Q: Are there any tips or tricks to reducing?

From descriptions sent in from various lampworkers I would suggest the following troubleshooting approaches: 1.) If your glass looks brown/gray/tan and you have not yet attempted to reduce it, you may need to turn up your oxygen, or turn down your propane. A flame that causes a metallic luster is not a “neutral flame”. 2.) If your glass looks brown/gray/tan after reducing it, you may be overreducing it. Use less propane in your reduction flame, work further out in the flame, reduce for a shorter period of time, allow the bead to cool somewhat before reducing, check that you are using a neutral flame when not reducing, or all of the above. 3.) Please take a moment to watch our video tutorials on Flame Settings and Practing Reduction with Triton. They are available under the Information tab above. 4.) I prefer to make a small (10mm) ball on the end of a clear punty to test and practice with. This conserves glass, and also relieves me of the emotional attachment and time invested in a bead or sculpture. In this way I am able to test or practice striking a glass without undue loss of time or material.

Question 1

Is there lead in your glass?

doublehelixgl · Accepted Answer

We do not use lead in any of our glass compositions, and have recently had analysis done to test our colors for lead. All of our colors have practically zero lead content, except Gaia, which has slightly more than the amount that qualifies as "lead free", but still only a tiny fraction of the amount that is in "lead glass". Gaia is made from crushed Effetre Dark Emerald Green #591030. Kronos is made from Vetrofond Cobalt # 791060. Nyx and Olympia Rain are made from Effetre Clear #591004. These four colors predate the development our our proprietory custom batch. We have also developed Triton, Psyche, Aion2, and Oxalis as alternatives to the older cullet based colors. In all of our colors made from raw batch, we choose every ingredient that goes into them with the intent of avoiding any materials that are toxic to ourselves, our customers or the environment. We do not use cadmium, selenium, arsenic or antimony in any of our stock production colors, all of which are are common in other glass compositions. Lead Analysis Report: Total Lead (ug/g)

Psyche <10.0
Kalypso 10.0
Nyx <10.0
Helios <10.0
Aether 14.0
Terranova <10.0
Kronos 54.5
Terra <10.0
Triton 10.0
Clio <10.0
Elektra <10.0
Pandora <10.0
Khaos <10.0
Luna <10.0
Aurae <10.0
Aion <10.0
Ekho <10.0
Gaia 475

Note: CPSIA permissible limit for lead content is 300ug/g.

Question 2

Are there any tips or tricks to reducing?

doublehelixgl · Accepted Answer

From descriptions sent in from various lampworkers I would suggest the following troubleshooting approaches: 

1.) If your glass looks brown/gray/tan and you have not yet attempted to reduce it, you may need to turn up your oxygen, or turn down your propane. A flame that causes a metallic luster is not a “neutral flame”. 

2.) If your glass looks brown/gray/tan after reducing it, you may be overreducing it. Use less propane in your reduction flame, work further out in the flame, reduce for a shorter period of time, allow the bead to cool somewhat before reducing, check that you are using a neutral flame when not reducing, or all of the above. 

3.) Please take a moment to watch our video tutorials on Flame Settings and Practing Reduction with Triton. They are available under the Information tab above. 

4.) I prefer to make a small (10mm) ball on the end of a clear punty to test and practice with. This conserves glass, and also relieves me of the emotional attachment and time invested in a bead or sculpture. In this way I am able to test or practice striking a glass without undue loss of time or material.

Is there lead in your glass?

Are there any tips or tricks to reducing?

How To

RE-391

Aether Frit (2 oz)

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