Last Lampwork In USA, and Tip for Turning
Today was my last day to torch before flying to Israel. It happened to be somewhere around 100 degrees outside, too, so it was sweaty business! But I did all right. The first order of business was to make a whole bunch of beads in rainbow colors (actually two sets). That went fine, except that on the first bead, I found it impossible to turn the mandrel. This was because I had unconsciously come to rely on my pinky ring to be the mandrel rest and to make it easy to turn the mandrel. Had to stop after one bead and go put on my rings. So -
Here is my TIP: Wear a pinky ring to help make mandrel turning easier!
In addition to the rainbow beads, I made a couple of experimental just-for-fun beads. This is why we lampwork, right? And this time, they came off the mandrels! Woo hoo!
The first was a bead that started with an ivory base, then added a dichroic stripe. Next, dark ivory and copper green dots were added. The finishing touch was to create diagonal grooves in the bead. The first view shows the beads coloration; the second shows the shape and grooves.
The second was a special bead that I made for a girl who had a Bat Mitzvah today. It started with a bunch of turquose, more glass than I usually use on this torch. Then I made little flowers with this pretty pink that Rebecca S. sent me, along with periwinkle. I made ivory dots between the flowers, plunged the flower centers and put a dot of clear over the holes. Didn't matter, because they just melted out. There were some pretty interesting reactions between the turquose and pink, as well as the expected ones between the ivory and turquoise.
After lentilizing the bead, I used the encased goldstone stringer also sent to me by Rebecca and made her initials: S on one side, H on the other. You can see the pretty details of the reactions between the glasses in the photos.
As usual, the purple tones don't come out in photography, so the bead is much more striking in person than here. It was fun trying these experiments!
Here is my TIP: Wear a pinky ring to help make mandrel turning easier!
In addition to the rainbow beads, I made a couple of experimental just-for-fun beads. This is why we lampwork, right? And this time, they came off the mandrels! Woo hoo!
The first was a bead that started with an ivory base, then added a dichroic stripe. Next, dark ivory and copper green dots were added. The finishing touch was to create diagonal grooves in the bead. The first view shows the beads coloration; the second shows the shape and grooves.
The second was a special bead that I made for a girl who had a Bat Mitzvah today. It started with a bunch of turquose, more glass than I usually use on this torch. Then I made little flowers with this pretty pink that Rebecca S. sent me, along with periwinkle. I made ivory dots between the flowers, plunged the flower centers and put a dot of clear over the holes. Didn't matter, because they just melted out. There were some pretty interesting reactions between the turquose and pink, as well as the expected ones between the ivory and turquoise.
After lentilizing the bead, I used the encased goldstone stringer also sent to me by Rebecca and made her initials: S on one side, H on the other. You can see the pretty details of the reactions between the glasses in the photos.
As usual, the purple tones don't come out in photography, so the bead is much more striking in person than here. It was fun trying these experiments!
posted by Susan at Aspiring Arts at 2:31 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home