white llama........

[Aubs]

Does anyone know exactly how to work with this?? I made stripes of it on a barrel of clear, then deeply heated and struck several times......all I got was ivory-ish wisps!!!! I also tried reducing after striking, but got nothing!! I know this glass is capable of beautiful colors!! I'm working on a Cricket now......can anyone help a girl out? Thanks!:grin:

[Pat]

Go to the Patio and ask in the 4th silver glass exchange. Or whatever it is called. I haven't been successful with it either. But the change of a good answer would be there. :)

[PaulaD]

It needs to be worked really hot to get it to do anything...Lots of deep heat into the gather before you put it on your bead!
Paula

[barbaracollins]

What is "white llama?"

[Firebrand Beads]

Hi there! Thanks for asking...
Actually, the White Llama is so different than Dalai Lama that we added an "L" and named it after the beast of burden rather than the holy man. Really the only reason we group it with the Llamas is because it's a striking silvered color. It's actually more like the Opal runs we have been doing lately. And I believe that Paula got it all. This one is different from some of the other Opal colors because it can pop pinks.

Aubs, you should be good to go on a Cricket. I have been running one of those lately and getting dynamite results out of these Opal colors on this torch. I would NOT recommend any of the Opals for someone on a cool torch like a Hot Head or who is running natural gas instead of propane -- NG has lower BTU output and I have heard from at least one person on NG who is pretty sure she's not able to pump enough heat into TAG Fire Opal to get the colors to pop.

So here are some things about White Llama:
White Lama really likes the heat, and gives purple notes when deeply heated in the beginning of the process. This means the GATHER, not the bead. I never get the same effects from just super-heating the bead. For blue-green opal effects, heat normally and strike repeatedly. These are subtle effects. But for pinks and purples, DEEPLY heat the gather, marver into shape with brass or other cooling tools, allow to cool between cycles, and strike a couple of times.

Here's the thing -- we use the same words and don't always mean the same things. For the nice pink colors, you need a milky-looking translucent rod of White Llama, not a transparent one. You need to heat the gather, or whatever you'll add to your bead, up to screaming, running-away-from-you hot and then apply it. If you apply it to an already-made bead, make sure that whole thing gets hot and stays hot as you shape and marver and poke and prod it into the shape you want. Now cool. And when I say COOL it I mean really let the glow go out of it. When you heat the living crap out of glass, it takes a lot longer than you think to shed that excess heat -- glass is an insulator. So let it cool to no longer glowing when out of the direct light. Now move into some direct light and watch. KEEP WAITING. You heated the bejeezus out of it, so it can handle waiting a little. Annnnnnd NOW it should blush a little. You don't want to keep trying to strike it before you get that blush of amber color, or you won't get the strike cycle going. NOW take it into the tip of the flame and lightly strike the color into it. The blush should shift from amber to purple to pink. But you will always have some of the ivory wispiness in there... that's one reason it's White Llama.

For those of you who have not yet seen the pictures, here's what White Llama gave me in my studio.163937

But for comparison, here is an image that shows one small bead in which the gather was deeply heated, and another in which the glass was treated like a normal 104 glass, just melted on & smoothed out:
163938
The one with more color (it's more purple in person) got more heat in the gather, and struck far more than the other, which did get some deep heat on the mandrel.

These samples are mostly the White L alone, at least one is over clear. But this is not a dense color, so it will show some of the base even if used as a full encasement.

Anyways... I liked this color! Kinda bummed I didn't keep more... [-X (bad Jenny! Put the glass down and leave some for OTHERS!)

[Aubs]

Thanks Jenny!! Any tips on what would make a good base color? What did you use for a base in the first picture? That picture is the reason why I purchased the glass, those colors are amazing!!

[Diane Gates]

Wow, those are beautiful beads. Thanks for showing them. I will not buy glass, I will not buy glass.....

[Pat]

I think she says she used it alone mostly and some over clear.
Thanks Jenny....for sharing those amazing pic.

[neagle]

Thanks, Jenny, for the great information! I have a tiny bit of TAG glass and love the way it melts and feels!

[tracidawn78]

Does anyone else want Jenny's job as badly as I do?

[Aubs]

I do!!!!

[barbaracollins]

Jenny, Is the White Llama available? I cannot find it on the website.

[Firebrand Beads]

Ah, thanks you guys! But I warn you, every job has it's down side. Have I made any of my signature Maltese Stars this YEAR?? Nooooooo.... but I have made a kilo of crappy little test beads!! I like to say my job is making the UGLY beads so you don't have to, lol!
But the White Llama, and the Opal colors, all seem to be wispy and swirly with the colors, so I often make them with just the one glass, or over some clear, or over some black. For some of the test beads of the Opal colors I like to make a base of clear with black end caps, then swirl the Opal glass over it and see how different it looks over black as compared to over clear. Come to think of it, I would like to try the White Llama and it's relatives over ivory and opal yellow to see whether it's worth the trouble, lol! But the general rule of thumb is that silvered strikers will usually give more blues and greens over dark bases, like blacks, and more pinks and purples over lighter bases, like white, ivory, or clear. For what it's worth...
This week I am really feeling the pull -- I spent more time doing color testing this week even though I have a show this weekend at the Oregon Convention Center with my jewelry - but there is SO LITTLE new stuff in my stock, it will mostly be loose beads. Like those White Llama beads!

Oh, and Barbara - I think Paula at Flamedame bought the whole bundle. There wasn't much of it and she was quick on the draw!

[PaulaD]

We had all of the While Llama but it's been sold. We do still have some other odds left like Light Tibet and Jelly Opal!
Paula

p.s. Try Lauscha purples or SuperNova for base colors with some of these. Awesome!