When I started lampworking, a bottle of Fusion Products bead release came with the kit and that was what I used for a while. It worked well, and suited my needs because I hadn't tried anything else. Once in a while, I would marver a little too vigorously and the bead would come loose and I'd have to be finished whatever I was doing. That was when I remembered someone talking about this blue "dip and go" stuff that was so much better. Nothing I looked at was blue, but there was a product from Milliron Tools called Dip-n-Go Sludge that seemed to fit the bill. It worked very well and suddenly, flakes of bead release on the beads and having to quit real quick weren't a problem anymore. It comes in a wide-mouth jar and is a bit of a pain to mix but is smooth, consistant and reliable. Then a jar of Planet Glass' bead release came with some glass I bought and I had to give it a try.
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I'd like to note the shape of the bottle. Long and narrow is a good thing. When it comes to using it, though, there are one or 2 little issues. Dipping the mandrels results in uneven coverage so often I've taken to dipping them twice. Also, flame drying this much bead release results in a bit of flaking, which I'm not at all comfortable with. Assuming that I have the foresight to dip ahead of time and am careful, I have mandrels dipped in release. It works well. I didn't have any separation or flaking off when using and the beads are cleaned in a fraction of the time it takes with my standard Dip-n-Go.
Short and squat results in a lot of product that is just sitting on the far and not the mandrels, and I have to combine almost done jars to get enough to use. It flame dries beautifully and doesn't come loose. For cleaning either. I often have to keep scrubbing.
Would I buy Universal Bead Release? Probably not. I like my standby, even though I wish they'd come out with a different package. That uneven coverage thing and having to dip mandrels more than once is a drag.
A while back I tested out Effetre dark pumpkin and swore I would never, ever use the color again. I lied. Halloween fast approacheth and I find myself making pumpkins, and the light pumpkin, while still pumpkin colored, doesn't have the oomph for what I wanted. So I put on the safety glasses and removed anything remotely flamable from my work area, preheated a new rod in the annealer and held my breath. Keeping in mind the explosiveness I had experienced in the past, I gennnntly heated the rods and to my amazement, after the end popped off it settled down and was workable. I did get what I think might have been a bubble in the rod that blew the end off once, but no more raining chunks of hot glass. Yay! I might be able to use this color if I remember it needs to be annealed first. I also took the precaution of running a long soak and a slow cool with the finished beads just in case. The above pendant is made with dark pumpkin with CiM split pea and Slytherin vine cane. The set below is the same combination of glasses. I was very happy with the way both came out. Will I use dark pumpkin again? Yes, with extreme caution and not when I'm wearing anything I'm attached to.
