Advice needed on finishing PMC/glass beads

[Black Heart Beads]

Hi, I'm new to using PMC. Although I know how to finish PMC beads I wondered if any of you had used it with lampwork beads and if so how do you finish them?

The photos show what I've been working on lately.

The heart is covered in PMC3 which I have brushed and although I like the finish for this bead I would like to get a smooth look on some of the other ones I've done. I have some embossing tools I'm going to have a go with, but the beads take so long to make and burnishing by hand will take ages. Do any of you use a tumbler and if so do you think it would work on these beads? The gap between the bumps is very small.

The goddess has a vine wrapped around her. I have tried to make it go around the contours of her body so that the PMC has a good grip on the glass. They are brushes quite harshly and it seems firmly attached. Do you think these would also survive tumbling? Is tumbling suitable for irregular shaped beads?

Do any of you use anything else? I don't want to get a tumbler unless its handy for doing these sorts of beads as I'm not intending to do PMC on its own.

Thanks for reading and any advice will be gratefully received.

[ebj]

Those are STUNNING. I have a tumbler and I bung most of my metal clay work in it as long as its not too delicate. It has stainless steel shot in it and I dont know what that does to lampwork, but I am happy to bung a lampwork bead in it next week when I get to my studio, and let you know lol. Tumbling wont give you a mirror finish or even make the surface smooth, but  it would make it shiny. And I'm not sure if the gaps between the glass on the heart bead would be a little small for the tumbler to get to.

Have you thought of oxidising these at all with liver of sulphur? It would look great with the goddess. x

[Soozintheshed]

How gorgeous !

I just asked George about tumbling lampwork, and she does it with no problems.

[Billie]

Beautiful work 

[julieHB]

Hi Sam,

I have tumbled fused glass with pmc for long periods without the glass being scratched or the pmc come away.  Be aware that crevices/cracks smaller than the shots will not be polished, so your heart might not come up as you wish.  I normally use a metalbrush before i tumble.  I think a tumbler would not be so successful with your heart (d/t small distance between dots), whereas your goddess would come up lovely and shiny.

For a very high shine you need to find your dremel (or elbow grease) and put on finer and finer abrasive papers and finally polish it up.  Hope this helps  

Oh, by the way, absolutely beautiful pieces - i wish I could make a goddess like that, drooool    

[Fired Silver]

Hi, I've been experimenting with adding PMC to lampwork beads and have tumbled them with really good results so they should be fine.  As someone else said, the gaps on your heart bead might be too small to polish up very well, but the goddess will be fine.

Lovely work!

Rebecca

[Donna@Rockin' Beads]

I'm afaid I have nothing to add to this other than, both beads are fantastic but that goddess..... gorgeous.

[Amber]

I'm afaid I have nothing to add to this other than, both beads are fantastic but that goddess..... gorgeous.

What she said...and be sure to let us know when you start selling those goddesses! 

[Black Heart Beads]

Thanks everyone for your comments and advice.

I will get some liver of sulphur and give it a go. It looks like I will need to start saving for a tumbler but accept that the hearts will need finishing by hand.

Julie I also wanted to say thanks for your advice on firing.

I hope to have some goddesses ready to sell in a week or so.

Thanks again

[TiaraHelen]

You might save some money on the liver of sulphur by trying this method first (taught to me on a PMC intro course), I've not tried it myself but it looked really impressive in the demo.

Just hard-boil an egg and break it up a little, put it in a jar with your piece, put the lid on, and watch... I think you can put it somewhere warm to accelerate the reaction.

Good luck!  I love the way the vine hangs over the goddess btw.

[DragonflyLynne]

Beautiful work! And if you use an egg, make sure that it doesn't actually touch your work. Put it in a separate container and then put this into a zip lock or similar with your work. 

[Black Heart Beads]

Thanks I will try that today.