Thank you very much for your question. The article "Annealing and Pre-Annealing Your Beads" by Donna Milliron, The Bead Release, May 1996 v. 3 no 2. pp. 1-2, addresses the question of annealing beads.
The question do beads need to annea in a kiln is a valid and important question.
Milleron asks,
can beads be placed in a pot of cold vermiculite
a pot of vermiculite on a burner
a shallow pan of vermiculite on a burner
a heated crock-pot full of vermiculite
surround the bead in thick ceramic fiber
a coffee can at the tip end of a torch filled with vermiculite
"Most of them raced right on through the annealing ranges and almost straight down until around 300 degrees F, where they began to slow down and level off to room temperature. In other words all of these methods do basically one thing - prevent thermal shock until you have an opportunity to anneal them. All of these beads would be essentially "little tiny time bombs" because they cool so fast."
Thus the beads should be annealed in a kiln to prevent breakage.
Bandhu Scott Dunham's book, "Contemporary Lampworking: a Practical Guide to Shaping Glass in the Flame" has a great chapter regarding annealing.
If you wish to obtain copies of any of these articles, please contact your local library. The Rakow Research Library is a member of the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC); your library can contact us through OCLC or they may mail an Interlibrary Loan form to us. You may request up to five items at a time. We send scans of articles and microfiche copies of our books (if they have been microfilmed) through Interlibrary Loan for four weeks use.
