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Other online Tip Archives
26July: Stainless steel vs. Tungsten! Which pick to chose when pulling
trails? It depends on what effect you are going for. The very fact
that steel will stick to the glass might be an advantage. With that
slight sticking action, you will pull just the surface of the
decoration. If you use a tungsten pick, however, you would have to
dig very deeply to get a good grip on the glass to pull it. Thus
creating a raised trough in your bead. If that is what you are
after, use the tungsten. If you want only a delicate trail, use the
steel pick. [thank you JG!
via JO]
27June06: To end up with a perfectly round ball bead, begin by making a
perfectly square cylinder. (You know that you have both the
footprint and the quantity of glass right.) And then melt it into a
perfect ball. [DGD]
13 June06: Gentle
Pliers -- Next time
you need a little extra torque to remove a bead from the mandrel try
this: Coat the open jaws of a regular old pair of pliers with hot
glue (from the glue gun) and allow it to set up. Use a non-coated
pair of pliers to hold the mandrel and your newly modified gentle
pliers to twist the bead. [NG]
3May06:
 Use a
half-brick underneath your lentil or other bead press. If it's a few
inches off the top of the table you will have no trouble maneuvering
the mandrel to the correct spot and centering the glass in the
press. There will be room for your hands! Cut a small piece of
rubberized shelf liner to put underneath the press, so it won't
slide around or off the brick. [JP and JO]
3Apr06: Buy mandrel material in bulk, from your local welding supply
store. Ask for stainless steel 316L TIG wire. They come in
three-foot lengths. If it's small enough gauge, you can cut it down
to 12" lengths using a wire cutter. For the 1/8" size, you
will have to use a bolt cutter, a cut-off
wheel (mounted on a Dremel or other flex shaft tool), or a hacksaw. To avoid bending the
rods, be sure to clamp the wire very securely in a vise, very close
to the place where you intend to cut, before cutting. Finally, use a
metal file (or the flat of the cut-off wheel -- wear your
safety glasses!) to clean any burs from the cut ends. [JO]
27Mar06:
 Use a
cheap 5-oz. or 8-oz. stainless steel gravy boat for your frit. Pour
the frit in the gravy boat and use a spoon. Fill the spoon with frit
and hold it over the gravy boat as you are roll the bead in the
frit. When you are finished, the pour spout helps you pour the
remaining frit back into the storage container. (You can find these
gravy boats at restaurant supply stores or do a Google search for
"stainless steel gravy boat", all in quotation marks.
You'll find some for a little as three dollars.)
19Mar06:
 This
innovation brought to you by Andrea
Guarino-Slemmons! Notch the end of a
tapered graphite paddle to nest your mandrel. Rotate the mandrel
in the notch, and gently push it against the soft bead, using the
sides of the notch to even up your holes! More detail here.
3Mar06:
 There
are those who recommend that, if you are using a wheeled office
chair to sit at your torch, you remove the back and turn it into a
stool. This will make it easier for you to jump back if (heaven
forbid!) a hot glob of glass is heading for your lap. On the other
hand, there are those that are willing to take that chance, and
enjoy the support of an ergonomic backrest. Regardless of your
choice, for safety's sake, forgo the chair arms. [JO]
1Jan06: Instead of using a diamond reamer in your wireless
Dremel to clean out your bead holes, try a piece of tungsten
carbide rod saw blade. They come in 10" lengths, with a tab
at each end so that they can be mounted in a hacksaw frame. Use your
rod cutter to nip off the tabs and cut the rod into two 4"
lengths. Since the rod is coated with carbide all around, you will
have to wrap the end in heavy flexible foil to make sure the chuck
on the Dremel grips it securely. Always use with running water! An
example. You can find these blades in any hardware store.
5Dec05: When exhibiting at an art/craft show, don't forget to bring
disinfectant hand wipes and extra light bulbs for your
light fixtures. Sample
show checklist is here.
10Nov05: Buy a supply of borosilicate glass
punties.
(Product #BR-312 from Wale,
for $9.50. Be sure to mark them with red nail polish on one end, so
you don't get them mixed up with your soft glass.) Use them to make
stringer: Heat the end of a soft glass rod and at the same time warm
the end of the punty. Quickly and easily grab the end of the molten
glass with the punty and pull. The cool thing about using these
punties is that, once the pull is done and has cooled, the punty
pops off and the stringer is ready to use. No tools to search for,
no cutting, etc. Cuts down on the time to make stringer. And the
punties are reuseable over and over again. [AK]
23Sept05: 
Here is an outstanding suggestion for an emergency bead cleaner/reamer, devised by Ana Maria on
WetCanvas. It's just wire
wrapped around a stiff straight core wire. Excellent! More.
10Sept05: If you
regularly use a respirator, be careful how and where you store it
between uses. If you simply  hang it on a hook next to your table,
with the inside facing up, it will collect frit and enamel dust on
the inside, precisely what you are trying to protect yourself
from. When not in use, store your respirator inside a plastic bag!
[from LD via JO]
15Aug05:
Make frit from your leftover glass the easy way: heat your stumps
and tiny leftover rod ends in the kiln (or in the flame), pick them
out one by one with pliers or tweezers and then dump them in a
big jar of chilled water. Presto! They shatter into frit.
Pour the frit through graduated sieves (or kitchen strainers) to
grade into fine, medium, and coarse. Dry and use! (For more advice on different, more complicated, and more elaborate
ways to make frit, see this
thread in WC.)
21July05:
Here's how to make a bead that looks like marble: Add a few dots or
string trailers of intense black to a base bead and heat like crazy
until the black webs. Then roll in the frit of your choice. Melt in
and shape. [from CorvetteJuliet on WC] More. (More info on
the 'web effect', also called 'black lace', that you can get with
the intense black, from Jim Smircich.)
20June05: Use
a stainless steel ice cream scoop as a tool to help you shape the
perfect barrel. See
WC for how to use it! / (An
example of a good scoop.)
13Apr05:To apply a thin and even coat of enamel on a bead, DO NOT press down
and roll it in the enamel like a rolling pin. Rather spin it in the
enamel, without pressing down. This is easier if you put the enamel
in a spoon and hold it up, so you can see and feel what you're
doing. Alternatively, use a pile of enamel on a small marver. Again,
hold the enamel-charged marver while you are spinning. [thank you JG->JO]
31Mar05:
Experiment with metal on reduction glass stringer:
- Roll a gather of Kugler
reduction glass (K-103 or K-105) in cooper leaf and pull
stringer from it. What kind of variegated lines does it create when
swirled onto a base bead made from any of the ivories, light or dark
and Effetre or Vetrofond?
- Try copper under silver leaf on the same reduction glass
gather, pulled into stringer. What's the difference in the
chemistry? What's the effect of this stringer on ivory base beads? [KFM->JO]
17Mar05:
 Get goldstone in a
different way: buy it from a gem
company, crunch it up, encase, and pull your own stringer. It
may be more economical to do it this way and the "gem"
goldstone really sparkles. [Thank you, JG!]
1Mar05:
 Get
a vivid orange
in a new way: reduce copper leaf to the point that the copper oxide
bubbles to the top. [More,
from Fergie Beads]
20Feb05:
So you want to make square dots, eh? Here's how: surround your initial raised dot with four additional
dots that are the same color as the base bead. Melt all five of them
in slowly and evenly and the four surrounding dots will nudge the
central one into a square shape as they melt in. Try it! Variation: try five surrounding dots instead of four. What
shape does the central dot take on in that case?
 1Feb05:
Moretti/Effetre EDP 'Evil Devitrifying Purple' (#254) is "is an attempt to make an
opaque gold ruby". The trick to getting a bold purple without
the chalkiness is a quick cooling and close control of re-heating. Detailed
instructions here.
[!ngridh on WetCanvas]
21Jan05:
If you have trouble finding a bead hole cleaning reamer to fit
inside your beads, consider making one by shortening a mandrel,
notching it all over (so it is abrasive, like a reamer bit), and fitting it
into a rotary tool. ["shestamps2"
on WetCanvas] [ see also this WetCanvas thread, Bead
Cleaning, which discusses the problems encountered when using
tapered reamers in long beads]
11Jan05:
When applying linear stripes on a bead, place tiny
markers at the either end of the bead from the start, to where you
intend to finish, for a straight stringer line. The same would apply
to a straight line of dots. [from Larry Scott via DG]
3Jan05:
 If you know
someone with a baby, ask for the empty baby food jars to hold your
enamels, powders, and frits. Not only will you be relieving him/her
of unwanted jars, but you gain free storage.
[http://jewelrymaking.about.com/library/bltip1.htm]
15Dec04:
Put your beads to the 'expert beadmakers' test. Balance your beads
on end. If they stand up, not only are they symmetrical (no excess
glass on one side or the other) but the ends are straight, parallel,
and finished. [CLS] Bravo!
1Dec04:
You can also use the top of your kiln to dry
your dipped mandrels. "I put my mandrels in a coffee can of sand when
I dip them, and if I put the can on top of my hot kiln, the mandrels
are dry and ready to use in just a few minutes!" [from GinaJ on
WetCanvas]
Be sure to use a metal can on top of the kiln!
16Nov04:
 Rough
up new mandrels with steel wool or
Scotch-Brite�
to give the bead release good purchase. [Cynthia
Liebler Saari] It's also not a bad idea to give older
mandrels a swipe or two as well. Perk 'em up.
6Novo4:
For a more finished look to your encased beads, make the core the
same color as the one you intend to use for the encasing. When you
get to the ends, they will "match" perfectly. [Cynthia
Liebler Saari]
20Oct04:
Use lengths of 4"x4" hollow PVC fence post to build a rack
to store your glass rods. Be sure you brace it all securely. The
square tubes are more space-efficient than the round tubes. One
source for fencing.
11Oct04:
Here's a tip for getting frit back into your storage jar: use a big
thick plastic bag (a "ziplock"
freezer bag is good) into which your whole frit tray will fit. Cut
out one corner. When you're finished with a particular frit, pour it
from the tray into the intact corner. Then tip the bag so the
cut-out corner deposits the frit into your storage jar. [from "dustyg"
on WetCanvas]. More.
18Sept04:
Moretti/Effetre black has manganese in it and that causes the
color to be especially apt to scorch and develop air bubbles when
worked with a paddle. To prevent this, carefully heat your paddle before
applying it to a black bead. More,
from Jim Smircich.
12Sept04:
 Make a
soft wood "bead wrench" to help you grip those pesky beads
that insist on clinging to the mandrel. More.
9Aug04:
 Use
PMC3 and 12 gauge fine silver wire to make some very cool headpins
for your best focal beads. Directions from Kate McKinnon are
here. More on PMC.
27July04:
Sometimes it's hard to tell a mandrel is ever-so-slightly bent until
after you've made an award-winning bead on it and -- alas! -- it's
too late. So here's one way. Lay your clean dry mandrels side by
side on a flat tabletop. Group five or so together and roll them back and forth
together, using the flat palm of your hand.
Watch carefully to see if one or more wobbles against his neighbor.
Trash those that do.
14July04:
Moretti/Effetre black is actually a very deep dark purple. If you
have trouble with the black becoming purple when used in certain
shapes and designs (particularly ones that require squashing), try
this: encase opaque Dark Cobalt Blue (#246) with the black. Pull
stringer and use this for your black. The opaque dark core keeps the
black more dense. [Shawn on WetCanvas] More.
5July04:
When experimenting with a new color, do you ever get the beads out
of the kiln in the morning and forget what you added to the base
color bead to get that one wonderful reaction you were looking for?
Solution: add a swipe of that color below the bead, right on the mandrel.
Then when you get it out of the kiln the next morning you can see each bead and the
swipe of color tells me what was added to what bead. [Shawn T. on
WetCanvas] More.
28June04:
If you have particularly good ventilation, you know that
your silver and gold leaf can go flying. Use a dab of "layout
wax" to hold it down on the marver until you are ready to
use it. More,
from Karol on WetCanvas.
13June04:
Do you accumulate untidy piles of one or two inch long glass rod
remnants that annoy? Do they make you worry because you think you're
wasting good glass? Solution: don't melt them down that far! Stop
when you get to a four or six inch length. Put them aside and, when
you get the chance, melt two rods together into one and use that.
Beware of the joint, since it can be a bit "shocky". More.
7June04:
If you use silver leaf or foil in same-sized strips, don't
struggle to cut them one by one. It is easier to cut the whole
packet, paper and all, with a good pair of sharp scissors before you
begin. You can then easily pull one sheet of leaf off the pack using
the covering tissue paper to grasp it. [JO]
1May04:
If you rake stripes and pull designs with stringer (instead
of with your tungsten pick) don't worry about how you are going to
clean the end of the stringer after each rake. Simply prepare a
handful of stringers beforehand and pick up a fresh one for each
rake. More.
27Apr04:
For poking holes, dragging stripes, and any kind of delicate sculptural or manipulation work, consider
 using a graphite pencil.
Shave the wood back from the lead (or use a mechanical pencil). Use
the harder leads (3H and higher) for strength. More
on this and some Pencils.
19Apr04:
To decrease the extent of chill marks, dip your metal tool in water
just before you use it for shaping or flattening. The theory is that
the water forms a vapor barrier between the glass and
the metal, cushioning the chilling effect of the cold tool on the
glass.
9Apr04:
 "If you
use frit...I suggest you wash it first. Depending on the frit it may
have some small granules or even powder even if the frit is a larger
size. I find that I get much better results with my frit if I rinse
it in a strainer first. Depending on the final size of the frit I am
using I will use different strainers." [!ngridh on WetCanvas] More.
1Apr04:
Plan you spring and summer 2004 Mid-Atlantic Road Trips using the
listings in our Museums, Craft
Galleries, and Bead Shops
web pages. Especially do not miss the fabulous craft museums in our region. They are here to inspire us and
to jolt us. [JO]
20Mar04:
If you make your beads in the middle of the mandrel, here is a handy
way to stack them up in the kiln without them touching. Use a hand
saw to cut a soft (and very crumbly, so be careful) fire
brick into lengths with a 1-1/2" by 1-1/2"
cross-section. Make a layered rack inside the kiln. Once the lower level is
filled, lay in another layer of brick lengths and keep on stacking.
[JO]
See pic at left!
7Mar4:
Use heavy freezer bags to file beads: in one bag put beads from a
particular workshop, in another put beads that evolved from a
particular idea, and another can hold beads made a color swatches or
as samplers, and finally a bag for beads that may contain the germ
of one great new series. Mark each bag with the date and contents
and file each bag away. During a dry spell, these bags are a great
tool for reinvigorating your synapses. [DGD]
1Mar04:
When using any of the liquid etching solutions to etch a bead,
always follow the etching dip with a good soak in a  baking
soda and water solution. As the bead is soaking, swish it around a
bit, to make sure the neutralizing solution gets into the hole too.
This dip will help neutralize the acid of the etching solution.
Wash the
bead thoroughly in detergent at the end. Wear rubber
gloves and safety glasses throughout the entire etching/soaking/washing
process.
11Feb04:
Here is a less frustrating way to practice laying down precise
raised stringer: use a transparent stringer on a base bead of the
same color. If you mess up, just melt the stringer in and start
again. If you succeed, it's a great bead. (Even better if slightly
fumed.) If you give up and quit, it's a good base bead for any other
design. [gmdcrafts
on WetCanvas]
29Jan04:
Silver and (especially!) gold leaf tends to float away on the
slightest breath of air. To keep it in place and ready to be placed
on a bead, prepare wisely. Use wetted blotting paper (or other thick
cardboard, like a beer coaster) or a wetted marver to hold the leaf. The moisture will
help to anchor the leaf. [WetCanvas] More.
14Jan04:
If you have air bubbles in (or under) your clear glass after you
encase a bead using the 'around-the-world' encasement method, try
this to get rid of it. Beginning at the end of the wind, focus a
tight flame in the crack, and moving back along the channel, push
all the air back out the other end. Try it!
More
info, with an illustration. [Lenda on WetCanvas]
 2Jan04:
"Think of the vessel as a hollow bead with only one hole".
But brace the bottom of the vessel against the opposite tip of the mandrel.
The vessel will be much more stable, as you construct it. More.
[M**2 on WetCanvas]
19Dec03:
For hints on how to construct animal beads, consult books on how to
draw cartoon animals. They will be reduced to the basic geometric
shapes and will be easy to reproduce. More.
[Emily on WetCanvas]
07Dec03:
When heating rods or murrini on your hotplate, cover them with a
fiber blanket. This will hasten the heating and even it out as well.
More.
[TroyNC on WetCanvas]
 30Nov03:
When you are evaluating and perfecting the shape of a bead, look at
it in silhouette, and back-lit if possible. If you don't, your eye
may be fooled by the decoration or the pattern on the glass. You may
not be able to pick up subtle imperfections or variations in the
shape. [from Kim Affleck]
23Nov03:
If you are having trouble making your gold or silver leaf sit
quietly on your marver prior to application, try misting the marver
with water prior to laying the leaf on it. More
gold leaf tips.
04Nov03:
If you have trouble with white and black bleeding a little bit, pearl
gray is an alternative to the white that will give you really crisp
lines. [BP]
25Oct03:
When you're stumped for new color combinations, download a colorful
picture and open it in Photoshop. Then play with the 'hue adjustment
slider' and see what you come up with. Example.
[kctori on
WetCanvas]
14Oct03:
If you are having trouble judging the shape of your beads as you're
making them by eye, put a grid up on the wall behind your torch. If
you sight your bead up against this grid it will be easier to tell
if it's symmetrical and centered on the mandrel. [attributed to
Larry Scott]
7Oct03:
Put a cake of beeswax
next to your workspace. Heat your palette knife (or brass paddle or
steel tweezers) a bit and put a slick of beeswax on prior to
beginning work. Glass won't stick as readily.
22Sept03:
Try the scraffito technique with enamels. Put about a teaspoon
of a single color of enamel powder on a marver. Use the back
of the teaspoon to smooth and thin it out, then draw through the
powder in a simple pattern -- wavy lines, squiggles, or whatever.
Then make a simple cylindrical bead, and roll it once over the
pattern. Try dark over light, light over dark. Try two
colors of enamel next to one another. The possibilities are
endless! Then try a thin clear casing over the enamels for
more depth and sparkle. [JF]
10Sept03:
We haven't tested this - - frankly, it sounds kind of outlandish - -
but what the heck. To get pixie dust to adhere and to bring out it's
luster, try this: after you finish your bead, pull it out of the
flame, roll it in pixie dust, and then roll it on a wet towel. Then
flash it back into the flame and anneal. Experiment with different
colors of base bead and of pixie dust to see what combos work best.
You can also use a wet sponge in place of the wet towel. If anyone
has tried this, please let us know the results. [Margi
on ISGB Forum]
31Aug03:
If you still use a fiber blanket to protect your beads before you
batch-anneal them, here is a way to contain and control that
blanket: loosely roll it up jelly-roll style and put it into a tall
coffee can. The coffee can contains the fiber dust and it takes up
much less space than the flat blanket did. When you finish a bead.
just slide it down into the can, between layers of the blanket. [Tulip
on WetCanvas]
18Aug03:
If you drop a stringer, don't automatically assume that you know
which is the cool end. Pick it up in the middle. [Donni on WetCanvas]
10Aug03:
If you have mixed up your white Moretti/Effetre rods, here's a way
to tell anise white from the regular white. Anise
white has a yellowish glow when it's in the flame, where regular
white starts to turn clearish at about the same temp. [Lezlie on WetCanvas]
29July03:
Here's how to make clear dichro stringer: Cut a one inch strip and
attach a punty to one end of the strip. Gently heat the glass side
of the dichro while rolling it into a tight roll with a tool. Case
the ends to cover and protect the edges, punty up, heat and pull.
["Mona" on WetCanvas]
17July03:When making sculptural or symmetrical beads, always attack the side
that is harder to see or harder to reach first. It will be much
easier to duplicate that side when you have the advantage of a
better view and better dexterity. [DGD]
6July03:
Next time you're at the flea market or at a garage sale, look for a
few old cribbage boards.
They make great mandrel holders. [KS]
28June03:
Glass comes in batches, good and less-than-good. Unfortunately,
colors vary between batches. If you get
a color you like or a particularly clean sample of glass, call your supplier up
and order more right away! [adapted from Glass
Act: the Southeastern Michigan Glass Beadmakers' Guild web
site]
22June03:
Keep a shot glass or small tumbler of water next to your work space.
Use it to cool hot metal tools (so the glass doesn't stick to them),
to dump those glass spikes that you pull off your bead with
tweezers, and to knock Effetre/Moretti twisted cane ends off of
Pyrex punties. Be sure to replenish the water often, since it
evaporates quickly. [JO]
15June03:
For dots: "When you're starting to apply the stringer, heat the
spot on the bead and touch the stringer to it, rather than heating
the end of the stringer (which will give you a ball on the end)."
[Emily, on WetCanvas]
15May03:
"Transparents on top of opaques tend to sink in, while opaques
on top of transparents spread out." [ISGB Forum] Remember this
(very general) rule of thumb when encasing flowers, carefully
placing dots on top of dots, or trying to control an unruly stringer
line.
 5May03:
Cheat on your bead ends. Instead of agonizing over perfect
dimpled ends, use a masher to make a cube-shaped or a disk-shaped
bead. If you allow the ends to cool just a little before mashing,
the action of mashing the whole bead will push the surface out over
the ends. You automatically create a perfectly indented bead end.
24April03:
Check your studio fire
extinguishers to make sure that the pressure is up to snuff.
Make sure the gauge shows the pressure still in the 'green zone'. If
not, the better quality ones may be re-charged. The cheapies should
be replaced.
14April03: After you roll your bead in the enamel
powder, be sure to knock off any powder that is clinging to the bead
release at either end of the bead. If you don't - and melt it in - you
may end up with a jagged edge on your bead hole. [from The Enamel and
Electroform Decorated Beads of Kate Fowle Meleney, by Jim
Kervin]
7Feb03: Keep your rods from
rolling around when they are on top of the hot plate with the Wavy,
a curvy bent wire contraption anchored to the foil-covered bricks in front of the hot
plate. See it in action, below. Another view of the Wavy.
[JG] Please also note, as illustrated below in the picture of the
'wavy', that some of us even
pre-heat our tools! This might be vital if you are handling very small
glass components, such as murrini.
27Jan03:
To facilitate the precise placement of cubic zirconia in glass beads, first glue them to the end of a mandrel with white craft glue. See detailed description
here,
in the WetCanvas Forum. Thank you, Barrie. [JG]
16Jan03:
If you're addicted to
caffeine or just in need of something to keep you hydrated during a
marathon studio session, use a "to go" coffee mug. The
sealed top will keep invisible shards of glass from falling into your
drink. [JG] .
9Jan03: Re-energize yourself in the new
year by going back to a forgotten oldie-goldie: Pixie Dust! Try these
colored mica powders with the new Moretti/Effetre colors, or mixed
with enamels, and maybe in conjunction with your metal foils. The
effects of Pixie Dust are enhanced by encasing, but watch that you
don't smear it. More.
3Jan03: Instead of a tungsten pick, use a bit of
filigrana stringer (or twisted stringer) to poke out the center of a
flower or the center of a dot to make a bubble. Blow on it to help the
tip cool and snap it off. It will add a bit of
color to the center of your flower and a new design element to your
bubble dot.
6Dec02:
If
you want to wrap your bead in a thin stringer, you usually touch a
gather to the surface of
your bead and rotate quickly. Often, this produces a large dot (Blob) where you made your initial contact. You can avoid this by attaching your gather to the mandrel just to
the side of the bead, then guiding the stringer
over your bead as you spin away from yourself. [KF, JG, JO]
20Nov02:
Select a few beads from your reject jar and place them in the bead release. They will help agitate the mix
every time you shake it up. [the ISGB
Forum]
11Nov02:
When
slightly different colored rods look alike even without didymiums,
it's easy to ruin your bead by accidentally reaching for the
wrong color, or worse, mixing COE's. Take a moment to mark your
rods by flattening the bottoms of the less-commonly used color or wrapping
the ends with rubber bands. [JG]
29Oct02:
When sitting at your
torch, comfort depends on correct posture. Your ankle, knee, and hip joints
should all be at 90 degree angles to one another. If your chair height is
forcing your legs beyond the 90/90/90 relationship, use a brick or a
cinderblock as a foot rest to raise your feet. [LS]
14Oct02:
When
using murrini, always select and prepare more than you need. Murrini
work best when preheated on a hotplate, then flashed through a small
flame with tweezers prior to being placed on the bead. Since they're
so tiny they can easily slip out of your tweezers' grip and go flying
across the table. So if your design calls for two murrini, prepare
three or four of the same size. [JG]
9Oct02:
If you do not have a
marble mold and are looking for a very inexpensive tool for the final
punty polish and for carrying your finished marble to the kiln, try a
melon baller. They are perfectly round. [DM, 3RGB]
(... on the other hand...)
23Sept02: Be open-minded about
trying various new tools. It's remarkable how the right
tool can make a particular task so much easier. (It's almost
miraculous!) Do not stubbornly struggle with
inappropriate or inadequate tools. The frustration may lessen your enjoyment of your art.
You will never regret the investment.
22
Sept02:As alternative to
fine silver wire, try rolling up a length of fine silver foil into a
wrinkled up tube. Wrap it around your hot bead and marver down. You
may either encase it or burn/melt it in. The texture and pattern and
color will vary with each bead.
6Sept02: When encasing
with clear, make sure that there is considerable difference between
the heat of the casing glass and the base bead. The casing glass
should be drippy, but the base bead must be merely warm. This will
ensure that the stiff base bead doesn't distort or its design smear
during the encasing. [from CJ, Making Glass Beads]
14
Aug 02: If
your bead breaks loose from the mandrel while it's still molten hot,
immediately put the brakes on any possibility of it careening
towards your hands by making tiny beads on each side. (JG)
30June02: To
quickly wash large amounts of glass rods ... use your dishwasher. Put
the glass on the top rack,
don't use soap. Viola! Clean glass. To remove any water spots, spray with 50/50
rubbing alcohol/water and wipe down with a lint-free towel. (AS)
19June02: Dots! "The base
glass (that is, the substrate, or the glass that is receiving the
color) should be warm, but firm so that the surface remains
undistorted as the color is applied. If the substrate is too cold, the
glass will not stick at all, or it will draw too much heat from the
colored rod as you apply it. The result in the later case will be dots
that are much larger than you wanted." (from Contemporary
Lampworking, 3rd edition, vol. 2, by Bandhu Dunham, p. 324.)
11June02: I occasionally
have a problem getting my beads off my mandrels. My partner suggested
that I put  a drop of oil (for example,
WD-40) on the mandrel and then
set it straight so the oil soaks down through the bead, and let it sit
overnight. Frankly, I thought he was nuts but I was willing to try it
. . . and it works! It even worked on 'flower pot enhancers' that I've
had for a year or more. If the bead doesn't come off the first time,
try a bit more oil and let it sit for a couple more days. [PZB]
7May02: When you use
either a marver or a paddle on your bead, it leaves chill marks. They
are those concentric furrows that look like a fingerprint. Always fire
polish these out before you put the bead in the kiln to anneal. A bead
with chill marks is not a thoughtfully or carefully finished bead. (1Nov03:
Some artists in the beadmaking community have since taken issue with
the assertion here that chill marks are an indication of
thoughtlessness or inexperience. Some intentionally use chill marks
as part of the bead's design. Some just leave them there because
they look cool. Either approach has merit, of course, so long as
such a detail is a planned part of the bead. For
more on this debate.) [JLO]
1May02: Lay a strip of
dichroic glass down on the bead core with the rainbow coated side down. Apply
heat only to the un-coated side of the dichro strip. For a clean and
invisible line, immediately seal down the edges of the dichro, using a
palette knife. If the edges of the strip are exposed to the flame,
they will curl, scum up, and you will lose some of the dichro
effect.
22Jan02: As an alternative
to using the winding method to apply clear casing, try the 'sheet
casing' method. (It was developed by Sage.) Begin with a large molten
ball at the end of your clear rod, all the while keeping the base bead
warm in the flame. Flatten the clear ball into a lollipop shape. Heat
it and wrap it around your warm base bead, wrapping on the diagonal.
Fill in the edges as needed. [from Making Glass Beads, by Cindy Jenkins (1997), page
89]
6Jan02: If you do much
dot and stripe raking with a tungsten pick, try a stringer instead. If
you use a stringer of a color that contrasts with the stripes, you
will get a nice delicate colored line down the middle of the rake.
30Nov01: Avoid
using those long plastic fireplace/barbeque lighters to light your
torch. "Because they're constructed of lightweight plastic, they
could develop a very dangerous fuel leak if hot glass were to burn a
hole in them". [from Making Glass Beads, by Cindy Jenkins
(1997), page 29]
17Nov01: Hardware
stores sell round rubber pads that are used to grasp recalcitrant jar
lids. Use one of these to grip the bead that you are trying to get off
of a mandrel. It will provide a better grip than just your wet
fingers. And it might protect you if that bead happens to crack in
half while you're trying to get it off.
3Nov01: Many
a lampworker uses a dry 4-inch paintbrush as a whiskbroom to clean
the glass shards off the work top after a session at the torch. However,
beware of this
otherwise efficient clean-up method if you've been using enamels. The
action of the brush will send the enamel powder airborne and into your
lungs. Use a dampened paper towel instead.
27Oct01: If
you're at all prone to sticking that glass rod into the flame without
pre-heating it - POW! - do not wear clothes made of synthetic fabrics while
working at the torch. Hot flying shards of glass that would
ordinarily land on that cotton t-shirt with no ill effects will
instantly melt a hole in your new Capilene
top.
18Oct01: When
turning on a minor torch, use this sequence: turn on the
propane first (and ignite it), then add in the oxygen. When turning
your torch off, use the opposite sequence: first turn off the
oxygen, then kill the propane. A useful mnemonic is PO-OP! Read our Disclaimer.
11Oct01: Standard
didymium glasses will not protect your eyes from the damaging
effect of infrared radiation generated when working with hard
borosilicate glass. Use eye protection lenses that are designed specifically
for boro work. For more, see the Aura
Lens information page.
26Sept01: Many
beadmakers are more comfortable sitting at the torch with their feet
up on a stool of some kind. Don't use a regular stool; use a cinder
block instead. It's fireproof. [JG]
22Aug01: Another
way to warm up before (or to take a break during) a beadmaking session
is to use Chinese hand exercise balls. Their sound is soothing and
they limber up both the fingers and the brain in a cosmic kind of way.
[JG]
12Aug01: Warm
up at the beginning of a beadmaking session by pulling a bunch of
stringers. You'll give the kiln time to get up to temperature, you'll
limber up the fingers, you'll re-connect with the dynamics of your
torch and the glass, and you'll be building up a good stockpile of
those always useful stringers. [JG]
08Aug01: If
your torch and work table space is over a carpeted area, consider
treating it with a fire
retardant spray. It might help. Look in your yellow pages under
'Fireplace' for your local fireplace store. They might also have
'fireproof' throw rugs as well, if you don't want to treat your
carpeting with the retardant spray. [JG]
25July01: Put a dry erase whiteboard in your studio
space. Use it to jot down ideas and draw new bead designs. It will
minimize the time it takes to mentally pick up where you left off at
the end of your last session. [JG]
7July01:
If you bought an enamel sample pack, one way to see the whole palette of colors is to store the little plastic bags with
pushpins on a bulletin board or piece of old drywall. [JG]
24June01: Don't
eat lunch in your studio space. There are all manner of dangerous
materials floating around in there that you don't want to ingest:
pixie dust, frit, enamels, and those weightless thread-like pieces of
glass that you pull off the bead with tweezers. And be sure to change
clothes as soon as you come home from a bead-making session. You don't
want glass frit to end up in your family's soup or all over the living
room furniture.
[JO]
15June01: If
you make transparent beads, having an extremely clean hole is
important. But a thorough cleaning with a reamer or any other kind of
abrasive tool leaves even the cleanest hole with a very visible matte
finish. To get rid of the matte finish and make the hole all but
disappear, coat the inside of it with clear nail polish. [LS via KF]
 11May01:
If you find you opaque turquoise glass is too grungy when you take it out
of the kiln, all is not lost! You can bring back the
pretty color by cleaning it with etching solution. Very carefully dip a Q-tip in the solution then gently and
quickly scrub the gunk off the bead. Then immediately drop
both the Q-tip and the bead into a baking soda and water solution,
to neutralize the etching chemicals. Scrub the bead with soap and
water. Rinse well. Be very careful with the etching solution, as it is
quite toxic!! Use rubber gloves. See before and after example.
23Apr01:
When stringing hollow beads, put some sparkly seed beads on that portion of the cord that goes through
the center of your beads. The sparkle of the seed beads will pick up and enhance the refraction of light
that is already happening inside the hollow bead. And they will also camouflage the bare stringing
cord. [JO]
17Apr01: When removing a bead from
the mandrel - slide it up and down the rod several times. This will clean both the inside of the bead and the steel rod. You may have to do
a little reaming - but not much! If you do ream using a rotary tool,
protect yourself from electric shock by using a cordless
one. [DW] More on
how to clean your beads easily.
6Apr01: An easy way to introduce contrasting surface textures into your piece is to draw on your bead with a
Sharpie "permanent" marker, then dip the bead in etching solution. The
ink protects the glass underneath, then the ink comes off, leaving behind a
nice shiny surface juxtaposed against the matte surface. [JG] See
example bead at right ------>
21Mar01: Keep
your bead release for dipping mandrels in a 6" plastic seed bead tube with caps at both ends. If you cut off the bottom, it's easy to clean out. If the bead release has gotten too thick since the last
dipping session, just use a mandrel and a corkscrew motion to push it back into the bottle for
rehydration. Use an artist's spatula to fill the tube with bead release, putting a glob into the tube, and then tapping it against the table to make it go down. The tube allows you to see just how far you're dipping the
mandrel and control how far up the mandrel the bead release goes. [ASB]
13Mar01: Clean out hollow beads by using a Waterpic. It
breaks up the bead release into tiny pieces and flushes them right out of the bead! And you
get a shower as well! [KF via DW]
3Mar01: When
applying dots to a bead, brace the hand that is holding the dot
stringer to the end of the mandrel with your little finger. You will
have far greater control over the placement and the size of the dot if
your right hand is steadied on the mandrel. (This works best if you
build your bead toward the middle of the mandrel.) [KF]
20Feb01: Buy
an aloe plant and keep it in your studio.  It doesn't need much care,
but remember to water it once in a while. In case of small burns, nip
off the tip of one of the leaves and squeeze the sap directly onto
your burn. Instant relief! For more serious burns, see your Doctor.
[JO]
4Feb01:While
a sunscreen of SPF 15 is adequate face skin protection for
working with Moretti/Effetre glass at the torch, use an SPF 45
when working with borosilicate glass. This will prevent the burning
and peeling that can easily result from all-day boro sessions. [KF]
See the Canadian Dermatology Association's recognized
sunscreens.
20Jan01: To
get a stuck bead off of a mandrel: put it in the freezer. The mandrel
will shrink from the cold more than the glass will. Maybe. Hey, it's
worth a try!
13Jan01: Chain
your oxygen tank to the wall (or another fixed, strong spot) to keep
it form being bumped over. This may be a law in your jurisdiction.
Check! Always screw on the protective valve cap whenever you move a
tank.
03Jan01: When
you're finished laying down a twisted cane, be careful and precise in
how you melt off the end. Give it a little extra twist to make sure the
design doesn't unravel or blob up.
16Dec00: Just
because it's winter (and that outdoor air is freeeeezing cold) is
no reason to neglect proper ventilation in your studio space. Keep the
windows at least cracked open and wear two pairs of socks, if necessary.
04Dec00: To get nice pointy ends when making eyes, after making the white dot, heat the spot just beyond the dot's edge then place your
pick there and gently pull away from the circle. Repeat at the other end of the circle. Voila, perfect points!
[JG]
18Nov00: Keep
a little glass jar or shot glass filled with water within reach of your
torch. Use it to quench the tips of hot tweezers - - cool metal is less
likely to stick to the glass. If you use a kitchen match to light your
torch, dip it in the water before you throw it away.
13Nov00: Use
a tiny spike of glass, instead of a tungsten pick, to rake through dots
to make festoons. The spike should be of a color to compliment the
piece. It will leave a thread-thin line and liven up the design.
27Oct00: Use
an old red brick, the kind with the six holes in it, on your work 
surface to hold your tools. Lay the brick flat and store the tools
standing up in the holes. The brick won't tip over when you lunge for
that pair of tweezers and it's non-flammable.
16Oct00: For
proper air circulation - and for fire safety - your kiln should be at
least two feet away from the wall, especially interior sheet rock walls.
12Oct00: Turn
off your torch each time you finish a bead and before you get up to put the
bead in the kiln. It saves fuel. And you won't singe your arm when you reach
across for that special stringer that you had in mind for the next bead.
20Sept00:
A headache is the first indication of an unhealthful level of carbon
monoxide. Take a break, go for a walk, get some fresh air, open the
windows in your studio a little wider, and make sure your ventilation
system is working at peak efficiency.
14Sept00: Use
a wheeled office chair when you sit at the flame. And remove the backrest.
Both factors - - no back and wheels - - will allow you to jump out of the
way quickly when hot glass comes your way.
9Sept00:
The
size and shape of your torch flame will be easier to see if you look at it
against a dark background. Paint the work surface (or the wall) behind the
torch black. You will be able to do more precise work if you know exactly where the edge of your flame is.
3Sept00: Bead
release may absorb moisture from the air after it dries on the mandrel . . . and this can
contribute to air bubble formation in the glass. Try to prepare only as many mandrels as
you will use up in one day's torch work.
 15Aug00: Keep
your glass rods clean and help prevent accidental fires: use white vinegar - - instead of alcohol - - to clean your rods just before you put them in the
flame.
................................................................................
Other neat tips and tip archives:
Mavis Smith's lazy susan stringer holder:
http://www.mavissmith.com/tutorials/tepee.jpg
Also from Mavis: twist the ends of twisted stringer after laying down.
Pic.
................................................................................
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