Some very interesting comments both pos and neg on Wet Canvas glass section.
I have assimilated my own opinion of Terra, but shall keep quiet counsel about it, as the jury is still out.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=423549
personally I find that it's' the current moonphase that dictates my success with this glass...well... that and my lucky pants !!!!... lol....
Worth a read through I reckon... thanks Ray :)
I have a love/hate relationship with it.... I'm sure I do the same thing with it each time but the colour either "pops" or doesn't and I never know what I'm going to get after it goes in the kiln.... I think I prefer raku... But that sentiment depends on my mood ::) ;D ;D
Quote from: Les on June 29, 2007, 10:12:24 AM
well... that and my lucky pants !!!!... lol....
Worth a read through I reckon... thanks Ray :)
Lucky pants be B***ered... I read The World according to Clarkson ..Jeremy... whilst on holiday and he said... when he travels he can get 4 days out of a pair of pants. Inside outside back to front and front to back. Also said one of his camera men claims to get 5 days ??? :D
ROFLMAO ;D
Thanks for that Ray. Some very interesting reading there. I'm having my own personal all out war with Terra. I REFUSE to be beaten by a bl**dy stick of glass!! Grrr I shall win you mark my words!! Right then, I am off to try again LOL
I don't want to give up on it either... It just keeps reeling me back in ;D ;D I'm determined to work it out for consistent results. It's an expensive glass to play around with, but when you see the results from other peoples work you know it can be done, you just have to find the key to unlocking that secret... and I think the key may change from session to session... ;D It's like having a charming ex. boyfriend who you know is no good, but you just can't resist that smile... LOL ;)
Can I add my opinion here as a buyer?
I haven't made a firm decision about it yet. The only terra beads I own are a beautiful set that Mary made (Terra sunset harmony). But it wasn't just the terra that made it so. It was the shape and the faceting of the beads and the fact that they fulfilled a very specific job I had in mind for them. Terra can sometimes look a bit boring (especially when you see it on almost every lampworker's website). I understand that it is challenging and therefore very interesting to work with (trust me if I was lampworking I'd been trying to tame it myself) but from a commercial point of view, I don't think the average customer appreciates the effect or the (high) cost.
So by all means, have a play but don't forget there's lots of wonderful glass out there.
That has me nodding my head. Good feedback ;)
I would agree that it just aint worth all the hassle but I bought my Terra for a very good reason, a customer has requested 12 focals made from it and thats money I can't refuse LOL. So I shall tame this damn glass if it kills me!! >:(
Gosh Emma, you get customers specifying glass type? And I thought I asked for awkward commissions! :o
Quote from: nemea on June 29, 2007, 11:45:49 AM
Gosh Emma, you get customers specifying glass type? And I thought I asked for awkward commissions! :o
If only you knew what some of my other customers ask for. I could tell you but you wouldn't believe me ;) LOL
Maybe we could start a "strangest customer request" thread... ;D ;D
I wouldn't even know where to start with mine er.... one springs to mind, she wanted a teddy bear with a robin hood stylee hat on,holding a heart, sat in a frying pan and a matching fairy Tink style one LOL. Of course I said I would do it, my bank balance has no shame ;D
Now I wish you had a photo of that! But I think the idea of a strange request thread is great!
Not wishing to detour too much on matters, I'd like to offer one smidgen of advice on Terra glass workability.
The rods are pulled very thin and most likely to optimize the VFM on sales and margin for DH. Less is more kinda thinking :-\ It may get so you receive even less glass one day because the marketing guys tell sales to pull the wool even farther over your eyes.
Its not what they say, its the sweet music of happy colorful glass we presume we'll get with this miracle glass concoction
The Terra glass canes are multi layered if you look with a magnifying glass on the end. Like Lauscha marble ( Kryolyth ) where the gather is drawn from several different furnaces each having a different metal oxide grade in the batch.
So what does this mean ? When you apply the Terra sparingly, your laying it down several oxide layers thick. All those oxide colors are there, but one on top of another.
For me to get anything like the rainbow we desire, I had to rip the stuff around and unearth the shades beneath. So as well as revisiting the flame to bring certain hints and nuances out... your on a loser if the oxide layer you need, is tucked away under a layer of color that you don't want.
Also and as we read on W/C, there's the risk of the metals causing an unwanted scummy fumed appearance.
So two rules have emerged, if not more... Be agressive with the application, and when your ready to strike the colors after partial cooling, do it fairly quickly and be happy with the first shades that appear. Cos if the shades your looking for and hence the correct oxide layer is not on the top and apparent, then you can reheat and tease it all day and it'll get muddier and muddier until you throw it at the wall.
Be interested to hear more about the results of FH people in due course.
I must admit, the best results I've had are when I've raked the sh*t out of it after laying it down as spirals on a transparent base... It just gets so washed out in the kiln though >:(
As a certified glass fool ;) I had to get some terra too. first it sat on the shelve because I was afraid to use it. Then I was disappointed because my first experiments all were really pale :'(
Now my colors keep getting better but I changes 2 things significantly:
I make only pressed beads or beads rolled in a marble forming try. This way, they cool very fast and when I reheat them i get nice purples and blues. Then I cool them in heated vermiculite. And then I batch-anneal them. so far they kept their color.
On full-color terra beads it is great. but I have had compatibility issues with ivory and grey when striping terra over a base bead in one of these colors. :'(
I was examining my Terra "end-on" only this afternoon, but didn't fully appreciate the significance of the layers Ray. What you've explained has really helped me understand it. I did get some reasonable colours today, but then my bead cracked (my fault), and I decided to put the terra aside again for another day. I think I might try splodging it on in big dots next time I have a play, the theory being that a little bit of each layer might just stay on the surface.
Quote from: Maryse on June 29, 2007, 02:55:58 PM
As a certified glass fool ;) I had to get some terra too. first it sat on the shelve because I was afraid to use it. Then I was disappointed because my first experiments all were really pale :'(
Now my colors keep getting better but I changes 2 things significantly:
I make only pressed beads or beads rolled in a marble forming try. This way, they cool very fast and when I reheat them i get nice purples and blues. Then I cool them in heated vermiculite. And then I batch-anneal them. so far they kept their color.
On full-color terra beads it is great. but I have had compatibility issues with ivory and grey when striping terra over a base bead in one of these colors. :'(
Compatability like cracks or compatability like reactions?
BTW, I have got some lovely colours out of it, as in my last show and tell posting, but I am also prone to getting that brackish yuk yuk yellow which I do not like. I have not rescued a single bead from that state, for me once it has gone to that part of the spectrum it is over. But when it want's to play, it does play so nicely, I'm gonna keep trying.
Mari
Quote from: CelticGlass on June 29, 2007, 02:05:40 PM
Not wishing to detour too much on matters, I'd like to offer one smidgen of advice on Terra glass workability.
The rods are pulled very thin and most likely to optimize the VFM on sales and margin for DH. Less is more kinda thinking :-\ It may get so you receive even less glass one day because the marketing guys tell sales to pull the wool even farther over your eyes.
Its not what they say, its the sweet music of happy colorful glass we presume we'll get with this miracle glass concoction
The Terra glass canes are multi layered if you look with a magnifying glass on the end. Like Lauscha marble ( Kryolyth ) where the gather is drawn from several different furnaces each having a different metal oxide grade in the batch.
So what does this mean ? When you apply the Terra sparingly, your laying it down several oxide layers thick. All those oxide colors are there, but one on top of another.
For me to get anything like the rainbow we desire, I had to rip the stuff around and unearth the shades beneath. So as well as revisiting the flame to bring certain hints and nuances out... your on a loser if the oxide layer you need, is tucked away under a layer of color that you don't want.
Also and as we read on W/C, there's the risk of the metals causing an unwanted scummy fumed appearance.
So two rules have emerged, if not more... Be agressive with the application, and when your ready to strike the colors after partial cooling, do it fairly quickly and be happy with the first shades that appear. Cos if the shades your looking for and hence the correct oxide layer is not on the top and apparent, then you can reheat and tease it all day and it'll get muddier and muddier until you throw it at the wall.
Be interested to hear more about the results of FH people in due course.
Not sure if I need to start a new thread for this, so please chip in Mods if you think I'm in the wrong place here as I am taking this of topic from the W/C refererance.
I think Ray's advice about the oxide layer holds true in the first bead on the left, see the trails of colour following the intense black stringer threads on the wig-wag twisty I pulled. But I don't think its the whole story. Often the colour seems controlled by flame / temperature, see the second bead where the colour seems to go round the equator and not follow the twists of the wig-wag. Next torch session I will try and vary the distance to the flame as I have had yuck-yuck-yellow issues with the bad beads, and the ugly ones have had all the colour burnt out of them. I feel tantalisingly close to getting this glass to do its stuff. By the way, my twisty has a clear core, and often it is a trail of this that is first to go yucky. I've seen this colour round the edges of trails of silver glass before, is there some kind of undesirable reaction going on, or is it a heat issue? What do you think?
Mari
[attachment deleted by admin]
All very relevant me thinks. Its also hard to find two sticks of Terra that work the same.
Thinking that this is a... make 25 kinda glass... and hope 15 are the same ???
when you look at all our sticks on the shelves you see how radically them differ from each other in terms of being "built up".. some rods are light gold on the outside, some are dark purple..
for myself, i get reasonably good result and i really like the unusual effects - but i am spoilt because we have enough to experiment with i guess..
8)
I'm working up to that Ray, at the moment I have more than a few beads that are only suitable for ballast! I am finding it a steep learning curve, but I can't stop, cos when it works it is fantastic.
Mari
Quote from: Marijane on July 02, 2007, 09:39:15 PM
I'm working up to that Ray, at the moment I have more than a few beads that are only suitable for ballast! I am finding it a steep learning curve, but I can't stop, cos when it works it is fantastic.
Mari
I need to apply for legal aid ..or Lucozade ???
Sorry, am I being confusing? I mean I am nowhere close to getting 15 out of 25 yet. I'll keep working at it, its not a problem, so best enjoy a lucozade and leave the legal aid, surfice to say, I am through that stick you gave me and have a diminishing stash of my own now!
Mari
I find I get similar results from any colour Terra rod. The one difference for me is the silver bumps on the rods, those rods seem to be a bit more colourful. Though I didn't at first, I got pretty varying results till it "clicked."
Ron from R4 explained the different colours of DV2 once, by saying that it depended partly on the furnace atmosphere at the time of pulling (reducing or not) and partly by the different layers of the gather being partially struck. So the glass might look different from identical batches, or even the beginning and end of the same pull, but they should be pretty much the same to work.
Mary - your DJ cat was making me feel dizzy tonight bopping around there... must turn the extractor fan up a bit faster....I must be high on C'O
On the glass, its a much misunderstood process, the alchemy of it all.
I wonder if the guys pulling the rods can make beads ? Probably can...huge blighters..
I enjoyed your explanation Ray, it makes a lot of sense when you think about it.
I haven't bought any rods of this glass yet and I probably won't. I just can't justify spending the money on it or spending all the time it seems to take to get anything from it. I bought a pack of Terra powder instead. I can pull stringers with it and try it that way first. So far I've gotten nice color in the flame and then loose it in the kiln. I don't have time to mess around with this glass and frankly I am tired of all the hype when it comes to the silvered glasses. I appreciate that there is a lot of silver in them and they do some neat things, but I always choke when I get to the price part.
I think I will stick with Iris Orange, it is very similar, a LOT cheaper and I haven't had any problem at all using it with 104 COE.
I can certainly understand why people would be attracted to this glass though, I just am not going to allow myself to be one of them.
Hi Teresa - your right about the time factor when you can be making something that works easier.
BTW I love your work and especially the frogs. They have a unique style all of their own.
The goddess beads pretty marvelous also... OK then I like all your work.. I've said it now :P
Thanks Ray! :-*
I think I also prefer iris orange :( I got some lovely colours in the flame - beautiful purples and blues - it was gorgeous. I garage annealed them at 510c and when done 70% of them were nasty sage green.
I am gonna move this thread if anyone minds as its now more suited to being the lampwork tips and questions section...
I've done a bit of playing with terra and it's very frustrating, but worth it when it does go right. I'm very pleased with the copper green reaction, and frit on black has worked well. Will continue to play, I think :)
I'm still battling away for a short go each time I go to the torch and live in hope that I'll make a bead that has no grey band amidst the colours I desire. I'm thinking the outer coating on this Terra glass, being grey, has no ability to strike anything other than grey.
Don't need the coating in that case. Have to try and strip it off.
Quote from: Shirley on July 04, 2007, 09:58:32 AM
I've done a bit of playing with terra and it's very frustrating, but worth it when it does go right. I'm very pleased with the copper green reaction, and frit on black has worked well. Will continue to play, I think :)
Are your colours still staying after annealing? if so please tell me your trick! ;D
& why when you make a poo bead do the colours come up nicely & when you make a good bead the colours look like poo...how does it know! ;D
I haven't actually annealed any yet. Haven't made a lot so am saving them up for a batch anneal. Will be setting the temperature a little lower than usual as apparently this helps.
Vicki, that one is sod's law :D
Quote from: Vicki on July 04, 2007, 10:33:29 AM
& why when you make a poo bead do the colours come up nicely & when you make a good bead the colours look like poo...how does it know! ;D
How does it know indeed... I think its called striking. Metal oxides deliver a different shade of themselves subject to temperture. A good example of this is react to light sun glasses. In reality they do not react to light, they react to temperature. Quite annoying for wearers who go into a shop or somewhere thats over warm and the glases darken down.
There are art glass types that finalize their shading as they come out of the kiln and you cant strike them finally at the torch. Its all glass alchemy to a finer degree than we should be concerned with. If we are to get factory / laboratory finite results it would be good if these glass makers came over to give a symposium at a venue like Plowden and Thompsons.
I've been to several such free sympsoiums when Macromedia software launch new web building software and for free. Should do same with new glass as its launched to market. Or perhaps a free guidance CD with each kilo of glass. Or an MPEG download of an example being worked at the torch.
Good idea Ray...I'll write to them and ask for a video of the stuff being worked effectively.
I've had a lot of fun with Terra over the last few weeks.
Have I had colour? No, lots of time I've had that fashionable tan colour or very washed out almost mother-of-pearl colours. Or plain grotty looking beads.
Every now and then I get a real corker, but I'm too much of a messer arounder to have scientifically gone through exactly what actions I've gone through to get the effect I wanted. Also, it does its own thing anyway, so it's not very repeatible (to me anyway).
I wasted a lot at first 'cos I thought you had to reduce it. You don't. And in fact if you follow the instructions which come with it or go on DHs website and follow their guidelines you have to hit it with an oxidising flame if anything. Repeatedly.
The colours come from the slow growth of silver crystals which are sort of layered. Colours come from the diffraction of light that hits the layers, rather like oil on water. Slow growth of the crystals causes bigger crystals that cause more efficient diffraction. Because of this the colours can slide a little. They'll also change under a layer of clear because of changes in the refractive index.
There are pages and pages and pages about Terra on the various forums. The only information I can offer is this: What may work for one person may not work for you - especially if your torch is a different type. It's like expecting different makes of cars to respond the same. They won't. Your particular chemistry - Minor and Oxycon compared to a Lynx with an oxygen cylinder - perhaps - will make a difference to the chemistry of how the silver crystals are formed.
The funny thing about this glass is how well it seems to behave when I'm not trying to do anything special with it. And how crap it is when I overwork it!
But what's really funny about this is that I picked up a stick of Khaki after a prolonged and unfruitful session with Terra and just decided to make a normal bead from normal glass. Well, in fact it wasn't Khaki but Iris Orange - and the "secret" of this this glass has long eluded me. Because I just treated it like a normal rod I was fairly amazed to see a huge gamut of colours pop out of this rod. Me, that normally only ever gets "baby poo" from Raku.
My love affair with Terra is over for a while as I have discovered that there is a whole new avenue of glass making fun to be had out of my "yesterday's news" glass, which has turned out to be a bit of an exciting "old flame" (Scuse the pun!)
By the way - if your colours are turning darker in the kiln it's becuase your annealling temperature is too high. You may need to turn the kiln temp down. I think DH recommend somewhere below 505 degs (you'll need to check that one).
Quote from: Redhotsal on July 04, 2007, 11:29:03 AM
There are pages and pages and pages about Terra on the various forums. The only information I can offer is this: What may work for one person may not work for you - especially if your torch is a different type. It's like expecting different makes of cars to respond the same. They won't. Your particular chemistry - Minor and Oxycon compared to a Lynx with an oxygen cylinder - perhaps - will make a difference to the chemistry of how the silver crystals are formed.
Yes, this is exactly it. Everyone is using a different set-up, everyone works glass with a different touch. Glass as fussy as this is going to give a variety of results depending on each person's approach....either that or it will lay there and look like poo until you discover the secret combination to unlock it's mysteries ::)
Quote
My love affair with Terra is over for a while as I have discovered that there is a whole new avenue of glass making fun to be had out of my "yesterday's news" glass, which has turned out to be a bit of an exciting "old flame" (Scuse the pun!)
By the way - if your colours are turning darker in the kiln it's becuase your annealling temperature is too high. You may need to turn the kiln temp down. I think DH recommend somewhere below 505 degs (you'll need to check that one).
If raku was good enough for my granny, then it's good enough for me ;D
And having to adjust my kiln temp for fussy glass is just one more reason to avoid it in my opinion...pfft!
Well, I'm finding out loads of new and exciting stuff about Raku as a result of glass mangling all that Terra, lol!
I'm not normally a glass faddy person but I have been somewhat distracted by Double Helix over the last few months. Usually, it's Effetre all the way with me. I don't even know what lots of the posh glass is and where you get it - let alone what you cook it in the kiln at! ;D ;)
I was only interested in Terra because I thought I could use more of it on a bead that I can with Iris Orange. But I am in the "I prefer Iris orange to terra" club too, I can get lots of lovely colours from Iris orange but not terra :-) I like posh glasses if THEY fit around with ME and what I want to make, but wont let a design be dictated by a glass if I can help it.
Me too, I dont care that Raku/Iris Orange its not fashionable. Hell, I am sitting here with bright barbie pink hair in an 80s hairstyle in awful tie dye clothing - that shows how I feel about fashion :D
Quote from: Shirley on July 04, 2007, 11:22:34 AM
I haven't actually annealed any yet. Haven't made a lot so am saving them up for a batch anneal. Will be setting the temperature a little lower than usual as apparently this helps.
Thats the time when you'll lose your colour if its gonna happen, its happened to a few people :-( All my terra beads went int lovely colours into the kiln and all came out horrid except for 4.
and I annealled at a lower temp too :-(
Pink??? Wasn't it red last week? :o ;D
Its faded - this colour fades to shocking barbie pink - and its glowing a bit too! rofl!
OOooooh, my little girl will love you... Everything has to be pink at the moment!! ;D ;D LOL
a crow landed on my head at Weston-super-mare seafront yesterday! Tony suggested it thought that my head was a big bunch of candyfloss!!!!
anyway - back to Terra :D
PMSL... Hope it didn't leave a little present... Although it's supposed to be lucky!!
Are people having better success with terra frit then..?
Ha - fade to pink? If only I could get Terra to do that.
You would think that terra frit would work better based on Ray's "layering" theory, woudn't you? Don't know myself - only got rods.
Will post some pics later of my Terrattempts.
Quote from: *rowanberry* on July 04, 2007, 01:31:12 PM
a crow landed on my head at Weston-super-mare seafront yesterday!
Arrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Ok - here are some of my Terra and Raku beads which I have been working on lately.
Hope the pictures load - can't be bothered mucking around with Photobucket, but one is largely Raku and the other is largely Terra. I have to say although people often aim to get the jewel-like colors out of Terra I think I prefer it when you get a subtler blue/green colours.
which one is what?
very nice anyway :-) my fave is the top set - NICE!!!!
Top set is Raku, bottom is Terra.
Cheers
Sal
Both are luffly - but I remain still in the unfashionable group of people coz I prefer the raku :-) That top set is seriously scrumptious!
Here's something I did with Terra.. (i popped this on the jewellery section as well so I apologise for repeating). I did get some blues and purples but not as much as appearred before it went in the kiln.
In the end I embraced the sage green as I couldnt get shot of it and picked up on it in the ribbon, lol!
(http://www.rowanberryglass.com/images/040707/spiralneck1.jpg)
and heres another focal:
(http://www.rowanberryglass.com/images/040707/terrafocal1.jpg)
all of them came out nice at the start but went all poo in the kiln :-(
Give me raku/iris orange and I can get bright vivid colours out of it though with no problems!
oh Claire, they're gorgeous (slobber!)
oh those beads are lush
and if raku is unfashionable then so am i cause i love raku, not too keen on terra
Sal that top set is awesome! Who needs Terra when you can make raku do that?
Claire, I love the bead with the ribbons and silver, I'm not sure what it is but I love it ;D
I dont even know what it is, lol!
Well I tried terra again and I think I goddit!!!!
The key is to let it really cool down before striking it - and also dont put it in the kiln when all the colours you want have come out, but put it in when its gone a dark brown and the purples and blues come out in the kiln. Also dont over-anneal them (hard if you are garaging!). I annealed these at 505c
Ray, I tried your theory of mixing all the layers up and I found that it didnt make any difference. i did it at the rod, mashing 2 rods up together as if I was mixing a colour.
They are actually brighter in real life and far less greeny than this pic seems to be showing, grrrr I got a lot of purples and blues.
(apologies for repeating what I've just put in show and tell but I thought it was also worth putting what I had found in this thread and how i did it).
(http://www.rowanberryglass.com/images/040707/terra.jpg)
(http://www.rowanberryglass.com/images/040707/terra2.jpg)
They're lush :D - but making me feel really hungry for some reason :P ???
well done claire!!
they look stunning!!!
;D ;D ;D
Well done Claire - you seem to have pressed all the right buttons this time...and long may it continue 8)
Few Terror's from me ;D
(http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p266/xtweeksx/Picture229_edited.jpg)(http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p266/xtweeksx/Picture216_edited.jpg)(http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p266/xtweeksx/Picture203_edited.jpg)(http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p266/xtweeksx/Picture206_edited.jpg)
You've been busy!!! Gorgeous work ;D
looking good!
Claire, I'm going to follow your advice and see if I can get some post-kiln beads with colours that good 8) 8)
i found also that letting it cool a LOT before striking also helps, dont strike it until it gets really dark on the first cool.
I did this with 10x14mm beads though - I have had far more success with the terror of terra on smaller beads
Thanks Peeps ;D
Errmmm strike? You have to strike this stuff?? ???
Its strange stuff tho init? Sometimes its goes really bright and oil slick looking, others those lovely subtle colours.or olive, I love the cripsy browns/oranges/yellows and olive colours ;D
Those are gorgeous beads Jen, you terra tamer you..... ;D
Quote from: xtweeksx on July 07, 2007, 12:30:20 PM
Errmmm strike? You have to strike this stuff?? ???
Yup!
what it says on their website:
"Unlike previous Double Helix colors Terra does not require a reduction flame to strike. Instead work hot (till clear) cool, and reheat. Colors vary depending on heat treatment. Cooler working yields creams,tans and browns. Hotter working yeilds purples, blues, and greens. For best results, use Terra with clear, work hot, cool, and reheat. "
and I found that the greater difference in heat between the heating and cooling (ie get REALLY hot, and get REALLY cold) yielded the nicer jewel colours for me. and the tip with when to put it in the kiln...
Quote from: *rowanberry* on July 07, 2007, 01:00:28 PM
Quote from: xtweeksx on July 07, 2007, 12:30:20 PM
Errmmm strike? You have to strike this stuff?? ???
Yup!
what it says on their website:
"Unlike previous Double Helix colors Terra does not require a reduction flame to strike. Instead work hot (till clear) cool, and reheat. Colors vary depending on heat treatment. Cooler working yields creams,tans and browns. Hotter working yeilds purples, blues, and greens. For best results, use Terra with clear, work hot, cool, and reheat. "
and I found that the greater difference in heat between the heating and cooling (ie get REALLY hot, and get REALLY cold) yielded the nicer jewel colours for me. and the tip with when to put it in the kiln...
Thanks for that.......... I didnt think to check the website for tips n tricks!! :) :) :)
I made a good few with clear and every single one cracked......... wonder why? Anybody else had those problems with clear?
Are you using Lauscha? DH supposedly doesn't like it, something to do with the amount of silver, and the stiffness of Lauscha. I've had some good results using Lauscha, and some not so good, depending on the shape.
All my encased ones have cracked. I think Q mentioned under another terra thread about once the bead is encased, to get the entire thing hot right through to the core... but I may be wrong :D
they (jed and julie from doublehelix) specifically recommend NOT encasing with lauscha ever... only vetro or second best effetre...
i DO encase with lauscha but i get the whole bead really HOT through all the way when i do...
;)
when i did mine on top of clear I used vetrofond (I only keep my lauscha for special occasions!). No cracks.
If working on top of clear I found that encase the clear with terra VERY thinly for the best results! I got some deep deep jewel colours from it doing that yesterday.
Look.....Terra hates me....Heather sent me some to try...and it hated me then and it positively despises me now...I can sing to it..encase it...heat it...lurve it up...NOTHING...so, stop being so bloody cheerful about it because its a spiteful glass that takes pleasure in other peoples pain.
I even think its on the FBI's top ten most wanted list. >:(
Oh poo!
Its a beast but you CAN tame it! I promise!
Try wee little small beads, encase terra thinly over clear (not the other way around). then melt the snot out of it until all you can see is clear (or almost) - then take it out of the flame and keep it out until it goes REALLY dark (it takes some time but it will do it). Then strike...
If not I'll have to come down to Cornwall and show you how....
;D
Quote from: tanok on July 10, 2007, 07:12:15 PM
so, stop being so bloody cheerful about it because its a spiteful glass that takes pleasure in other peoples pain.
:D :D :D
Quote from: *rowanberry* on July 10, 2007, 07:17:53 PM
Oh poo!
Its a beast but you CAN tame it! I promise!
Try wee little small beads, encase terra thinly over clear (not the other way around). then melt the snot out of it until all you can see is clear (or almost) - then take it out of the flame and keep it out until it goes REALLY dark (it takes some time but it will do it). Then strike...
If not I'll have to come down to Cornwall and show you how....
;D
That sounds like a threat I can live with.......... :D