Posted by Mike Jackson on April 04, 2003
Olympic Color RodsWell,
I have been on the trail of the colored glass smalt(s) or frit.
Danny Baronian and David McDonald have been very instrumental in leading the way on this one, but I am quite certain we now have "the source". The people at Olympic confirmed selling frit to Rick.
The sample color above is a nice dark blue from Reichenbach. You can search around in that section and see groupings of reds, blues, greens, and so forth. Click on the "colors" in the left navigation bar to see other manufacturers, and you can scroll around on those pages and colors.
The link below will take you to a page on their site showing the different sizes. I ordered a pretty good selection of the darkest, richest looking colors today. By next week, I should be able to help pick which colors most people will want. From the chart, it looks like #1 and #2 would be the best for traditional "glass smalts". #1 is slightly finer and might be better on smaller signs and #2 should work better on the larger ones. I don't know yet which size Rick was buying but Danny Baronian thinks #1 would be a safe bet. From the photos on their page, I'd probably agree.
Reichenbach also has a really beautiful dark red called Ox Blood, which should be interesting. Also, #0 is probably about the size we used to call "Sand smalts".
You can place orders direct to them, with the average price of these running around $20 per KILO (that's 2.2 lbs), so the price is actually not that bad. The prices you see on their site is based on kilos.
Lastly, Rick orded some of the Kugler glass, but that is being discontinued at Olympic. Kugler glass frit can be purchased at www.hotglasscolor.com
OLYMPIC COLOR RODS
818 JOHN ST.
SEATLE, WA 98109
TEL 1-800 445 7742
FAX 206 343 2292
Hope this helps!
Mike Jackson
http://www.glasscolor.com/catalog/color ... Opaque.asp
Robert Beverly
This is great Mike! I hope to have my little contribution ready soon!
Robert
Denver Chapter of the Letterheads