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TAG Caramelo - Help!!

Started by Bobbo, June 13, 2010, 04:08:54 PM

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Bobbo

Hi,

Has anyone here worked this glass? I've got some beautiful shades of mud and baby poo from it but was hoping for something a bit nicer!

If anyone has managed to get any decent colours would you mind sharing with an idiot newbie?

The TAG notes on their website are bloody useless and they should be ashamed that that's the best they can do  :'( Some kind of user feedback like CIM has would be a major improvement but
QuoteCaramelo is a very saturated and reactive opaque member of the amber/purple family. The Light version is just less saturated. Oxidize for brighter colors; reduce for flesh and earth tones. This color will strike.
isn't that helpful (taken from TAG website) points you in the general direction but not much more.

Anyway, mini rant over  ;)

Thanks for any help you can give,

Rob.

Stacy

I got quite a nice metalic sheen when I first used it but I think my flame was accidently on the reducing side, very slightly.


garishglobes

Caramelo seems similar to GA Silver Strike or Northstar Caramel, but is has been a while since I used it. Caramelo light actually seems to me to have more purple tones in it - it likes to be got hot, worked quickly, cooled and then struck as far as I can see. If you spend time faffing, getting it hot then cold then hot again it will turn to baby poo. 
From my limited experience with boro, some colours can handle more working than others and stay pretty. All boro likes a really good initial soak of heat, some will then be ok if you cycle through heating and cooling as you work it (some colours actively like this), while other colours are much better kept really hot and then cooled and struck without fuss. How colours work also depends on your torch atmosphere - slightly reducing tends to turn to mud quicker.

What colour you get can also depend what colours you are working it with - I have recently discovered that the quickest way to turn most amber/purple colours to yellow snot (sorry, but it is true!) is to use them with my absolute favourite red, Elvis (and some other reds..). I'd always blamed the clear I used, but now think it is definitely Elvis because the same does not happen with NS Ruby or Pomegranate. It is still a fabulous red though.

What are you doing with Caramelo? Beads or sculpture?


Steampunkglass

It could be over-reducing, are you on one oxycon or two?

I used a colour I'd forgotten about (GA Black Pearl) this weekend that always came out a naff shade of cream when I had only one oxy, and now has loads of greens and blues popping out of it.

Try also putting some clear over areas before it gets well melted in to protect them from the flame. I do that alot and find that it often gives different results too.

garishglobes

Ooh, I don't think I've tried Black Pearl for ages either! Will have to give that one another go...
I have found that the more I work with this glass, the more I learn. I've been getting fabulous smoky blues and purples from TAG Purple Sable for the past couple of weeks - before that, it was always a nondescript coffee colour that refused to budge!
Excellent point about the clear.

Bobbo

Quote from: Dendrobium on June 14, 2010, 01:48:43 PM
It could be over-reducing, are you on one oxycon or two?

I'm now sure it's too little oxygen.I'm on a cricket and have just hooked up a second oxycon and the difference is obvious.

I got the second oxycon for marbles and didn't think it would be necessary for beads. The flame didn't look reducing on one oxycon but the extra oxygen with two has made a massive difference (to the caramelo, one oxycon is plenty for small boro which isn't too sensitive to a reducing atmosphere).

Thanks everyone for all the help,

Rob.

garishglobes

I found that being able to get hotter and keep that neutral/oxidising atmosphere made a big difference when I switched to 2 oxys, even for beads that weren't too large, so reckon you are right there.