Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

I waited all weekend for the lovely breezes to calm down so I could play with glass and then I ran out of fuel for my torch before I was ready to be done. More MAPP gas is on the shopping list. On a different list, I think I need to pick a mandrel size and stick with it. A few of today’s beads ended up on super-thin mandrels… which is ultimately fine except I should probably plan these things.

Today involved experiments with stringers and practicing round shapes. I think I’m getting better at both the shaping of the bead and ending up with nice, gently rounded holes. I’m not getting it every time, but I’m getting there. Stringers are fun. Accidentally breaking the bead release when working with a large bead is not fun but I saved the bead, lumpy as it might be. Encasing is hard, but I’m getting a better feel for how glass behaves at which temperatures. Someday I will not over-oxidize my red glass.

Transparent glass on transparent glass is not as striking as I think it should be but is still pretty. Frit is fun. Stringers (bits of glass heated and pulled very thin) are great fun and result in craziness. Spirals are SUPER-FUN! I am showing signs of improvement, I think, and I’m having fun so I’ll just have to keep going.

beads, glass, lampwork

Molten glass is the most awesome thing to play with!

I might have made an extra trip to the hardware store today, but I got the torch setup and running! For the record, plastic banquet tables are not ideal for clamping a torch to. You need a deep enough clamp to get away from the beveled edge so that it is really secure. As an added precaution, I added a piece of scrap wood and that seemed to stabilize the setup nicely.

Safety tip for next time: put on bug spray. I got eaten alive in my last 20 minutes outside.

It’s a hot day today, in the 90s down here. Funny how sitting in front of a hot torch melting glass at high temperatures makes that 95 degrees feel more comfortable… The breeze was on and off again but started to pick up more enthusiastically in the last hour I was playing which proved an exciting challenge. It’s hard to keep the glass in the flame if the wind keeps moving the flame.

My goal today was to play in order to get a feel for the tools and materials. I made 21 beads! Some are pretty, some are challenged, some are strange, and some illustrate some mistakes. I started out working far too close to the torch in the blue part of the flame. Several of the first beads got colors that were oxidized and muddy or darker than intended.

Having a plan before turning on the torch was good. Being patient while waiting for glass to come to temperature or for beads to cool was harder.

I think I had pretty good luck with the bead release we made at a Pennsic class. I only had to scrap 2-3 beads because I cracked the bead release. (Bead release is the mud you apply to the mandrel so you can actually get your bead off when it has cooled.) None of them cracked in the fiber blanket while cooling. I forgot about microwaving the fiber blanket to give it a warmer start, but I did wrap it in 2 layers of aluminum foil to keep more heat in so the beads would cool more slowly. I also kept the sizes pretty small so cracking was less likely. I did put one bead into the blanket far too hot and ended up with a textured finish rather than a flame-polished finish. Interesting at least!

I pulled a couple stringers, played with encasing, did some dots and stripes, and generally amused myself for 3 hours. From the condensation on the canister, I think I used most of my first bottle of gas.

I’m still learning – I don’t always get the shape I’m going for. Sometimes the glass gets away from me and strange things happen. Maybe those strange things will get prettier as I get better at this. ;) Darn… I guess I’ll just have to practice more.

beads, glass, lampwork