I am just about to get back to beading again and want to make some focals with silver glass with the razor cut marks in them. Can some one point me in the right direction on how to do this? I don't want to waste my silver glass on mistakes.
I've not done it, but I believe there is a Michael Barley tutorial somewhere. I think he was the first to use the technique.
I've made Michael Barley type beads in the past. You can practice with ordinary 104 glasses and when you're happy, go on to using your DH glass. Apply differently coloured stringers along the length of the base bead then make several cuts at right angles. Melt back to oval and watch the pattern develop. Alternatively, buy the tutorial.
I bought a cheap tool which holds razor blades in, which glaziers use to clean window glass, and it came with spare blades, so it's easy to change them. Have a pot of water close by to cool your razor - or you could use a cheap vegetable knife, to make little cuts along the edge of a bead.
As Pat suggested try cutting an opaque first to get the hang of the heat control required for cutting the glass, then encasing it whilst keeping the cuts in place. You can get cool effects by trapping air in the cuts too. Then when you're happy move onto silver rich glass. You could try Reichenbach Silver Brown which is far cheaper than DH.