Schott Boro Artistic - If you hate it, please tell me why.

[Groundjoints.com]

As to not threadjack the pricing thread about Simax, I wanted to get some feedback about our product.

When Schott created the Boro Artistic product for us, their production was geared towards the scientific lampworker, mostly medium and standard wall tubing.

Schott installed a new $450,000 mixer in the forehearth of their furnace earlier this year to "improve" fumability.

It seems half of you love the way the product fumes and half of you hate it.

If you had a negative experience with our Schott Boro Artistic clear tubing and/or rod, please post here. We do have the power to change things.

Thanks,

Adam

[Conchis]

I'm one of the folks that find Simax fumes better than Schott. I use the Schott for most ornaments and vessels that I use a lot of color in, but when I'm fuming, I can't get the Schott to fume the same colors that I can get out of the Simax. I know that part of the problem is my technique and not the glass, but Simax seems to offer a wider range of colors (especially the deep blues instead of the white) for me. Other than that, I like the Schott and really prefer the feel of it over the Simax.

[jr23]

I use the BA a bunch I also use a little Simax and China Clear.


I only dislike the BA for its milk out action. Its great for production and a little splash of fume goes a long way. This is why some might love it!

On the other hand lets say you flame strike some amber purple tube and get the silver on the surface and then sleeve it. By the time the its done the clear clouds up and your like damn. That's why if I am sleeving ap or moon BA is not my choice.

Its great you ask for feedback way to go reps to you and I will call soon for a re up on some glass and my first order of gog from you direct!

[loydb]

I love the clarity. I hate the fact that nearly every piece seems to have a small line of bubbles running the length of the tube, no matter what the size (I have a dozen cases of various types, rod and tube).

[brettodie]

ba is solid in my experience. i had alot of problems with warped tubes at first but that seems to have cleared up a bit. ive never had a problem with my fuming no matter what clear i use so i dont see that as a issue at all. the only thing they need to work on in my opinion is the consistenesy i know were artists but we need straight even and un marred tubing also. thanks for all the time and energy adam keep up the good work. if more suppliers cared like you do theres be alot less issues around here. peace brett

[michaeL25]

I haven't used a ton of Schott, but here are my impressions keeping in mind that I don't think I sampled the new stuff.

Good:
-Great feedback (by the color of the clear) to let you know how hot the glass is
-Seems to be the most shock resistant and compatable compared to other clears. Meaning if I didn't have a kiln i'd use Schott.

Bad:
-The previously mentioned overstrike/milk effect on silver based colors and fume. To me, this is everything as I hardly ever use color without clear encasement and I mostly make solids (from tube and rod)
-Not as optically clear as Simax; try it with some opals and dichro on a big marble to really see the difference.
-I haven't had this issue myself, but I've heard and read many times about the line that Loydb is talking about

I use Simax when I want "pure" results, as in the least amount of reaction to silver colors and best optical clarity.

I use Pyrex when I want to see a strong reaction to silver. Pyrex gets a great blue (not white or yellow as with Schott) that grows and gets fuzzy with restrikes.

I heard about the revised Schott formula, but I don't like it when a change like this occurs. If I pick up a few pieces of Scott from someone, how do I know if it's the new stuff or not? If you had to compare the new Schott to existing product from Simax, Pyrex and Kimble, how does it react to silver fuming?

[jr23]

I will put it up to user error on some of the white action. As brett said a person really controls the process. But during the sleeving of color tube with high saturation of silver for making a item that has lots of garage or kiln time is my only real dislike for what I use it for.

Others may have different wants and needs I don't make much where optics is way important but as my journey into mibs and facets grows things change.

[p.j.]

i like the way it affects the silver colors when they are applied to the outside, triple passion especially.

i found that if i'm more careful as i remove the tubes from the cases the bubble line is not there, it could just be a scratch from the end of the tube above as you remove it.

[Snurf]

Simax gives me richer hues when encasing striking silver colors under a layer of Clear. I toured the Northstar factory recently, they use Simax glass as the Base for All of their color produced.

Adam, Ask Abe About it, he might have some insight as to why Simax and striking colors work so well

FYI I have used 7 or 8 cases of SBA and i like it for most things, except what was mentioned above

[colonel4bin]

I like it as far as it's working qualities, but there are some QC issues like airlines, out of round tubes and weird grey lines running down the tubes. Overall it's a good product, I just get Simax way cheaper so thats what I use.

[VOORHEES]

Schott strikes my silver way to white, if I fume a little...it still turns white. When I blow in silver colors, it turns white.

Schott is really shocky in the flame, I seem to have more schott tubing explode in the flame than simax. (talk to cupcake about that, he's always expolding that stuff)

I also like how simax is a softer glass, it melts easier and seems to be more consistent.

I will use schott as a stand alone clear or with opaques.

Thanks Adam!

[Groundjoints.com]

I've talked to Cupcake directly about it, he said he hasn't gotten any Schott since I was giving out free samples 2 years ago.

[billygoat]

i have the same issues as most ...out of round...over sensitivity to thermal shock sometimes...phantom chords in the glass a few times... dont like the white i get from my honeycomb marbles... id rather pay a lil more for the nice simax but ill take a case or two in a pinch but only if its dirt cheap.. just feels like schott seconds to me at times and odds at best...ive gotten it a couple times same issues...

[VOORHEES]

When Cupcake and I worked together, we would go to A2 and get cases of Schott...all our standard sizes for about two years.

About eight months ago he got a third pallate of Simax from a good friend of ours.

I know he used it a lot...I watched him blow it up.

[melter skelter]

Thanks for starting a thread to get feedback on your product, excellent PR

It's the poor optical qualities of Schott BA that make using it a buzzkill for me. There's scratchy lines up and down it, and for me, it's not worth the time it takes to clean it up...

That said, I really liked the Duran 40-50 mm I used to use 10 years ago for lathe work...

[Groundjoints.com]

There is no such thing as Schott Seconds. Has anyone ever bought or been offered "seconds" in Schott?

[ALIEN!]

I have bought 7mm rod, 32 medium and 38 medium wall tube BA from generations and it was all real nice. When I used my National 8m it tended to white/yellow out with silver fume, but that cleared up after I got my GTT Phantom. I like it. Never had any lines/bubbles. Good quality stuff in my opinion.

[Icarus]

There is no such thing as Schott Seconds. Has anyone ever bought or been offered "seconds" in Schott?

That statement actually worries me, as it sort of implies that Schott's QC is non-existent. Having said that, I've been buying SBA from Generations when there are sales, and I have no complaints so far, other than (and I'm sure I'm just pissing in the wind here) I wish all glass companies would sell in 20" or 30" instead of 60" lengths so shipping wasn't so bloody expensive.

[Kool]

Over the years, I have used pretty much all of the different brands of clear for periods of time....Kimax, Simax, Schott Duran, Pyrex (old and new), Chinex, UST, "Boro-X", "Eigenschaft", and Schott Boro Artistic....don't know if I'm forgetting any.

Like Brett said, I have never had any fuming issues with any of the brands. To get the results I desire, I find that I might have to slightly change the way I fume depending on which brand I am using, but it isn't a problem. It looks like some people are having issues when encasing with SBA. My wife and I use SBA to sleeve and rod encase over silver fume and striking colors and don't have any problems at all.

Even aside from fuming, there are other differences that I would notice when changing from one brand to another that would require me to slightly alter the way I work. No big deal as long as I pay attention and adapt my habits to fit the properties of the new glass.

My experience with SBA is that it has steadily improved over the last couple of years. I haven't noticed any of the lines or other obvious imperfections for some time. I do go through an awful lot of it, so perhaps I am just seeing the newer, more improved stuff. And maybe some of the people that still are seeing those issues are getting older stock from when those issues were more prevalent.

The only thing I can think of would be to track batch numbers by lot, like the way GA does with color rod. That way you would know for sure if people are complaining about issues that have already been resolved, etc. I don't know if this is feasible or not....


There is no such thing as Schott Seconds. Has anyone ever bought or been offered "seconds" in Schott?


That statement actually worries me, as it sort of implies that Schott's QC is non-existent...

Icarus, I don't think his statement implies that QC is non-existent. He is simply stating that they do not sell seconds.

[chayes]

I haven't had any issues with any of the sba i've used. Yeah occasionally there is a line running down the tube that you can only see when its hot. When its cold no line. I love the optic quality schott it is super clear. I also like how i barely have to fume the stuff. I have used pretty much every size rod and tube. I don't know how many pallets of it i have ordered but i know i'll keep on buying, and using it.

[Groundjoints.com]

Anything that is rejected is crushed and then reused as flux/cullet for new batch.

As far as QC is concerned, every single case of Schott tubing and rod has a lot number stamped on the label. I use this if someone has an issue and I need to check the stock on this end. The lot numbers are stamped in Germany and Schott does track them like Glass Alchemy.

[Kool]

Yeah, after I typed that I thought it would be odd if it weren't tracked. When I went back out to the shop I noticed the code on all of my cases.

[Dom]

Ill point out the major obvious flaws:

1. Out of round/wavy tubing/rods with clear lines running through the entire length.

2. Fuming is way finicky, you have to use a perfect reducing flame and fume just the exact perfect amount of silver to get a consistent result. Im not gonna lie when you actually do get it perfect, it can be like the sickest shit ever.

A side note to number two is that I got some 50x5 which I think is from the "new" batch and the fuming is getting better but still not quite there yet.

3. Most of the rods are really easy to "boil" not sure why this happens as its almost a non issue with the tubing.

All that being said I still love how the glass works overall, that is the major positive with Schott BA.

[Icarus]

Anything that is rejected is crushed and then reused as flux/cullet for new batch.

As far as QC is concerned, every single case of Schott tubing and rod has a lot number stamped on the label. I use this if someone has an issue and I need to check the stock on this end. The lot numbers are stamped in Germany and Schott does track them like Glass Alchemy.

Okay, that makes sense. Sorry for being reactionary.

[Big Jay]

Some of the smaller diameter rods like to snap way too easy. 5mm thru 10mm. I had one box of 5mm in particular that was like trying to work with 2mm.
As far as the line dissapearing when cold thats simply not true.. On alot of my products the line just has no bearing but every now and then I have something that just clear tubing and the line is a killer.
As far as the fume its just technique.. As long as you cook in the fume on the BA and burn off any excess it works just fine.. It is very easy to over fume when working on the inside though.
I've had maybe 1 tube out of 100 that is super shocky. The first time it happened I got 2 in one box. Thought you slipped me a couple pieces of chinex in there at first. But the other 99% are butter.
All in all Adam you've always taking good care of me and you know our studio rocks the shit out of BA.

[VOORHEES]

I want to get a purple-red with my honeycombs...no matter what I try to do with the BA, I can't get it.

Simax gives ma a consistent deep purple hue once I strike it...it takes a little more work, but that's the main reason I choose not to use BA for striking colors.

If anyone has gotten a deep purple from a honeycomb with BA...please post pics.

[Dom]

Gold and silver or just silver?

[Adapt]

I buy a lot of SBA and the fuming is the only problem I've had. Fume on the inside whites out way to easy. Funny thing is that the UST Glass from China gives me way better fume honeycombs than the SBA.

[$$$$$$$]

As for what voorhees is talking about, I just like to raw dog the glass into the flame without preheating it. And I was so used to using simax that when I got the sba, I exploded quite a few tubes. I bought about 8 cases of sba around a year ago

[Groundjoints.com]

Wait. Raw Dog Greasy Style?


I Understand now.

[nodice]

Gold and silver or just silver?

You weren't askin me but, gold works fine with sba for me, but silver definately has different results then other clears which can be good and bad. Most of the time bad, and I usually use a lot of silver or colors that have silver in them. It's a stiff clear, which is nice in ways when you have a torch like a gtt and are doing hallow work, but.......... I'd rather use chinese glass most of the time, and it's not cause of the price, and I don't use chinese glass anymore. I have a few cases of schott laying around of anyone wants them for a good price:)

[Master Yoda]

fuming schott is the shit! It is the only glass I have been able to get consistent purps out of

[loydb]

The lines definitely don't go away when cold. It sucks, at the rate I use glass, the dozen cases I have will last until 2020 or so.

[MUPH]

I've never used SBA but wouldn't the (over) fume be good for prodo work?

[The Lorax]

i made a clear piece out of simax and schott BA that wasn't annealed.

the simax cracked, the schott didn't.

found that to be kinda interesting, although i'm a fume junkie and i can't go w/o my simax.

[VOORHEES]

fuming schott is the shit! It is the only glass I have been able to get consistent purps out of

Let's see pics.

[broken glass]

I use striking colors for the h colmbs, and have been able to get good red/ purples out of it, but i like the blues a bit better, I guess I will have to get the camera out to show. All with BA and Tripple passion or something like that. Pre heat.....?...I don't do that and don't have problems with exploding tubes.....Not like that chinese tube that i tried a long time ago. I like BA and that is why I keep ordering it.

[Master Yoda]

don't have to many but check the two i/o liners at the top
http://www.glasspipes.org/Img209321__Img209321_case.jpg.asp
light silver+moderate gold = dope

[nodice]

<cough>

[Big Jay]

I've never used SBA but wouldn't the (over) fume be good for prodo work?

no the over fume is a milky white. Most stores won't buy it. It doesn't look horrible but its not going to give you the color change. When using silver colors over BA you have to be really careful if you fume the glass first. I usually melt in silver colors with a very oxydising hissy flame to make sure any extra fume burns off. Just have to get right in the balance right before the flame is so intense that it instantly removes all fume. Sounds complicated but really its just like anything else if your used to it , its not bad. Again on the inside the story changes quickly.

[VOORHEES]

This is the fume strike I was talking about.

It's only silver fume inside simax.

http://www.glasspipes.org/Img156639__Img156639_DSCN1741.JPG.asp

Like I said, I'll use the BA as a stand alone clear, or with opaques only.

[chayes]

As far as the line dissapearing when cold thats simply not true..

The lines definitely don't go away when cold

Why does the line go away for me? Are we talking about the same line? Does it depend on what type of work is being made?

[Dom]

Yea it does, because any lines absolutely go away in iso work for example, but if you make something thinner for example a goblet youll have madd lines.

Im gonna try to blow out a small piece of the "new" 50x5 to see if there are still lines in this glass.

[mistahead]

This is the fume strike I was talking about.

It's only silver fume inside simax.

http://www.glasspipes.org/Img156639__Img156639_DSCN1741.JPG.asp

Like I said, I'll use the BA as a stand alone clear, or with opaques only.


Well thats just crazy anyway mang :p....i never got anything like that from just fume and simax!

[Master Yoda]

no shit, voohres you killed that! The more I think on it I would attribute my like of sba to my flame atmosphere tendencies, works 4 me

[The Lorax]

This is the fume strike I was talking about.

It's only silver fume inside simax.

http://www.glasspipes.org/Img156639__Img156639_DSCN1741.JPG.asp

Like I said, I'll use the BA as a stand alone clear, or with opaques only.

is the background behind the fume work what makes it look so red? i find it crazy that that is only silver... amazing

[CCody]

well yeah... Voorhees is a magician! that is beautiful, was it left in the kiln for afew cycles??? is there a trick to that purps?

we did a test in the shop today, and both my shopmate and I LOVE Schott BA

the clear NEVER cracks in the flame OR on the bench, for either one of us. and in a comparison for FUMING; we also prefer Schott. The white-ish fuming looks better than the Yellow -ish fuming the other tubing resulted in. We even asked a third party (a glass distributor) and her opinion was also for the Schott product. She said the others looked "india made" in comparison...

GO SCHOTT BA!

my two cents (and two other people, so that equals more than a nickel)
christina cody

[michaeL25]

you are doing something inconsistant if you are getting white with sba and yellow with other tubing.

my results, with an equal medium i/o fume, burning off the excess so that it's nearly clear while working and 1 kiln strike:
SBA will give you white
Kimble will give you blue-white
Pyrex will give you more blue and less white than kimble
Simax will give you a faint blue

[Big Jay]

you are doing something inconsistant if you are getting white with sba

SBA will give you white


you lost me there.

[Aussie]

I don't like the fact that SBA isn't available from Schott Australia. From checking prices online, Duran is quite a bit more expensive than SBA and from what Schott Australia has told me there is no difference in quality between Duran and SBA except SBA is cheaper and not available here. I've now (as well as a lot of scientific blowers and art glass blowers) switched to a completely different glass from a different company (TGI) which is a lot cheaper than Duran and marginally better in quality. It also works the same as Duran in regards to fuming. In this case Schott's loss is definitely our gain.

[bc]

Here are two facts about sba. It does NOT fume anywhere near as good as Simax. This isn't even discussable. The other, that no one mentioned, every time I'm going to break off some crap at the tip of my punty the rod always breaks right near your hand, thus wasting all that good 'pull off' punty rod, thus you have to get another an do it again, thus wasting more rod. How did you get those guys to design that? I'm convinced with all the rod that breaks for punty tap offs I could be using simax an prolly saving some cash. The tube, never had a problem.

[Aymie]

Wow...I cannot believe anyone like the results of fuming Simax better than the BA. Now I see what Nick did...and that is some sick shit...but I NEVER get good results off the Simax. I wish I had taken pictures of the sleeved stuff I did in both one day. The Simax was thick hazy blue and you couldn't see any gold at all...the BA held the gold and gave me the entire rainbow of colors. Luken turned me on to the BA...then I picked some up at the FFO (still super sorry about this Adam)...and it has been all I use ever since. Matter of fact, I have some Simax just sitting around that I refuse to use. When I heard y'all were going to make the BA fume like the Simax I was very sad.

[MUPH]

Does anyone have any direct comparison pictures of the fuming differences?

[jr23]

does not matter a bit pictures tell you nothing but lies with fume anyway!

I have seen good fume look like shit in a pic .

And shitty fume look killer.

Fume is susceptible to more variables than just what clear you use.

I get good fume on china glass too!

[Ben Burton Glass]

I really like the SBA, except for applications with colors that reduce... I just don't get the nice green/blues (using aquatic carnival) for my turtle shells, etc. with the SBA. Instead of vibrant greens, it's more of a soft dull washed out yellow-green...

I've found that if you lay lines of Aquatic Carvnival, Blue Moon, Peacock Chameleon, and Silver Strike down on the end of a rod of say 16mm, twist it up, flatten it, punty to back, remove rod, and fire polish into pendant; Those colors will bleed together and all almost look the same, even though there are huge differences between them...

But as long as I'm not working with the reducing colors, the SBA is great! I've had a few small airbubbles run up through the rods, but never the lines and stuff others have mentioned...

aloha!

[Greymatter Glass]

I sell a lot of SBA and have seen a major improvement in quality over the last 2 years. The lines and seeds in the glass are pretty much fixed. That said I still see flaws from time to time, mostly chords and seeds in the smaller diameter rod, 6-10mm. Not a big deal.

I too have issues with how SBA takes fume, usually i just get a foggy white, but I have seen it work with my own eyes, so I know it's something I am doing.

I think there's 2 major factors in how I work that give different results:

1. heat base. if I've had the glass molten and it's still hot it takes fume better/different.

2. reduction/burn off. If I over reduce the fume or fail to burn it off and re-strike it it will be scuzzy white. burn it off in a nice hot oxygen heavy flame then bring it back briefly with a softer but not really reducing flame and it's better.

I still can't get the deep sapphire blue and crimson purple colors from it.

As for it being thermal shocky.... haven't noticed that. I can toss a tube of 10x1 or 50x9 into the flame and it's fine. I don't think I've had a single tube blow up on me.

*p.s. I'm biased, I sell it, but I sell it because I use it and I like it.

-Doug

[D. dino i ninjah]

I use a lot of this stuff and have been for years now it seems
There are issues and i have had bad tubes that just explode
i have also had tubes with lines and uneven wall weight
the rod does boil easily
I have no idea how to fume purple honney combs and i would love to know ?
Mr. Vorhees please a turtorial would be nice

but i can fume the Sba and get the results i thought were cool untill i saw purple
http://www.glasspipes.org/Gal35271_new_fumies_from_the_return_of_the_dank_di nosaur.asp

this pic shows the "haze or crystal growth whatever" well
http://www.glasspipes.org/Img214113__Img214113_DSCN3006.JPG.asp

Purple huh freeken purple off just silver I gottta take some lessons or some thing
but you can get the blue haze most people think of out of sba by just fuming less
and striking less i really don't kiln grow honey combs i flame strike them

with all this said
I rock out on sba for my buck it is simply the best glass for the price

Adam is easy to deal with and seems to be genuine in his desire to contribute to the glass comunity
the good part is the workability of the glass and the price
the bad are the exploding tubes and lines boily rods
i have used old pyrex then simax, then chinex, now all Sba but if i could i would get some old pyrex and love it

[VOORHEES]

Adam is great to deal with, he's very helpful and understanding...great customer service too.

Adam G gets the credit for showing me how to grow the silver out of Simax...it's just making sure you have a good, even amount of fume and learning how to flame strike it properly.

I've made hundreds of honeycombs with Simax that didn't strike how I wanted them to...it takes a lot of patience to get the purple.

With SBA, as long as you blow it out thin enough...you get a nice honeycomb pattern and some nice light blues, but no purple.

[Greymatter Glass]

I gotta agree with Nicky on the purple... I made a really nice honeycomb last night with blues and greens... but not any purple...

I still think it's me.

I can get a purpleish color with a bit of gold.

[Dom]

Dude Ive never even seen such a sick comb let alone made one yet.

The little comb marble with the orange base and green halo is fuckin outrageous.

[The Lorax]

i've been doing honeycombs with simax recently... now i haven't done combs for a long long time so i figured that was my problem at first... but now i am convinced its the simax.


when i do combs w/ simax (44x3) my combs look flat, and 2-dish..... with little to no crystal growth... although with my schott BA (25x4) its like the combs always have a nice 3-d depth from the growth.... i'm gonna give the schott a try tomorrow for combs b/c i think i just found the answer to my honeycomb problem that was driving me crazy this week.


with that said, i prefer simax still for ISO fume work....

anyways.... sorry bout the shitty pics but its the best i can do. comb on the right(its a broken old comb) is SBA, left is simax... its pretty clear how cartoony and shitty the simax one looks, while the SBA one has much better depth. even with the thick walls, the simax one doesn't strike into the glass the way the SBA did...

http://i32.tinypic.com/fp2qa.jpg

[$$$$$$$]

throw those in the kiln for a week or two then snap some photos.. pure simax magic

[The Lorax]

i've never had any luck with kiln striking... but haven't tried much either... hoping to work on techs like that at AGI this year

[nodice]

Isn't that pic voorhese posted ratti with some kinda silver color in it(like amber purple)? Doesn't look like a honeycomb to me.....

[Dom]

Nah its a comb, and there is another comb marble on that same piece that has rad colors too.

And lorax, Adam meant just to throw it in there while you are working, just at the normal 1050. It strikes as the cycles warm up and down.

[MUPH]

Thanks for the pics, I was looking for a comparrison

[jr23]

yep lorax. Same thing as a flame strike its not the high temp its the journey there and back where the magic happens.

The left one will look better after kiln cycles and the one on the right will just get more and more white and cloudy.

depth or no depth I like the one on the left and as it strikes it will grow more.

[fumalicious]

VOORHEES is absolutely right, imo. Sick work man!

I don't mean ANY offense to anyone above, I guess my taste in fume is mad different. But when I get fume like what was posted above I'm really disappointed (obviously aside from VOORHEES colors). I HATE HATE HATE the fume that comes out of BA... it's cloudy, hard to control, and for me personally I just don't like the range of colors you get that actually do come out. The hue itself on any color is just fuzzy and bland... it doesn't POP like it's supposed to.... and I actually have a pretty good handle on how to fume with different glass i.e. duran or simax or pyrex...

You guys say "purple"... look at the top reversal on this bub I made- are you saying that kind of purple with that color of green mixed in? Let alone all the CRISP blues in the canes/ attachments??

http://www.glasspipes.org/Img145936__Img145936_pipe.bubbler.6.8.07.asp

If someone can replicate those colors with BA I'd be VERY impressed- I sure as hell can't do it no matter what I try. If I made that bub out of BA it would be yucky white/ gold. Like VOORHEES said, you get white right and left... and it's not a good shiny sharp white, it's a dull soft blah white. I find it's near impossible to control the fume once applied too- it clouds out HARD no matter what you do, how fast you work, etc.


Other issue for me is rods all the way down to like 8mm pop off pieces in the flame like it's chinex... that sucks. Simax rarely pops at much bigger size rods let alone the small ones. Oh and I have to agree with whoever mentioned small rods breaking a lot... 4mm is like 2mm (as was said).



I do want to say though, Adam is the man and is awesome to deal with- always been stoked. I just wish I liked your glass more Adam!!!

[The Lorax]

And lorax, Adam meant just to throw it in there while you are working, just at the normal 1050. It strikes as the cycles warm up and down.

yea i've done this a few times and noticed no difference... i might not use my kiln as much as you guys tho since i try to use it as little as possible?... like since i do 98% fume work i let most of it bench cool, assemble later and then anneal.. but i've had 1 comb in there for 3 cycles now (it def has some fume, but right now looks 100% clear) maybe i'll toss a slide in there and keep track of it over the week.

i would feel guilty about robbing electricity from my parents if i used my kiln more than i do now also, which is why i like to use it as little as possible..... heh.

and fumealicious, those colors are some serious inspiration and a fine example of what fumework can be. i wish i could fume as consistent as you do, its still somewhat luck for me when i get some amazing colors out of the fume... although i've learned a few tricks along the journey.

[Kevin Bumble]

just got back to this and i havent read it all yet, has ant one mentioned cords? I belive the best way to exsplain my complaint is just this. there seems to be a viscosity break down in the tube formation which causes it to gather weird or show lines when blown thin. my undersanding of this is when the glass is in the crucible it wares down the silica in the walls of the pot the exterere glass content absorbs this and creates the vicosity diference we notice ( ie fume lies) the cord lines bother me more when working with clear thin. That said i'll pay more for better glass (when i need it) my shop encludunig me runs thru this stuff like its water. we love it to use thick, just not cup or goblet work.

[broken glass]

I guess that fuming is the problem, but I don't fume much, and I like the honeycombs that I get from using striking colors heavily encased with Schott BA.......
I am actually going to take my camera today and get some pics, to show that you can do nice combs with it. I get many compliments on them. But it is not a fume comb, so I guess it does not prove anything to those who chose do fume combs, or just want their fume to look top notch in any application while using schott Ba.

Props to Adam though, for having a thread like this to get feedback and relay that to Schott. A great representative for glassblowers. UST allways supporting the scene and evolving with it.

[jr23]

Pics sucked to much light. Had to pull it

but I will make one more out of the tube section I have sleeved then do a side by side with a section of ap sleeved with some other type.

cause it looks like what some like others don't


so pics are a must in this thread.

[$$$$$$$]

Here are a few I have made with Simax, just silver fume, flame struck one time, occasionally 2.

I have one that I made with SBA up at the shop, I'll try to snap a photo of it.

[chayes]

nice.

[mer]

struck once/twice? i'm kinda blown away. you're a madman.

[$$$$$$$]

the last 4 or so I made have only taken one flame strike and they have turned out some of the best colors I have achieved.. The last pic of the faceted one is a one strike.. Some of the others posted are 3-4 years old so I can't quite remember, but the best one's come with one strike..

[jr23]

I have always thought your fume combs where tits. I have seen some with sba with the same type depth and such but every one no matter how nice is really cloudy white.

Oh well to each there own.

Like was said before if they change the formula some will not like it.

what a rock in a hard place he should put up a poll to see how many really like the sba at its current state.

[medicatedMELTDOWN]

I've been wanting to try Schott boro artistic for a long time, but I had a lot of old clear stock to use up first. Now I am at the point where I really need to order at least 7 cases of clear and probably more like 10+ cases. I am trying to decide what brand to go with. I talked to Doug (greymatter glass) over 4 months ago about ordering some cases of schott.(because I thought I could save on shipping since he is closer to me. Now I learned that isn't true since it would have shipped from cali anway...) Anyway Doug offered to send me a sample pack of Schott so I could test it before I ordered cases and I gave him my address and offered to pay for the samples/shipping. I've sent a few more PMs and still haven't heard from him..... Doug? :puzzled:

So I still want to get a decent sample of Schott BA before I place my order. Anyone able to help me out? I would pay for the sample and the shipping, but I got the impression it was common for free samples of schott to be offered by distributors?

[KT-Old School Glass]

I've been wanting to try Schott boro artistic for a long time, but I had a lot of old clear stock to use up first. Now I am at the point where I really need to order at least 7 cases of clear and probably more like 10+ cases. I am trying to decide what brand to go with. I talked to Doug (greymatter glass) over 4 months ago about ordering some cases of schott.(because I thought I could save on shipping since he is closer to me. Now I learned that isn't true since it would have shipped from cali anway...) Anyway Doug offered to send me a sample pack of Schott so I could test it before I ordered cases and I gave him my address and offered to pay for the samples/shipping. I've sent a few more PMs and still haven't heard from him..... Doug? :puzzled:

So I still want to get a decent sample of Schott BA before I place my order. Anyone able to help me out? I would pay for the sample and the shipping, but I got the impression it was common for free samples of schott to be offered by distributors?

Email me your address and all and I will get some samples out to you.

[KT-Old School Glass]

I have stayed off of this thread because I am a distributor of the SBA.

I would like to give my opinion as an artist that works with the SBA though.

I love the working characteristics...a little stiffer with a little longer working time. As far as fuming, it was just a matter of tweaking the way I fume.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't get much of a chance at the torch any more but when I do I use the SBA.

[The Lorax]

struck once/twice? i'm kinda blown away. you're a madman.

seriously... i've try flame striking shit so many times only to result with hazy junk or nothing happening at all.... i dunno how you do it exactly adam, but you do it really well..

[$$$$$$$]

That's what the girls always say

[medicatedMELTDOWN]

Hey Adam(and everyone else) I got a sample of this clear glass from Generations Glass and I've had a lot of fun with it. Check out these photos of the first piece I made with the schott boro artistic: http://www.talkglass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27933

I am still forming an opinion on the glass and I have a bit more to play with, but so far I am impressed with many more things than I dislike.... A few things I noticed seem strange, but I could adapt to work with them. I'll try to write a real review once I have used a lot more of the schottBA.

(here is a preview of the photos) :D

[Christopher Rice]

I love it, PJ turned me onto it a year or so ago and it's all I use for my marbles now. Nice and clear, and great pricing!
-chris

[newmexicomagma]

uneven wall thickness. at least in the heavy wall, havent tried the medium.

[Kool]

I just realized I had an old photo (2 or 3 years ago, maybe?) of a sleeved piece done with SBA...it's SBA on the inside and the outside....silver and gold fume.

Sorry about the quality of the photo...it was done with my old camera, which sucked....so at the time I didn't even try to make the photos look good because it wasn't worth the effort.

Anyway, this photo is definitely not the best example, but I wanted to show that getting the blue colors (like around the mouthpiece) is possible with SBA.

[sertaiz]

waittttt.... could you make that exact pipe and have point be the carb twisted to meet your finger somewhere? is that pointless or cool. ill try it out.


Its still fumy looking, but sweet piece

[Brad]

I have had several pallets of boro artisric in the last 2 yrs. I am now switching back to Simax because: the fume is not as nice , the standard wall I use for cups allways shows flaws when held up to the light , the heavy wall is a little shocky. B.oro artistic has its place in my studio, but its not top shelf stuff, it is great economy glass. I guess it's like color rod... odds can be usefull , just not allways the best choice.

[broken glass]

For some reason i can't figuire out how to resize photos on my comp so had to the rents........ this pic is ok, kind of shows the range of colors, looks way better in sunlight......And this is not fume, just three types of striking colors over 32x4, then encased in 50x5 two or three times....untill i like the look, I do a comb, and if the color bleeds to the surface, needs more clear, then try again......Not the same look as the fume combs by vorhees, cupcake, and others, Props to you all, but I like the look of my shott combs as well, and no complaints from buyers.

[broken glass]

here are some more different shots, i like this one as you can see greens, blues, purps, and most everything inbetween....Not sure how the photos will show it tho?

[SNYD]

The new 50X5 I got seams to fume fine, but the rod I got a couple years ago does seam to turn milky. Over all I love the BA.
Peace
Nate

[Dom]

I disagree, the new 50x5 fumes crappy. It takes alot more silver to get any effect, and it can still turn milky white. Plus its damn near impossible to get the cool blue halo effect on the new 50x5.