Back from Mothers

[Despo Debs]

I'm back
From my mothers and from having my blood father (yes that's blood father, not blood#) stay over with his shaggy little dog, Chester.
I use the term, blood father, as my step father passed away a year ago, all confusing stuff, what?

Now then, as a friend over on making jewellery, rightly pointed out, five days away from the flame and I'd be trying to melt glass with a clipper (that's a lighter to those of you fortunate enough never to have let the wicked fat cat's tobacco, laced with an array of carcinogens' and addictive things to pass your blessed lips, where as I have been free from the addiction since Mach of this year (clap hands), the down side, I had to stop drinking as well, in order to stop smoking, any way, I digress)

Did you all manage to put your clocks back? I didn't, no surprises there really?

I think, (Therefore I am, (am I?) I am beginning to witness the limitations of the hot head torch?  This could also be my impatience talking........

I tried to incorporate silver foil in my beads, this is my take on the situation:
I get the foil around the small bead I have formed, all is good and well in the world of the desperate Debs, I then move the bead up to the outer regions of the flame, just to keep warm, the bead stays as is.  I then melt another lot of glass for the encasement, now this is where it gets tricky, it takes 2 – 3 blobs to get a good covering, then it takes forever (slight exaggeration) to form this deformed blob of  glass into a an aesthetic piece.   Sooooo, the internal bit that we had the silver on, is still there but a bit twisted and gnarled looking, tis still thing of beauty no?  Now then, what was the question?

This is my quest for a flower on a bead, I have neglected my first botches and just fast-forward to the last of my practising.

debs 4 001 by Dela Vaughan, on Flickr
My stringers (getting better at these, I'd like them to be thinker opps, that's thicker, I'm getting there) at first got pushed around all over the place, then I had an other, Eureka moment, and turned the flame down!!

The last offering, is a technique copied from the book;
Making handmade Lampwork Beads & Glass Jewellery, By Hava & Danny Ronat ( when ordering this book, I ordered it by mistake, it was late in the evening and I was on Amazon, (as you do) I thought I hit the Cindy Jenkins book but clearly I didn't.  you may be asking your self how does this woman survive? I'm always asking myself this......

debs 3 008 by Dela Vaughan, on Flickr
I have also emailed a gas company, they sell lecture gas, I'll rephrase  this, They sell gas in canisters, for lecturers. 
I asked them if they could supply, Mapp Gas / Propylene, in larger cylinders I await there reply.

Hope the elders that read this (if they read this) can pick the questions out and answer them, if in-fact there where any.

Love and Peace
Despo Debs

[Magpie]

I like that last bead, really good.
Your flowers are coming along well.
Thicker stringers, yes you need cooler glass to pull, you can turn the torch down and it will be cooler, or you could blow on the molten end of the rod to cool it a bit more, or even just wait for longer. If you practice making white stringer you can gauge the temperature as it goes from clear back to white. If you pull the first part of the stringer and it's too thin (about an inch) then you can wait or blow a bit then carry on pulling, it's basically practice to get the hang of the time. And then when you go over to dual fuel you have to learn the technique all over again as everything is so much hotter.
Yes, the limitation of the HH is that it takes ages to encase.

[Kalorlo]

 

The flowers are definitely coming along - I love that orange and yellow one!

Encasing: yeah, I had this problem. Practice helps, though! Other things that can help: try encasing with commercial stringers - they melt much faster, and they help keep your encasing thin and even so it doesn't take so long to round it out at the end. You can wind them on in a spiral. Then when you've done that for a while you'll probably find that you aren't having problems with the full rods anymore either. If you're encasing with clear, CiM clear stringers are really nice for that on a hothead. There are a bunch of different encasing methods too: put on big blobs, do spirals, do swipes from one bead hole to the other - you could try one of the others and see if you find it easier. I think basically you want to be trying to keep your application of encasing glass quite even so you don't have much to shape at the end. Easier said than done! 

Or hey, you could encase with your own stringers if you're happy making ones about 2mm thick and of a decent length. I've only recently got to the point where I can do that consistently 

[Margram]

Have you seen Laura Sparling's excellent how-to videos? Eg basic encased bead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFuC6OcB81E&feature=related 

Incidentally, I learned something new today re stringer work (stripes, spirals and so on) that you should use an oxidising flame - it's  cooler on the outside so the stringer doesn't get too hot and out of control (info gleaned from Arrow Springs website).