Where am I going wrong?

[★★Terri★★]

I have been playing around with DH psyche and aurea.

I have done loads of research on here and LE etc so thought I may be ok but



I have used psyche over black and encased it (big bead) and over clear and encased (lentil).  I laid it on, melted it a bit, let it cool 'till the glow was gone, reduced it 'til it was shiney/metallic and had hints of purples, then encased it and cooled it in vermiculite and batch annealled.  Fired to 520 c then soaked for 45 mins.  I use my ceramics hobby kiln so don't ramp down.  If you look really, really closely that are a couple of faint purple lines - but I can't get them in a photo.

The others are psyche over a selection of base glasses, but not encased - should you always encase?

There is one which is aurea over pink lady which is showing some promise, but again I didn't encase.  I followed the same making process for the aurea as the psyche.

BTW - I am on a hot head.  Any suggestions

Terri

[Blue Box Studio]

No idea, but I have much the same problems so hoping you get some replies.  I'm on a HH too.

I pulled some as stringers and got a bit more reaction but nothing like some people get.

[Billie]

   Psyche doesn't have to be encased... I'm wondering if you're losing the reduced effect because of the batch annealing...  I've never batch annealed silver glass 

[princess pink]

I only ever batch anneal and I am on a minor and dont generally have problems with silver glass. Psyche once encased doesnt like too much heat or it will lose it's reduction. If the reduction is disappearing in the kiln you may have a reducing atmosphere in your kiln. Chuck a few granules of activated charcoal into the kiln and you won't lose the reduction any further.

[Blue Box Studio]

Weirdly, I've had better colour results with batch annealing than I have bunging straight into the kiln.  Charcoal is now on my shopping list, I'll try that too in case the colour fairy lives inside it. 

[Kaz]

For me, Psyche is not the easiest of the silver glasses to use or to get consistent reactions out of. I'd recommend Triton and Aurae as the easiest to use. I'd also highly recommend Reichenbach multicolour dark as an option as it it so much cheaper than the silver glasses and is so easy to get a reaction out of - though you won't get it until the bead is annealed.
Kazx

[AnnaSpanna]

Aurae on a HH is usually really easy to achieve. But if you overcook it it will just kinda disappear.... the way I get both aurae and triton to "go" is to put it on the bead and then blast the bead right in the blue cone about 1cm from the head of the torch (it will make a roaring noise). It should go metallic virtually instantly. Then if you put t back up in the part of the flame where we normally work for too long afterwards then you will lose the shine. Alternatively (if you are feeling brave) you can cover over your holes on the torch to get a yellow flame - this will either burn your fingers or potentially explode your torch (in extremis) thus it is safer/easier just to bung the bead into the blue bit!  I haven't found that the manner in which I anneal dramatically effects the aurae or triton. Pysche is a bit of a pain in the arse TBH.

Dark multi does work on a HH but can be rather demoralising - but it can be done. Also reichenbach silver brown is really good on a HH (same principle as using aurae) but you will only really get the joys of the silver broan if you then encase it. Triton and aura don't need encasing to look awesome on a HH.

stick with it!

ps aurae over cobalt transparent is fab - it will fume any lighter transparents thus why some of your beads look a bit dark and murky - esp the pink lady

[★★Terri★★]

1cm from the head of the torch (it will make a roaring noise). It should go metallic virtually instantly. Then if you put t back up in the part of the flame where we normally work for too long afterwards then you will lose the shine.stick with it!

Hi Anna

I take it I don't want to lose the shine?  Sorry if I seem a bit dim

Thank you everyone for your tips - activated charcoal is on the shopping list.  A question though - will the activated charcoal have an effect on other glasses in the kiln, or should I anneal the silver glasses with some charcoal on their own?

[CeeGeeJewellery]

I had my first go with DH glass on my hothead at the weekend too, and Psyche and Aurae were the 2 I tried as well. I was letting them cool and putting them in a yellow flame (can I really explode my torch this way?! Think I'll use the blue bit in future....) and then once they looked metallic, giving them a blast of heat to bring out the colour. Managed to get some pretty greens and blues out of psyche (uncased) but I couldn't get anything out of Aurae!

Will experiment some more this afternoon and see how I get on....

[Redhotsal]

I think that the problem is that you re losing the shine when you encase it.

You want the Psyche to go a love blue/green metallic shine. Perfect  - that's what you want. BUT if you put the bead back in the flame you could lose that shine while you are waiting for the clear glass to melt during encasing. So, hold the metallicy bead out of the flame for as long as you dare while you are building up enough clear gather and try the "dump encasing" method as that will preserve the metallic shine.

Dump encase - build enough of a clear gather on the rod and then literally dump it on and around the bead.

Don't overheat the bead when you are shaping the encased bead or you will lose the lustre.

For beads that are left unencased you may want to reduce the bead a little more than you would like. If your kiln has an oxidising atmosphere you will lose a little or all of your reduction beads (anything shiny) so the charcoal will absorb the surplus oxygen when you get it. It won't affect any other beads in your kiln but may reduce things a little so dark turquoise beads or Effetre Violet may go a little shiny. A couple of seconds in Dip'n'Etch or a few minutes in Cillit Bang (Grime and Lime) will remove this.

[★★Terri★★]

Cheer Sal - loads of info there......I have some charcoal now, so I hope to get to some beading over the next day or two.  Fingers crossed