Is a red hot bead called a punty

[gemmasglassbeads]

Also once the silver foil has been encased with clear moretti over the bead, will the clear protect the the bead from the silver burning off? So am i able to reround my bead making it red hot...punty...??? Thanks!!

[theglasszone]

Hi Gemma!

Answering your second question first, yes, once you encase silver OR gold foil/leaf with clear, and slowly melt the encasement in to cover the foil, it will be protected somewhat and you are free to reform (or press) your bead with minimal foil/leaf loss. Be careful to not over heat it, though. It can sometimes make the foil fracture or look ugly under the encasement.

It is also a good idea to burnish your foil/leaf onto your bead before you encase it; this will help it stick nicely to the bead and help prevent it from burning off while you are encasing. Speaking of which, be sure to keep your freshly foiled bead out of the direct flame before you encase it in clear!!! Do the encasing by holding your bead BELOW the flame - with the clear rod in the flame instead, allowing the clear to get nice and soft before applying it over the foil/leaf.

On your second question, a "punty" is used to hold an off mandrel item - such as a marble, for example - and is used as a temporary "handle". To see how a punty functions, check out this great video recently posted by our man Cosmo. It shows a marble being made - and you see the use of the punty there. The punty (aka "handle") is used at the 8:22 time-mark in this video and is not the main rod being used to make the marble itself. It is the handle that is temporarily attached to round the second side of the marble out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUsHchJyP7Q

Hope this helped answer your questions! :)

De in CA

[ellyloo]

Punty up! :)

[Donna J]

Thanks for the link to the tutorial De...I've been looking for one for a vortex.

Great tutorial Cosmo, thank you!

:happy: