So really, new glass alone would make me happy… but when I opened this glass and saw that it was all clearly labeled I let out a little squeal of delight! I usually buy my glass locally and then I try to label each rod myself which generally works out okay, but getting it with such easy to read labels almost makes me think I should just get it all mail order. Oh the little things really do perk up the day!

Did you know that many boro colors are striking colors? This means that I spend lots of time carefully heating each bead in various parts of the flame until I’m happy with the color. In most of the boro that I use, the rods strike because of the metal content in the glass. I need to carefully heat and cool the beads as I make them to allow for crystal growth which changes the color of the glass. Of course none of the rods look like the colors that they strike to… above you can see a bead I made and the rod that I used.

In this bead you can also see a line on it where I laid the clear down to encase it. Sometimes I get this line and sometimes I don’t. It isn’t a crack and I don’t particularly find it to be a problem. The bead is rather organic and this line is just part of the process. I’m trying to “go with the flow” a little bit these days when I make beads, sort of zen with the glass. I think it allows for more surprises (which I love!) and a more relaxing glass session… (which I also love!)   Anyway, that’s my little FYI about striking boro… and why the beads can be a bit more expensive. The rods cost more because they have a higher metal content, the glass takes longer to melt, and it takes forever to fiddle with the beads and get them to strike… but in the end the beads are ohhhh so pretty don’t you think?!

I’ve got lots of boro roundies coming up tonight at 6pm my time so check the Mart later…

I have a cool set of boro beads over on ebay. Check ‘em out if you have a minute.

I’m enjoying the reactions that I am getting with boro glass right now. Did you know that those glass colors like Van Gogh, Picasso, Da Vinci, etc. were developed by Abe Fleishman from Northstar. Northstar mostly makes boro color, and this is their line of 104 soft glass.

I guess it isn’t surprising that the silver craze is carrying over into the soft glass since many of the boro colors that are so cool have lots of silver in them too. Right now I seem to have more success with boro than these new 104COE silver colors. I get very mixed results with these soft glass silver colors, one day it all works great, and the next it doesn’t… and of course I find this quite frustrating. I don’t seem to have this problem with boro, it does what I expect each time which is quite nice. Right now the hardest part with boro is keeping all the rods straight since many of them don’t look anything like what they do in a bead. Anyway, I’m just having tons of fun playing with all kinds of glass as usual! If you can melt it I must try it!!