) as I do find beads are more 'stressed' than anything else I make and more likely to crack
Yes, up to about 10-13mm (and often even bigger) you can just shove the rod into the flame without too much worry about pre-heating and you don't get all that nasty spitting off the end of the rod if you do 
Not really sure how much stronger it is than soft, but then I use soft about once a year and boro all the time so I'm probably not the person to know the difference now

[garishglobes]

One thing you will find is that boro is a lot stiffer, even with the extra heat! Boro colours are generally more concentrated too, so you can pull stringer and use a small amount of colour and lots of clear (get 4-5mm clear rods, they melt quicker! And clear runs a bit easier than the colours, particularly the darker blues/greens). The colours look different over or under clear and you can get several effects from just one - so it's a plan to just start with a couple and get to know them. The colours are expensive - it's good to buy just a few and experiment before looking at others.

Lots of the boro manufacturers websites have good information about the colours too, and Lampworketc.com has some great hints on working particular boro colours.

[kizzy1]

What was I thinking, yes I did find it MUCH stiffer to work with and after managing to make what I can only discribe as an ugly blob I decided I won't be able to work with this glass
I do see what you mean about the stronger colours too now as I used red off the rod and caped it in clear but when it came out the kiln it looked more like a deep dark red wine... I might just have one last try as you mention by pulling a red stringer and mixing it with a thin rod of clear..wish me luck!

[ajda]

It's worth persevering, Kizzy. My first attempts were on a mini-CC with one oxycon and I got discouraged quickly - but with 2 oxcons you should find the mini-CC plenty powerful enough, at least for beads and small sculptural pieces. It is a different way of working. You've got to be patient - even with a really big torch boro never flows like soft glass and it hardens very quickly out of the flame, for example if you're using a marver. I'd recommend playing with clear and just small amounts of colour - most of my eggs have a base of clear, a thin layer of colour(s) and then more clear to encase. And I'd recommend some of the reactive, striking colours - unpredictable, but often really beautiful, with the potential in many cases to kiln strike them to develop all kinds of interesting colours and effects. I find some of the plain colours, especially yellows and reds, much more difficult and frustrating. A nice style of bead to start off with is this one: http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99725 - easy to do and producing lovely effects for very little effort.