Mystery rods

[silkworm]

I am after advice please. I was chatting to one of the other stallholders at a fair yesterday, she is a woodworker, and when she asked how we made our beads and I mentioned glass rods she said she might have some she could give me. She had been asked recently to clear out the workshop of a woodworker who had died and had been left at the end with a few non wood bits including some glass. She got someone to bring them round to the fair and gave them to me as otherwise they were going to be thrown out.

I spent a while googling twisties last night and I know I will need to play with them and test out if they are compatible with my 104 rods but still have some queries

are they likely to be soft glass rather than boro (they remind me of glass ornaments from Murano)?
are there any clever ways to use them?

There are 12 rods varying lengths and thicknesses.


DSC_0820 by maryfrith, on Flickr


DSC_0821 by maryfrith, on Flickr

Hope someone can help.

[Purple Cobwebs]

Sorry can't help, but they are gorgeous! Lucky you! Have fun experimenting!!!! x

[Calico Cat]

They are latticino canes -can be very expensive.

I have only come across 104 versions but they probably do come in other COE so you will need to test.

Lucky you 

[Dragonfire Glass]

I'd guess not, but you never know

[qwirkyglass]

Hi,
they look to me like complex cane pulled for glass blowing.
I have recently been making some very similar pieces, and hand pulled blowing cane has a different look to lampworking glass, it tapers differently and reacts to being pulled differently than plain lampworking or even plain coloured canes.
The likelihood is that they will be 96coe, i will almost guarantee that they will not be compatible with 104coe.
However if they are old cane then there is a very strong likelihood that they are lead crystal in which case you really don't want to be heating them on a torch and they will not be compatible with anything else. There is a very easy test for this though, heat a small end gently in the flame , once it is warm but not moving, make the flame slightly reducing. If the glass has a high lead content it will reduce and silver very fast. Of course if it does silver you then want to melt it more in an oxidizing flame otherwise you will have lead on the outside of your glass, and we all know how lovely lead is
If the glass does not silver quickly then you have probably got 96, as i said, but you will still need to be careful as early glassblowing colours are not always very compatible, they might be ok with the clear in cane but balling them up into beads might increase the risk of incompatibility.
I have used cane like this in simple beads on my own though, and they are very striking in their simplicity, with just swirls of the white through the clear.
I really hope i have not put you off using this cane, im sure it will be lovely as long as it is not lead.
Please have fun, and i hope this has made sense and helped a little.
If your interested the cane would have been used to make pieces like this:


ps. there is also a very strong possibility that they are not annealed, so be very careful

[Skyblue]

I would personally just put them in a glass vase and drool over them they are really intricate and lovely !

[silkworm]

Thank you to everyone for their advice, especially to Quirkyglass - I really appreciate you taking the time to give me so much information. The vase you show is the kind of piece the rods made me think of and I have a set of bottles from Venice which look as if they are blown from this kind of rod.

I did get a bit worried about the lead business so put off trying them out for a bit but eventually made myself play a bit, using a rod that was just clear and white.  I did what you suggested to test for lead - I would not say it silvered but it certainly went grey.

I then made a couple of little beads to see how it behaved - hoping for white swirls - the results were a bit disappointing as the white turned a dirty grey and I think devitrified. My next play would have been to try it over some 104 coe and some 96 coe but the lack of nice white swirls put me off a bit.

I am coming round to Skyblue's idea of putting them in a vase and drooling over them! Though I may try a couple of ends in the kiln to see how they behave.

If anyone who does blowing wants a bit to try that let me know.