Tips and Techniques: How to Deal with Devitrifying Opaque Glass Colors
There are a number of gorgeous glass colors made by Effetre that have an annoying tendency to devitrify while you are working them in a torch flame. I had been plagued with this problem for years and was so frustrated by it that I avoided using any of the devitrifying colors.
The colors that I had the most problems with were:
- 591254 – Effetre Purple Premium Opaque Pastel ( nicknamed EDP – evil devitrifying purple)
- 591256 – Effetre Dark Pink Premium Opaque Pastel
- 591257 – Effetre Sedona Premium Opaque Pastel
- 591267 – Effetre Calico Premium Opaque Pastel
Devitrification is when a glass color undergoes a change in texture from glassy to crystalline on the surface of a bead or other glass object while being heated in a torch flame.
Devitrification can be a challenging occurrence and of course it happens with some of the most popular opaque colors, but not to worry because there is a simple solution to the problem. I have asked lots of beadmakers if they knew an easy fix to this problem and one friend of mine Sue Stewart, told me the best solution I have learned and tested to date.
To make the devitrification go away on your bead surface, all you have to do is take some of the oxygen out of your torch flame, making the center candle of your torch flame a little longer than the outer ring of the torch flame.
This simple adjustment keeps the surface of the bead looking glassy instead of chalky whitish-gray. Every torch is slightly different, so it is wise to play around with the length of the center candle of your torch flame until you achieve the desired results.
Click on photos to see larger image.
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| Bead of EDP with Ivory designs showing devitrifiation. | Bead of EDP made in propane rich reduction flame. |
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| Bead made of Calico showing devitrification. | Bead made of Calico with no devitrification. |
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| Sedona with some devitrification. | Sedona bead made in a propane rich reduction flame. |
I LOVE purple but cannot make EDP (254) work on my hothead. I also live your Calico glass but don’t want to buy until I fix the chalky devitrifying issue. My problem is I don’t understand your directions above regarding the torch flame, etc. Can you please explain in more detail and/or share pictures as an example?
Can this be done on a HH? I suspect my HH is biased to a reducing flame ( I think that’s less oxygen, right?) because I never have an issue getting silvery glass colors to turn silver (reduce). I have assumed that is was why I could never get my purple EDP to work.
All hints are appreciated!!
Thank you,
Michelle
Hi Michelle,
The way I get EDP to turn purple instead of ugly gray, I introduce a little more propane to my flame. I have not worked this issues out on a Hot Head because I rarely use a Hot Head torch.
The atomosphere of a Hot Head torch flame is very different than that of an oxygen/propane flame, there are no options to change the flame on a Hot Head and this doesn’t leave you any way to change the flame to please the glass.
Another tip that might help you in your quest to use EDP is, after I complete making the shape of a bead and I am finishing the surface polishing in the flame, I cool the bead down a little bit and then I introduce it to the far tip of the flame and kiss the surface of the bead to heat just the very top layer of the EDP and that sometimes brings the gold pink back to the surface and produces a beautiful bead.
There is a free tutorial on www,lampworketc.com in the “Tips and Technique” section that might be helpful to you, that was written by a beadmaker who really gets great color out of EDP.
Good Luck with your beadmaking.