| Original Message: It IS possible to anneal after once cooling. |
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Some of my staff who make glass beads have tested annealing beads that were left to cool in air. (Clear beads where they could see the stress patterns with a polarized lens.) They put the cold beads in a kiln, brought it slowly up to temperature, held it for a predetermined time and then cooled it down slowly, just as they would anneal their own beads as they made them. Using the polarized lens after this process we observed that the stress patterns were gone. I'm sure there would be some loss but it should improve the general quality of the beads if they were annealed by an importer. OTOH, I was very surprised to see Czech pressed beads drop into an unheated but insulated container. They did not appear to be annealed as we think of the controlled process. The rods them selves used to press the beads were annealed but not the pressed beads. Does pressing introduce that much less stress than lampworking? Is the basic Czech glass rod that much better glass than Javanese, Indian and Chinese? All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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