Monday, October 13, 2008

Best Bead Release

Finally I have gotten to try the bead release sample I was given at the Down the Street Bead Show by the owners of Forward Motion Arts. This is the release that they formulated specifically for higher humidity areas. Most of the releases out there are created in the inter-mountain West, where it is generally very dry (and OH, how I miss that lack of humidity!). The problem is that for those of us in more humid areas, the release flakes and pops and generally misbehaves.

I can't claim to have worked with it extensively, but so far the Best Bead Release is living up to its claim. It has passed at least three tests. 1) It flame-dries well, with minimal popping or flaking. 2) It air dries well, and does not flake or crack even after sitting on the mandrel for a solid week. 3) It stood up to boro work. I have not pressed much with it, and when I did I found that it flaked about the same amount that a mixture of Foster Fire Smooth 'n Tuff and a smidge of Dirty Looie's (which, alone, is one of the worst releases I have ever used, but which seems to add something good to Smooth 'n Tuff, go figure). But that was with flame drying, and at least the release didn't produce the sludge that sticks to the ends of beads.

Will post more as I try it, but thus far the Best Bead Release has a cautious thumbs-up from me.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Excellent to know!! I'm going to abuse it with some boro this week, so we'll see how I do with it.