Heavy Blue Leprechaun checking.....

[Louie HaHa]

I have used this color many times before and have never had a problem working it in any way. Wrapping it on the outside, inside out, imploding, coiling, re-balls, all have been like butter.

I pulled a full color tube of half HBL and half jet black, white, and grape stripes. I did a bunch of bender backs and noticed 2 of the 8 balls-to-be had checked. Kinda weird. I tried balling up the checked ones and the checks cleared up with no problem.

Like a dumbass I used one of them for a montage ball and after annealing it I pulled it out of the kiln and it re-checked.....:wes: pretty frustating.

Anybody have any techniques/tips to get those checks out so I can use what I have made already? I have never been able to fully fix checked pieces (with other colors) in the past.

Thanks in advance------

[KT-Old School Glass]

Off batch of HBL... It happens with the "aventurine" colors from time to time from any company.

99% of the time you won't be able to keep these colors from checking/cracking if they start.

[jello]

HBL like to phase separate as well... Do not keep on kiln for more them one cycle and keep away from the elements.

[kq9ak]

I have used it everything with minimal problems, for some reason it dosen't like to be in line tubing, although it can be done. Bench cool all reballs before using, if they check they are no good. Run kiln at 960 when garaging may help as well.

[FredLight]

Sparkle colors checking?

No, say it ain't so.

[themoch]

When i went to do furnace dips i had a tube of 50x5 covered in HBL (one of my favorite colors) and at some point in the middle of the night i woke up and was like, "shit i've left that tube in the dipping prep oven for the last 13 hours". the oven was set at 1200 to be ready to dip right in the glass...


needless to say this is what it looked like only minutes after pulling the tube.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/263602_10100246470313402_9101065_49905672_6318460_ n.jpg

[FredLight]

Yikes!! What's the pink color on top, so I know to avoid it?

[LarryC]

Yikes....Cooked it.

[Julian]

Ha... oh no, I hate jumping out of bed thinking "THE KILN!!".

[themoch]

The pink color isn't what caused the cracking. It was the fact that I held the hbl at too high a temp for waaaaaaay too long.

[FredLight]

I had no belief in the pink checking, it's just ugly.

[Louie HaHa]

hmmmm.... so if I have an "off-batch" of hbl, bought a pound of it, what are the chances ABR will hook me up with a new pound or credit me?

I'll try again, but keep my kiln lower, been garaging around 1070 lately.

[kq9ak]

Try under 1000

[Snurf]

Try mixing a few rods down with clear. 10parts clear to one part hbl...... enjoy the stardust

[Shatner]

Try under 1000

This. I garage at 900, especially with sparkly colors.

[Dom]

hmmmm.... so if I have an "off-batch" of hbl, bought a pound of it, what are the chances ABR will hook me up with a new pound or credit me?

I'll try again, but keep my kiln lower, been garaging around 1070 lately.

Very slim since its just a bad batch, however the chances of Trautman exchanging the bad stuff is 100 percent. Give them a call and talk to Jenny or Paul if you can, he will want to see what went wrong with your rods Im sure. And they are very nice about trading in bad glass.

[Aymie]

I have found trautman, glass alchemy, and northwest to all be great about exchanging bad glass.

Ross is going to tell you to call them directly as that's what all the color companies prefer. Might as well save yourself the time and go right to Jenny. She is awesome and super helpful.

However, I too am doubting that it's a bad batch. As everyone said, sparkle hates long kilning, high temps, or multiple trips in and out of the heat. However, they may be willing to trade it in based on the fact that it won't work for what you do.

Something to try, I heard that cowboy gets an all over sparkle by putting tiny stringers of sparkle colors in between the rods before pilling down the tube. Real tiny, small enough to fit in that minute gap that the round rods leave between each and the clear. I have a bracelet I made from some tube he gave me and it looks like he did a blow in of mixed down disco before doing the stack. A friend said it was actually done the way I described with the stringers. However, you might try to blow in method. Not sure if it would work, I don't pull many stacks, but it seems to me like it would lessen the concentration on thick sparkle rod that tends to crack.

All that being said, my only luck with fixing checking stuff is to heal it, flame anneal it, then ramp the kiln down very slowly. And probably not worth taking the chance of using it unless you are doing something small and easy like capped spoons.