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I've been making glass beads for about 12 years, and was taught
to anneal in vermiculite. Since the method works for me, I've
resisted the urge to buy an expensive "annealing kiln". The dust
can be a problem, however. I've solved this by buying large bags
of vermiculite from a commercial gardening/orchard supply place
rather than at a regular nursery. It is available in particle
sizes if you buy it through a commercial supplier. I use the
"coarse". The coarse lumps are much larger than the fine stuff
you'd get at a nursery (coarse is about the size of lentils), and
there's virtually no dust. With use over time, as it is exposed
to the heat of your enameled or glass pieces, the vermiculite
will break down and gradually become dusty. Throw it in the
garden and start over with new stuff. A bag of commercial
vermiculite is about as big as a 50 lb bag of dog food - a lot of
stuff. But it's very cheap, and if you garden or know gardeners,
it's very useable.
The other thing I do to help eliminate dust is to use a deep
coffee can full of vermiculite, rather than a shallow pan. There
is less exposed vermiculite surface area, therefore less dust in
the air.
Hope this helps.
Rene Roberts
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