flux for Ballentini beads

[Laurie Young]

I was wondering if anyone knows what sort of flux to use with Ballentini beads that can be used dry? I want to use onglazes to color the beads, but want to make frit wafers after mixing up the colors. Thanks!

[davebross]

Laurie,

OK, now I'm curious...

What is a Ballentini bead?

More detail on what you're wanting to do?

[Laurie Young]

Balentini beads are little glass sheres ranging in size from sand size to 10 mm. They are used as an industrial abrasive and to create the refractory "sparkle" in roads and runways. They are really cheap to buy, so I have been trying to use them for some pate de verre castings. I have mixed bullseye powers to try and get intense colours and flux the beads, but have had problems with that method. I have mixed them with mason stains, onglazes and glass enamels with varying sucess. One of the problems is compatibility, some are made in Mexico, some in eastern europe and some here in Melbourne. Another problem is they are of a greenish hue which is more pronounced when cast- the project that I am working on needs realy intense strong colours- I think that I shall have to go back to using the dearer Bullseye to achieve the look I want. Because the beads do not have a flux in them they are hard to fuse, I was hoping the Bullseye powder would do the trick, but it is not really the answer.

[rodney]

on these highway glass beads ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,if you raised the temp, would that make them fuse better, what temp are you using now, thanks, rodney

[Laurie Young]

I have been going to 860, there seems to be a difference in the fusability depending on the size of the bead and where it is made. Thr 2mm seems to have the most problems and the powdery ones tend to crumble even after firing. They are quite effective used in larger scale casting where fine detail is not wanted, and the effect with the 10mm balls is really quite interesting.

[Ron Coleman]

I was wondering if anyone knows what sort of flux to use with Ballentini beads that can be used dry? I want to use onglazes to color the beads, but want to make frit wafers after mixing up the colors. Thanks!

You might look into Ferro Frits and specifically #3419. It is a high lead content frit that melts at a low temp (540 c) and fires clear. It seem to be compatable with just about every type of glass (it must be very soft).

Here's a link to a listing of frits and properties.

http://home.earthlink.net/~fgaydos/frits.html

Remember it's high in lead so use caution.

Ron

[davebross]

The lead frit sounds like a great idea. Lead is so forgiving on expansion mismatches. Might want to try for all one type of ballentini beads if possible. someone here posted a great link to a kiln casting artist who was breaking sheets of tempered glass to get the pelletts that result. She was also using oxides directly on the glass for color.The tempered glass pieces would be bigger than what you want maybe. All automotive side and back windows are tempered glass so there's a cheap and plentiful source. CR Loo has color to match window glass.

Perhaps using the actual oxides or carbonates of cobalt, copper, etc.would get you the color you're after too. Might get a very interesting effect mixed with the lead frit. I'll assume you know the selenium/cadmium reds and yellows don't work with lead (instant brown, and not a pretty one). Cadmium and Selenium are extremely poisonous anyway so no fun to work with.