pendants, compositions and figurines. In 1968, English metallurgist John Burton brought his hobby of hand-mixing metallic oxides into borosilicate glass to Los Angeles. Burton began a glass workshop at Pepperdine College, with instructor Margaret Youd. A few of the students in the classes, including Suellen Fowler, discovered that a specific combination of oxides made a glass that would shift from amber to purples and blues, depending on the heat and flame atmosphere. Fowler shared this combination with Paul Trautman, who formulated the first small-batch colored borosilicate recipes. He then founded Northstar Glassworks in the mid-1980s, the first factory devoted solely to producing colored borosilicate glass rods and tubes for use by artists in the flame. Trautman also developed the techniques and technology to make the small-batch colored boro that is used by a number of similar companies. Beadmaking In recent years, with the resurgence of lampworking as a technique to make handmade glass beads, borosilicate has become a popular material in many glass artists' studios. Borosilicate for beadmaking comes in thin, pencil-like rods. Glass Alchemy, Trautman Art Glass, and Northstar are popular manufacturers, although there are other brands available. The metals used to color borosilicate glass, particularly silver, often create strikingly beautiful and unpredictable results when melted in an oxygen-gas torch flame. Because it is more shock-resistant and stronger than soft glass, borosilicate is particularly suited for pipe making, as well as sculpting figures and creating large beads. The tools used for making glass beads from borosilicate glass are the same as those used for making glass beads from soft glass. References Glass compositions Boron compounds Transparent materials Fused filament fabrication Low thermal expansion materials