Murrini Madness

Started by AnnaSpanna, August 20, 2013, 08:22:52 AM

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AnnaSpanna

I have lots of lovely beautiful and tempting murrini but having dreadful trouble stopping the little beggars distorting - I suspect I'm using too much heat (think of it as an area weapon and maybe need to become a bit more of a sniper with a slightly more accurate flame). In a nutshell when I want to melt them flat and "open" they close up. If I dab them with clear they spread too much. I usually end up spiking them out of sheer fridtration and then invariably something devits or gets smokey and then straight into the fugly tub :-(

Best practice tips and techniques greatly appreciated please?!

TIA

Margram

#1
Ooh, Kaz did a excellent video tute for this - I'll look up the link in a minute.  Basically, you need to heat a little then pat and repeat, several times.
Marg x  Etsy Flickr My blog

The Tartan Trout

Don't melt them too fast, they like to be treated gently. I would also suggest investing in one of Kaz's murrini dobbers. A tool that I would never be without :)

Margram

Marg x  Etsy Flickr My blog

AnnaSpanna

Thank you! Going to go switch the kiln on and do my chores in double time now so I can melt some stuff!

JaySpangles

Gently does it. Heat and pat. Tiny heat and pat, don't push down much. Don't rush it and you will get there. Also make sure when you pat you keep your patting tool parallel with the surface of the bead so as not to distort. Kaz's dobber is good cos it keeps cooler than my brass patting tool.

mel

I used to have trouble with this, now I can melt a murrini in with just two to three pushes, so here's my thoughts on the subtleties involved, I hope they help. Once you get the hang of it, you wont have to think about it.


If you heat it up too much, let the surface cool a bitty before patting it
If you are heating it, and the murrini is held at an angle so it heats unevenly, it can go wonky, so hold your bead so that when you spot heat it, the murrini goes into the flame evenly all round it, then take it out of the flame and adjust your bead angle before patting so that the murrini sits horizontally so that gravity can't distort it
When you pat it, just pat directly down and hold the tool parallel with the bead so you don't accidentally squoosh it to one side.

If it is still very slightly raised and you want it flush, you need to heat it, and the area around but make sure you move in the flame so that it is heated evenly and it should just spread out. If you heat it from one angle, it will flow and distort.

Good luck, murrini are great fun!
Laughinglass Lampwork Beads