Stringers...modus operandi?

[grandmabead]

I have looked at just about every tut on the net about how to make stringers and i have tried making them too (what a laugh...not) but there is just one wee detail that i have never been able to find included in the tuts.
Here goes...
When you pull stringers which end do you pull? Do you pull both, the one with the gather or the one you are holding with the tweezers? I have never found this out and would appreciate a bit of help with this.

When i tried pulling stringers they seemed to cool so quickly and i could'nt get the "whooooosh" action at all - for whoosh action imagine pulling your arms apart - my stringers were so hard to pull, too cool maybe. I know pulling good stringers takes practice but i would love to know what i should be pulling......no rude comments please ladeeeze.

[Les]

Hiya.... what I do is this.....

I always wait just a few seconds, untill a 'skin' forms on the glass blob.... then, as I pull with the tweezers, I try to keep the warm mass of glass higher up than the tweezer end... and pull at a kind of 45 degree angle. Keeping the warm mass pointing downwards seems to give more controll as the heat moves upwards, and keeps the melted blob workable for that little bit longer...

Hope this helps a little ??

Les xx

[turquoise]

I had a go at pulling some stringers the other day and found that I either had them too think or they went really thin!!!

I was pulling from one end using my tweezers it is really tricky at first. Sorry I cannot offer any helpful advice on this one at the mo. 

[Les]

I hope this rushed scribble makes a little sense... the key is timing it so that the glass is at the right consistency... it all comes with practice...

[Lush!]

When you pull stringers which end do you pull? Do you pull both, the one with the gather or the one you are holding with the tweezers? I have never found this out and would appreciate a bit of help with this.

Visualise ... a rod of glass in left hand, a melted blob (gather) on the end - thats the right hand end of the rod - grasp the far right tip of the gather with the tweezers, allow to cool slightly - then pull to the right.

(reverse it all for lefties)

[grandmabead]

Hiya.... what I do is this.....

I always wait just a few seconds, untill a 'skin' forms on the glass blob.... then, as I pull with the tweezers, I try to keep the warm mass of glass higher up than the tweezer end... and pull at a kind of 45 degree angle. Keeping the warm mass pointing downwards seems to give more controll as the heat moves upwards, and keeps the melted blob workable for that little bit longer...

Hope this helps a little ??

Les xx

Oh that is just perfect Les, thanks for that delightfully simple & helpful explanation.......5 gold stars and go to the top of the class! LOL
I will try that method next time i try pulling stringers and let you know how i get on.


turquoise - that happened when i tried pulling stringers too.........blimey they were ugly and uneven. I guess it is just PPP and confidence. My OH is a carpenter and he has been cutting glass for windows for years and he says that manipulating glass is 90% confidence, he can't remember the last time a piece of glass broke on him but when he was learning he broke every piece and had the mickey taken out of him - poor sod.

[grandmabead]

oooooooooh new posts!
That pic is worth my weight in gold Les, thanks very much for taking the time to illustrate what you meant. I have saved it and will stare at it until it is imprinted on my brain.



Lush! - thank you too me dearie, another great explanation. This post will be my stringer bible for many a year to come.


I can't wait to try stringers again now, i was a bit downheartened with my efforts before but now i am raring to go!

[Lush!]

A picture tells a thousand words ...



... make that 1006! 

[Billie]

I always let gravity do most the work with the aid of tweezers and point the rod straight down then pull the gather into a stringer.  The bigger the gather the thicker the stringer.  If I want a thicker opaque stringer, I wrap a gather of clear glass on the end of one of my bent mandrels first, then encase that with the opaque colour (twice) then pull into a stringer.  This keeps the stringers nice and stiff when applying and is great for white stringer decoration to stop it melting too quickly as you're trying to apply to beads.

[Kaz]

I only make Silvered Ivory Stringers in this way.
For standard stringers - I take a full rod and warm the middle rotating both ends in the same direction. As the glass melts I kind of push towards the centre and this creates a kind of disk shaped gather. When this is big enough, I take it out of the flame, count to about 5 and then pull on both ends as evenly (and fairly slowly) as possible. I then use pliers to cut the stringer off at each end. Re-join the two ends of the rods and start the process again.
Kaz

[Les]

Oh and another tip ... for thicker stringers, pull real slow... for thinner ones, pull quicker

xx

[Les]

Pulling stringer from the centre of a full rod is also a great way of shortening those longer, difficult to handle glass rods... great method Kaz

xx

Edited to say..... I'm ace at pulling stringer these days .... but still utter crap at controlling it once I apply it to the bead

[*rowanberry*]

I find using a pair of bent nose pliers helps loads too as it keeps your hand at a much more natural position and gives you that bit more control. I never use tweezers.

If you feel your glass is going out of control and too molten, just blow on it and it will cool it a little. Also if you seem to have a bigger blob on the tweezers/pliers side, just lift that side up higher than the rod side.

If you want to pull a very thick stringer you can use a piece of commercial stringer instead of tweezers, just attach it to the blob and pull.

[Lush!]

If you want to pull a very thick stringer you can use a piece of commercial stringer instead of tweezers, just attach it to the blob and pull.

Top tip!

I do it this way a lot, I find it helps me to get a more even stringer.

[shallybags]

Can't resist sticking my 2p in.

I use the short end of a clear rod and as I heat the gather for the stringer (left hand) I heat the end of the clear rod (right hand) in the back of the flame when the gather is ready I touch the end of the clear rod to it, wait until the surface darkens and pull out steadily with my left hand.  I don't think it matters too much which hand you pull with or if you use both.  I use my left hand because I was fed up bashing my right hand on my kiln.

I only started to get a feel for timings after I'd spent an afternoon steadily pulling stringer in a variety of colours.  Still got loads of the stuff left.

Shallybags