getting red to strike in a wafer

[Kate Saunders]

I want use red in a couple of wafers I'm making, but I haven't been able to get it to strike true red yet. I fired them up to 1285 the first time, 1300 the next. Still orange looking. I e-mailed BE and they told me it would only strike at full fusing temperatures but I've gotten red in wafers in the past, and I don't think it could have possibly been at full fuse temps. I don't want to just do a test run for two wafers, thought I'd ask here first. Learned my lesson--take better notes! Thanks!

[Brad Walker]

My guess is that the red Bullseye makes today requires the higher temperature to fully strike, while the one they made in years past didn't. That's true of a lot of their colors, which tend to be sold as strikers where they used to be already struck (or at least partially struck) at the factory.

You might try a hold at around 1250F on the way up to see if that helps, but I don't think it will solve everything.

[Kate Saunders]

Hmmm....the red powder I am using is the same stuff I used on the original wafers (I buy the big jars). I'll just take a reject wafer and fire it with a regular load. Or e-mail the wafer master himself.

[JestersBaubles]

Try 1325.

Dana W.

[Babette (Shawn)]

What do you plan to do with your wafer?

[Morganica]

Which red?

[Kate Saunders]

At 1340 the opal red powder finally turned red enough for my needs. I also tried pimento and tomato reds, which didn't strike very much at 1340. I'm using the wafer on top of glass that has had some powdered glass fired into it already, so the red and the white on the wafer has to be pretty dense. I'm building little glass houses, and the wafer will be part of the
roof design. Thanks for your replies!