pre strike rod for stick stack

[nicko0]

i read on here someone mention pre striking amber purple rods in the kiln before stick stacking to bring out the silver more so it hits that purple better.

how long and at what temp works for you?

i am using simax tubing and want to use double ap to be more specific.

do i need to be able to see the blue hue coming out on the surface of the rod when i kiln strike it to get it to show up in the stack?

i like striking things at 1200 for short spirts so ill be doing a series of strikes, a little longer a little longer and stack em all together to see what works.

just get me in the ballpark so i can start.

[BlueLilyStudio]

I think you would be better off hitting the rods with a reduction flame to develop a haze rather than using a kiln. The kiln isn't going to get the rods to haze up at all. You'll get better results that way and its faster because you don't need to ramp up the kiln separately for other working.

[somewhere]

That sounds a bit backwards. I always burn off all the haze to get a good strike. Sorry I don't have a answer for the stick stack I have always worked the ap out when reballing.

[nicko0]

the haze will come up in the kiln. i can do a batch all at once in the kiln and have more control over the strike and the kiln does all the work saving me time.

i guess since the rod never sees the flame it doesnt get the silver going so for me the ap never pets purply in a piece done with stacked. but i love the way ap looks on the inside when it does purple up. i could kiln strike the finished pieces like a dozen times but doesnt always come up really nice. if the ap is near the surface it works better for the striking part and the way it gets way hotter while working it. allowing the silver to bleed. (i think)

i think i i might just put it in some pyrex and hope that it doesnt react too much.

maybe kimble? havent used it in soooo long.

[FredLight]

I would think you aren't wanting it to haze up?

Wouldn't even see the purple if it hazed up, that's why you're pre-striking it?

I don't know, sometimes, if I encase the AP, I have a real hard time with the haze and the purple doesn't show through it.

Can you post pics of the various kiln strikes and what temps?

Would be nice to have a bit of documentation, no?

[Eric S]

i know someone who swears up and down that striking triple passion and some others before pulling into stringers makes a difference. by the time they're pulled into stringers, they're trans again and seem to be reset, but he's shown me lots of pieces made both ways (he makes at leastl 30-40 pieces every day) and the difference is noticable.

[nicko0]

yeah im gonna keep notes and post results (uless pyrex works out then i might not get back to that for a while)

its the slight blue haze that gives it that purple color the way i see it. (yeah haze is a poor choice of words cause it usually describes the thick cream colored silver build up.)

[SNYD]

This seems pointless because when you do the tube pull you are going to reset the strike history. I do stick stacks all the time with silver colors ( Green Flambe is my favorite for this) and have no problem striking when the piece is finished. But yea it would be interesting to see the difference.

[nicko0]

i think the silver on the surface gets to react with the air and also maybe collect at the surface of the rod. when inside a stack it is exposed to air for a very short time and the silver gets to travel into the clear instead of collecting at one point.

like when you lay color into a tube old school; the silver colors come out sometimes quite different than a stack.