Can't make fancy glass work! :(

[Caroline]

you need to make a foil coller out of tin foil, put it on your torch and when you want to 'work' these glasses you slip the coller over the holes and it gives you a reducing flame, work your bead in that till you get the effects you want then slip the coller back off to get your normal flame

without the coller you won't get anything out of any of the DH colours and the reducing ASK colours

[Shirley]

So should I do all the work with the reduction flame until I get the effect, or do the basic shaping with a normal flame and then reduce? Or experiment?

[Vicki]

Aw Shirley, I know how you feel...not about the fancy glass, but I've taken a real dip in confidence in the last couple of weeks.  I know I live fippin miles away, but if you fancy a trip to dorset you've got my address

[Shirley]

Cheers Vic, might take you up on that one over the summer sometime. If you fancy a trip to Norfolk......

I've got great confidence with making basic beads, and the first ASK bead I made might be a disappointing colour but it's a great shape

[Caroline]

So should I do all the work with the reduction flame until I get the effect, or do the basic shaping with a normal flame and then reduce? Or experiment?

make your bead as usual, once your happy with the shape ect then reduce till you get the effect you want

if your encasing then make your base bead, reduce then encase

i've got my fingers crossed you get them to work soon, i know it's hard to know what to do just from reading about it, it's a shame i can't show you in person

[♥♥Tan♥♥]

my moroccan swirl aint swirling either, theres a lot of other people with the same problem over on LE and no one seems to have an answer

[Shirley]

Well, I made a collar, and I'm pleased to say a got a nice glow out of the caramel apple and the tribal turquoise has gone a bit red, so I'm happier about the ASK.

Tried some DH. Got aion on white to get a beautiful gold, but the others either did nothing or went mucky brown. Orange iris frit went mucky brown but with a metallic texture like haematite. Suspect it's carbon from the flame?

[Dragonfire Glass]

I made some beads using Terra last night - one (encased) you can hardly see any terra


next (encased) went in a very pale fawn colour & came out a deep yelow gold


& the last (not encased) looks a deep treacle brown.

[Mary]

Colette, the treacle brown is what you want to get, you are nearly there! What you do next time, is let the bead cool till the treacle appears, till the glow goes. Then gently warm it again. (Don't get it too hot again, or you will be back at the start). Cool and warm a few times, the colours should keep changing.

Try the same with encased beads, but warm them a bit longer so the heat spreads through the clear. Good luck!

[Dragonfire Glass]

thanks Mary!   
I gave up with the midle encased one because it stubbornly stayed a very pale beige. I heated, cooled, heated , cooled, beige, put it in the kiln & hey presto! I even wondered which bead it was because I didn't recognise it!
Will try again tmorrow!

[Vicki]

I tried it again today,  i got the mearest blob of blue I think...but I also think I killed it trying to make the rest of do it...its in the kiln...I don't think it'll be worth a show though

[Dragonfire Glass]

but that's what i thought!

[bubblebabeuk]

I did a mini-tut a while ago now, on the foil reducing collar for the hothead over on WC.............
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5157873#post5157873

[Les]

OOohh... thanks for that, we've loads of HH users here now 

[glassworks]

i'm going to ask Sarah hornik if she would consider doing a little tutorial thingy - she only uses a hothead and gets the most stunning effects from all the "fancy" and common glass types...

we don't have the HH anymore but maybe i should set it up again and do some experimentation... maybe martin has a tutorial or references to weblinks?..