Loving Lampwork Beads

What is Frit?

If you've been around lampwork beads very long, you'll have heard the term frit. But what exactly is frit, and why do some of us go ga-ga over it?

Frit is an addictive tool in the lampworker's box of tricks, so let's talk about it today.

First -- What is Frit Anyway?

Frit is a term for ground glass. It can be ground as fine as powder, or can be coarse as large gravel. Somewhere in-between is where most of the frit action happens with lampwork.

Now here's a photo of some frit that I made up myself. I bought some single colors, then I combined a few of them together. If I recall correctly, this one had 4 different glass colors in it. Most of it is size 1, which is about like medium-grind coffee in size and texture.

You can buy frit in single colors, or in ready-made blends. It's available in COEs 33, 90, 96 and 104.

Using Frit

So now you have some of this stuff -- how in the world do you use it? And for that matter, why would you want to use it?

Because of the wonderful designs it can create in your glass beads!

To the left are some beads I made with some frit; I believe I got the frit blend from Robin at Glass Diversions. (While I still enjoy creating my own blends, I also still like to buy some from other people.)

You can roll the beads in frit lightly (like I did with this white set) or you can roll it on very thickly for a completely different look.

You can swirl the melted frit, rake it, make it into frit twisties and use those for decoration -- the possibilities are endless!

And if you like, get some fine clear frit and make sugar beads out of them! That is, roll the hot beads in the clear frit and just barely melt it in. It looks like it's sugar-coated!

I do have to warn you, though -- frit is addicting to use! I myself probably have more than 50 colors and blends. I know people who have many, many more.

Mixing COEs in Frit

This is a touchy subject for the most part. Some people say never, ever mix different COEs (frit versus base bead) and others say a little is OK -- like a light roll in 96 COE frit on a 104 COE base bead.

You'll have to make up your own mind on that, but here are my general rules:

COE 33 frit can be used on boro beads only.
COE 90 frit can be used on Bullseye beads only.
COE 96 frit can be used on both Bullseye and soft (COE 104) glass in small amounts. And of course used with abandon on COE 96 base beads.
COE 104 frit can be used on a base bead of COE 104.

You'll have to read all the arguements for and against, make some test beads, then decide for yourself. Like I said, these are my general rules, and so far they have worked well for me.

Well, that's it for now. You can look in my lampwork galleries for examples of other frit beads I've made. Come to think of it, I should devote a page just for frit beads!

Meanwhile, here's some frit that I found on ebay, both the actual frit and beads made with it. Enjoy!