Please some help on Stringer control!

[Bridgettbeads]

Hi,

I have worked and worked on stringer control for curls and swirls and I just can't seem to get consistency. I have used Corina's method and I have turned the torch way down, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I don't have problems with lines or dots, it's only when I have to turn and twist to make curly-cues I get it too hot or I have to tug and get a little closer to the heat. I would love any suggestions to make it become a skill I can do more consistently.

Thanks,

Bridgett

[starlia]

My one tip....start with really thick stringer. I had better control of very fat stringer when I first started. I also teach my beginning students to start with fat stringer about 2mm if you can pull it that fat.

I really hate to say this but stringer control comes with time. It takes practice and more practice. It was almost a year before I felt like I could control it pretty well. I'm not saying I'm great yet. I would love to have better stringer control but I know it will come with time. Now I can use very small stringer.

[Lynn Larson]

That is an awesome tip!

Thick stringer is the way to learn. If you want thin lines of color, encase your color in clear before you pull the stringer. That way you can have a nice thick stringer to work with!

[starlia]

Thick stringer is the way to learn. If you want thin lines of color, encase your color in clear before you pull the stringer. That way you can have a nice thick stringer to work with!
That's a great tip in itself. I seldom think beyond one color stringer although I use the latter all the time.

I would suggest experimenting with colors when encasing stringer. Not only use clear when you want a thick stringer with a small footprint but use colors over them and you'll get a lot more choices.

[Bridgettbeads]

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions. I guess practice, practice, practice and patience, patience, patience is what I will have to do.

[starlia]

Patience is the hardest to master. I don't have any so it's really difficult for me. :-)

[Cosmo]

Another point that seems to help my students is to keep pressure on the stringer. Not crazy pressure where it would break or anything, but more pressure than if you are just winding glass onto a mandrel. And, to echo previous posts, start with larger stringers, and work up to smaller ones...

[yeepers]

I've been working on this too and I've found that it helps for me to spend the last part of my beadmaking session focussed solely on stringer work. Definitely, working with thicker stringer is much, much easier.

I found too that working with a color that changes color with heat (e.g yellows, reds etc.) it really great as a visual reference for knowing when the glass is soft enough unlike other colors that are either glowing or their usual color (i.e. already too cold). Does that make sense?

Anyhow, PPP is about all I can say. I spend about 1hr each session just playing with stringer. Makes some really neat beads!

Keep it up.

[SassyCassie]

My only tips (besides practice):

*Avoid white until you are comfortable with your control. White will only frustrate you...it gets very soft very fast and is the last of the colors I was able to control.

*Try encasing in clear or another transparent. It is stiffer and will keep the stringer from balling up as fast. You will feel that "pressure" Chad is talking about. It's hard to describe...but when you feel it you know it! Bullseye is also stiffer than Moretti.

Good luck...we wanna see progress pictures!! (greedy bead-porn peeps that we are!)

[Bridgettbeads]

Thanks everybody! I was wondering, when you are working with the stringer, do you hold it tight like a pencil and keep it straight at a 90 degree angle, or do you slant some as you are placing it. Also, I am left-handed so everything I do, I have to watch and then reprogram for me. Are there anymore lefties out there that can tell me what they do?

Thanks,
Bridgett

[Bridgettbeads]

I meant 45 degrees, not 90. (All those degrees screw with me!)

[SassyCassie]

I just hold it and go...never really gave it too much thought. *tries it out real quick* I hold it like I hold a pencil and I move the bead more than I move the stringer...I keep it at a tilt so I can see what I'm doing!

[Freddy]

thicker stringer, and LOTS or PPP.
I got to re-learn that myself, having quit for over a year.

[swamper]

My only tips (besides practice):

*Avoid white until you are comfortable with your control. White will only frustrate you...it gets very soft very fast and is the last of the colors I was able to control.



One way you can use white and not worry too much about the soupy-ness of it is to encase pearl gray with white and pull a thin stringer. The gray stiffens up the white and it doesn't show at all.