Finally

I was so thrilled with how these turned out I couldn't wait to post them. I couldn't even wait to clean them, so please forgive the mandrels and bead release. They are both heavily encased and decorated in or on the encasement, and they are both on the diet! I can stick to the diet and still produce beads that I can use for a project, as long as it's the right project.

On the left is a base of CiM tuxedo, encased with CiM clear, decorated with a twistie of copper green and CiM Slytherin and a flower or two of CiM poi stringer encased with ink blue. On the right is a base of CiM poi, encased with CiM clear and decorated with dots of the copper green and slytherin stringer. I really dig the way the poi shifts by encasement with the ink blue, and also the way the copper green and Slytherin react with each other. I think the combination works with the plaques better than either color alone would have. Who knew?

For a double shot of my beads on the Creation is Messy site, and to find out more about poi, click here for CiM.

I couldn't just make 2 beads, so I dipped the clear in the DH reducing frit blend I had made and made a fritty bead with this. The glasses were Aion2, CE 352 (when it comes into production it will be Calliope), Aurae, Triton, and Psyche. The Psyche didn't reduce, but everything else did and looks fascinating under the clear. Now I'll have to make more of these, which will mean making more frit, so I can do something with them.

Confession time. This is off the diet, but I couldn't resist using some CiM Sherwood to make the beads on the right. On the left is plain, middle with a wrap of a Triton shard, and on the right is encased with CiM clear and dotted with poi. I love the way the Sherwood is still a bit streaky under encasement.

Ever notice the way your state of mind affects everything you do? Yesterday was a good day and everything went right. The beads turned out the way I pictured they would (when does that happen) I finished in time, and the weather even cooperated today with just the right amount of sun so I could take some decent pictures. I'm going to quit while I am ahead. I have a doctor's appointment today and am hoping to get back to the day job so I can buy more glass again.

One more thing from yesterday: I found a studio near me, about an hour away in Booneville. I didn't get a chance to look into much about it and, frankly, don't have the money until I go back to work to do anything about it, but at the same time, the prospect of taking my first class or two and using a proper torch is scary and intoxicating. Here's the link to their website, and they also have a Facebook page which is how I found them.CNY Glass Studio

Online venting and wish list

 My frustrations today have been mounting.  I had a small health crisis this morning with an esophageal disorder I obtained 15 years ago as a result of not following the instructions on a prescription medication.  That having been sorted out I spent the morning trying to get in touch with the various medical providers and gatekeepers in my life.  I discovered much to my chagrin that I deleted the photo I've been using to log into people's sites and had to find a way to fix this.  I finally decided to just let what will be be and do beads.  My crockpot arrangement is working beautifully for the smallish beads I've been doing but I wish I could coax more out of my silver colors.  Per Double Helix the secret to using Caliope, Terra2, and Terra lite is to heat it to heck and cool, then reheat and I am not able to do this with my puny little hothead. 

 My apartment has rules against propane tanks for grills so they will not tolerate someone using a dual fuel torch on their premises, I'm fairly certain.  Moving is not an option, since I still haven't found a lot of the stuff I lost last time I moved.  I could possibly set up a studio in Joe's shop if I could clear out a corner and run electricity to it.  Did I mention it is unheated and we live in central NY?  and it's winter.  So this is my blog to vent my frustrations at the world in general.  Above is a Nortel mega minor that would allow me to fine tune the results from the glasses I would like to use, and to use boro glass, which I know won't work on a HH.  To the right is an oxygen concentrator that is not strictly necessary since tanked O2 is available wherever welding supplies are sold.  Below is the kiln I would like to get and which represents the only short term possibility on my wish list.  All I have to do is stop buying every darn glass that comes out and save up a couple bucks.

Please ignore this spate of negativity.  Today has been a rough day.  More bead pix tomorrow and my favorite show is on tonight.

don't sneeze and torch

This cold socks.  I'm sneezing all over the place and don't feel like doing anything.  Forget torching today.  If I can stay awake long enough I'm likely to blow the old HH out when I sneeze. Out of an entire day off yesterday, the beads at the left represent my best efforts.  The purple in both is plum silver light--as opposed to dark.  I was hoping to scare a little extra sheen out of it but still no luck.  I wonder if the fact that it is machine pulled has any bearing on the lack of pearly lustre?  I have some machine pulled plum silver dark and some hand pulled.  Must do a test with the stuff I know works. As far as the decoration goes, the top bead is DH psyche, my best effort at reducing it to date, and the bottom one is DH aurae under clear dots, neat effect, I think.

 My stringer control was all over the place on these beads and the only saving grace I can see is that I managed to strike the pink opalino without cooking it and I like the effect of the aurae on the pink.  The top bead here is mosaic blue (would you believe) and the caliope prototype from DH, encased in clear.  I was hoping for some more of the fuming the mosaic blue did with the triton, and the ghost of a fume effect is visible at 8 o'clock on the dark bead, but nothing happening for me and I am generally disgusted with this bead.  I thought I would do a plain old floral on Effetre alexandrite pastel and once again my lighting is doing nothing for the bead.  I must take this to work with me when I'm up to leaving the house to see what it really looks like.  Must buy a decent lamp.

What to say about these beads?  Not what I was hoping for by a long shot.  The black is CiM hades with aurae dots encased in clear.  The beige is Cim stoneground with aurae dots encased in clear, and the monster is mosaic blue with triton ditto.  The black and beige beads could have come up more pink from the aurae and I would have been pleased indeed.  I do like the zig-zag effect on the beige bead, though.  The blue bead is an inch across and didn't crack, which is about all I can say about it.  The crock pot works.  One's mental and physical health have a definite effect on the work produced.  This cold is a drag.  Not enough to be interesting, just enough to take the joy out of life.  I'll probably be laying off the beads for a few days so I'll be organizing the material I have and drawing posts from that.  I ought to have enough for a week.

the pause between breaths

I didn't do any beads today, as the favorite show was on, so here are some beads I made after Frantz Art Glass' DH sale. From left to right: Aion2 plain and encased, CE-352 (to be caliope) plain and encased, aurae plain and encased, triton plain and encased, and psyche plain and encased. All the plain beads were struck, or a reasonable approximation therof, and reduced, and all the plain beads except aion2 are a core of clear with the silver color on top, which shows very well on the psyche bead since, did I mention, I sock at encasing? The psyche is so dark it's hard to tell if it strikes or not. I hope to get some new lighting for photography soon since the lighting I am using really doesn't do justice to the colors. As far as the psyche bead goes, I think I like it much better unencased. I am starting to run low on the gas cylinder, and this makes a difference with how the glass behaves. I have trouble getting a really hot flame and striking even triton can be difficult if the gas is running out. I'm getting some of the TE-362(?) prototype soon, supposedly a duplicate of Terra2, and this post or another like it will appear when it does, as well as testing on various colors with the silver glasses. One reaction I'm very fond of is with Effetre mosaic blue and triton. As self stringers, mosaic blue is virtually identical to trans cobalt, in fact the only way I could tell them apart was to make them in different shapes. With triton, at least, encased, the mosaic blue fumed a delicious green and the bead is noticeably better.

The mosaic blue bead is second from the top and the plain cobalt one is on the bottom. I'm saving the mosaic blue for silver glass since at about 1 2/3 times the price it's just not worth using plain. Granted, it's nothing like silver glass, but still. The cobalt hasn't reacted to anything but peacock green and I do intend to test mosaic blue with other colors but until I test out the budget conscious used kiln I got I am not planning on using peacock green again.
The kiln I got is an early paragon with a wonky pyrometer that has trouble registering "low temperatures." I am not sure what that means so I've ordered some pyrometric cones to see if I can trust it at all. If I can't hold glass at a reliable temperature this isn't going to work. I'm good at math so I'll try to figure out the temperature per hour charts in the manual that came with the kiln. I have no problem whatsoever crafting jewelry for my own consumption that hasn't been properly annealed, but I am not going to try to sell it, which is the eventual goal.