Determined, but Foiled Again
Last night's last bead cracked neatly in half... too late to repair it now! Wish I had received Krystal Kelly's message about how to heal cracked beads yesterday... but I probably couldn't have done it on my setup anyway, since I don't have a kiln to warm the bead up.
Tonight I tried two more. On the first one, the gas ran out on me (for the first time!) right when I was near the end. I think it turned out okay, though. But I didn't get to encase the flowers. Here it is:
The second one was better, though it also fell out of the fiber blanket when I was removing the first cooled bead. Finally fixed it so that won't happen again. I made this one on a full tank of gas. Unfortunately I'm still getting the mossy effect where the edges of the silver are burning. I've been trying to research how to avoid this on Wetcanvas, but without any luck so far. I wonder what others' opinions of these beads will be? Guess I'll find out when I post pics tomorrow.
I think I need to give up on silver foil for now, at least until I can ask Debbie's advice. This seems to be a really ambitious project for my current skill level. Plus I'm almost out of the clear rods that will melt with the Hothead! It's next to impossible to spread the clear glass the way I need to in order to properly encase the beads.
Here are the instructions on how to heal a cracked bead, from Krystal of Luna Beads:
"Okay, to answer your other question about the cracked bead: you can "heal" a crack in a bead. However, any raised surface design will probably melt into the base if you aren't careful. Most of the cracks I deal with are ones that happen while I'm working. I do 5 beads on one mandrel at a time; sometimes one of them will get too cool and crack while I'm working on one of the others. BUT, to heal a crack that you notice after you take a bead out of the blanket or vermiculite:
1) leave the bead on the mandrel
2) make sure the bead doesn't have any of that lovely vermiculite dust on it, but keep the bead and the bead release dry
3) place the bead, still on the mandrel, into your COLD kiln
4) fire up the old kiln to about 960 degrees or so. You want everything to be good and hot, but not sticky or slumpy.
5) Okay, now that everything is hot, here comes the tricky part. Light your torch.
6) Go get a washcloth that is completely wet (wring out the excess water, but leave it really damp). Fold it into fourths. When you reach in to get that mandrel, the metal is going to be about 960 degrees. The part sticking out is fine, but every other part is way hot.
7) While you're high-tailing it over to your torch with your hot bead, get the hot part of the mandrel area that you will need to hold wrapped in the washcloth. It will sizzle.
8) Get that bead in the flame and keep it warm while you finish cooling the mandrel off.
9) Now that you can handle your mandrel, locate the crack. Slowly heat the bead to get the entire bead hot. If you have raised decoration, try to avoid it by pointing the flame to areas without decoration. Once the bead is hot, watch the crack. You want to see it go red hot and molten. Once the crack is molten, it is a crack no more! :-) Do what you would normally do: let that spot cool down, get the whole bead a consistent temperature, and pop that bead back into the kiln!
That's a whole lot of trouble, I know. I mainly do that if a bead that I just loved broke on me, or if I'm doing something really unique and don't think that bead will ever come along again. You really will save yourself some heartache if you can possibly anneal as you go along. Like I said, I understand why it's a pain, but the desire to make the big and complex beads is really hard to resist as your skills grow, and it's hard to throw some of your favorites in the trash after you've worked so hard!"
Note: I asked her afterward, and she confirmed that it should be fine to use a heavy leather glove to handle the mandrel instead, though this should be tested. I use the glove to remove my torch head from the gas when I'm changing tanks and it's really hot, and I barely feel any heat.
Tonight I tried two more. On the first one, the gas ran out on me (for the first time!) right when I was near the end. I think it turned out okay, though. But I didn't get to encase the flowers. Here it is:
The second one was better, though it also fell out of the fiber blanket when I was removing the first cooled bead. Finally fixed it so that won't happen again. I made this one on a full tank of gas. Unfortunately I'm still getting the mossy effect where the edges of the silver are burning. I've been trying to research how to avoid this on Wetcanvas, but without any luck so far. I wonder what others' opinions of these beads will be? Guess I'll find out when I post pics tomorrow.
I think I need to give up on silver foil for now, at least until I can ask Debbie's advice. This seems to be a really ambitious project for my current skill level. Plus I'm almost out of the clear rods that will melt with the Hothead! It's next to impossible to spread the clear glass the way I need to in order to properly encase the beads.
Here are the instructions on how to heal a cracked bead, from Krystal of Luna Beads:
"Okay, to answer your other question about the cracked bead: you can "heal" a crack in a bead. However, any raised surface design will probably melt into the base if you aren't careful. Most of the cracks I deal with are ones that happen while I'm working. I do 5 beads on one mandrel at a time; sometimes one of them will get too cool and crack while I'm working on one of the others. BUT, to heal a crack that you notice after you take a bead out of the blanket or vermiculite:
1) leave the bead on the mandrel
2) make sure the bead doesn't have any of that lovely vermiculite dust on it, but keep the bead and the bead release dry
3) place the bead, still on the mandrel, into your COLD kiln
4) fire up the old kiln to about 960 degrees or so. You want everything to be good and hot, but not sticky or slumpy.
5) Okay, now that everything is hot, here comes the tricky part. Light your torch.
6) Go get a washcloth that is completely wet (wring out the excess water, but leave it really damp). Fold it into fourths. When you reach in to get that mandrel, the metal is going to be about 960 degrees. The part sticking out is fine, but every other part is way hot.
7) While you're high-tailing it over to your torch with your hot bead, get the hot part of the mandrel area that you will need to hold wrapped in the washcloth. It will sizzle.
8) Get that bead in the flame and keep it warm while you finish cooling the mandrel off.
9) Now that you can handle your mandrel, locate the crack. Slowly heat the bead to get the entire bead hot. If you have raised decoration, try to avoid it by pointing the flame to areas without decoration. Once the bead is hot, watch the crack. You want to see it go red hot and molten. Once the crack is molten, it is a crack no more! :-) Do what you would normally do: let that spot cool down, get the whole bead a consistent temperature, and pop that bead back into the kiln!
That's a whole lot of trouble, I know. I mainly do that if a bead that I just loved broke on me, or if I'm doing something really unique and don't think that bead will ever come along again. You really will save yourself some heartache if you can possibly anneal as you go along. Like I said, I understand why it's a pain, but the desire to make the big and complex beads is really hard to resist as your skills grow, and it's hard to throw some of your favorites in the trash after you've worked so hard!"
Note: I asked her afterward, and she confirmed that it should be fine to use a heavy leather glove to handle the mandrel instead, though this should be tested. I use the glove to remove my torch head from the gas when I'm changing tanks and it's really hot, and I barely feel any heat.
posted by Susan at Aspiring Arts at 10:11 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home