Reduction with Hot Head is it possible?

[Katerina]

And if yes  then HOW???

[flowerjasper]

hi,
i am on a hothead, reduction should be easy as we are working with a slightly reducing flame,
i find it hit and miss!
if you make a tin foil collar  and use this to cover the holes at the base of your hothead this will give you a reducing flame,
or you could put the bead in the bit of the flame you aren`t supposed to..near the base. 
i have read if you over reduce you get creamy colours, can you reverse this ?
sandy

[Katerina]

i did try to put glass very low in flame...but can't see a big difference with other beads....

[Isabelle]

  You can correct over-reduction, by putting it back in a neutral flame and starting again.
I tried the foil collar thing and didn't really get on with it - i ended up using an old tea towel folded into a long skinny shape, and just held it over the holes. You can control it by loosening or tightening your grip - works a treat, just don't set fire to the ends!

[Redhotsal]

It is very easy to reduce on a hothead but don't over do it or you'll burn your glass which is different to reducing it. As said - either cover the holes at the base of the hothead or position your glass near the bottom of the flame. But with reducing try and "waft" the bead through the flame - dont' hold it in one position for too long or you will burn the glass. Also - you might want to turn the flame down a little as well in order to prevent burning.

Yes, over reduction will send the work a creamier colour and if you go too far you'll simply burn the surface of the glass. You won't be able to reverse the burn but you will be able to reverse a light reduction by holding the glass out at the very tip of the flame.

Try rubino oro or iris gold rods for reduction practice.

[Katerina]

thank you very much for the help
I will try it today and report the result

[Katerina]

well it's look like i burn my glass... really the problem is I can't see any changes in the glass when it is hot. Or I am not suppose to see it??? and all will be visible later?

[dangerousbead]

Whenever I try it just goes mirrored

[Redhotsal]

Whenever I try it just goes mirrored

well, for many glasses that IS reduction - what are you using?

[dangerousbead]

Um mainly effetre and Sam's frits, silver ones and funky ones

[Im a glassy babe]

Maybe  a silly question, but what exactly is reduction and what effect does it have on the overall effect?

Thanks x

[Redhotsal]

Reduction is a process where the glass is heated in an low oxygen environment. You need oxygen in a flame to keep the glass colour true as the glass's colour is there because different metal oxides are added to the glass. If you remove the oxide from a glass you will reveal the metal that is in the metal oxide. So your brightly coloured glass will go a sludgy colour or if the metal is hard to oxidise you will see a metallic lustre or even a mirror finish.

Rubino oro (the cranberry pink glass) has a lot of gold in it. It's a bit more complex than this but simply Gold does not combine with oxygen very easily so the rubino will lose its colour readily if there isn't enough ready oxygen available in the torch flame. Rubino is very easy to reduce.

That mirror finish is the metal which is on the surface of the glass deprived of it's oxygen.

Some glass like turquoise will go brown red - that's copper.

Some glass like some of the Double Helix glass is very heavy in silver. When you reduce that the silver sort of becomes more reactive and you get silver crystal growth. This can lead to some beautiful soft colourations on the surface of the glass. Other DoubleHelix glass requires a lot of oxygen in stead of reduction - these are called striking glasses.

If you have frit with the prefix "Iris" - iris gold, iris orange, iris blue for example - the frit will reduce very easily.

Some glass does absolutely nothing when reduced or oxidised - like Effetre white.

You have to know what you're trying to achieve through reduction. Usually you will get a metallic lustre but if you were using Psyche, for example you will get very intense blues greens and even pinks.

The hothead will reduce a glass very easily because there isn't much oxygen in the hothead flame to begin with. Strong reduction occurs at the base of the flame and dies away at the top where the oxygen mix is richer. You can make reduction even easier on a hothead by covering up the holes at the base of the torch - thus preventing any oxygen reaching the glass.

A dual gas torch - like a minor burner is a lot more controllable when you are reducing or striking (oxidising) glass because you have a separate control over the oxygen. With the hothead your oxygen is fixed and is largely dependent on your position in the flame.

[flowerjasper]

thanks for that Sal,
has made things clearer for me, i dont have a lot of luck getting the beautiful colours even with the "easy ones" ie psyche,
maybe thats the big draw back of being  self educated, through books, forum etc rather than having a lesson with a lampworker with a wealth of knowledge,
sandy x

[beadmonkey]

THANK YOU SAL. I have been wondering what reduction was and was too shy to ask as everybody seemed to know what it was.

U r ACE and have explained it very well; Thank you!!

Roy

[garishglobes]

Because a hothead has a slightly reducing flame anyway, I used to think it was very easy to over-reduce the silver glasses. It could be with "easy" reducing glasses like Psyche that you're actually over-reducing?? It always seemed that way to me in any case. Maybe try just using small dots and encasing fairly quickly without reducing too much, just a little bit?
I know since I've had a "proper" torch I've learnt a lot more patience with these glasses and discovered that they are much easier to burn than I'd thought, that they like to be cooled then reheated to let the silver crystals grow, and that actually, most of them take very little reduction (compared to the amount I was giving them!) to get the colours.
Make the bead in the top part of the hothead flame, dot on some silver-rich glass, gently melt in at the top part, cool and then reintroduce, rolling gently, for a short time at the base of the flame - or cover the holes and reintroduce, but check frequently.