reduction glass troubles

[ukiacat]

What am I doing wrong??? I can't figure out the trick to getting a nice shine on reduction glass. I have a picture in my head. I want to make a big bead with bright silver raised designs that I can set with a silver core. I keep trying to get there but I have ruined most of the beads I am making with it. I was sucessful with one bead that is too small for a silver core. I pull reduction frit into stringer and do raised designs with it. I switch to a flame with lots of propane, I wave the bead back and forth through the flame.....and end up with mostly ugly matt grey. Then I oxidize it to remove the ugly grey and try again and.....again and finally I think I might have hit it right. Only to have it look terrible when it comes out of the kiln.

Mostly I've tried silver green reduction frit. I've made one bead I'm happy with. I used gold brown reduction frit pulled into a stringer and put it on a dark amber bead. The resulting metallic look has a blue cast to it. I don't really "get" that either. Then there is dk plum moretti. That mostly ends up looking like a matt surface with small shiny areas. Once I lose the shine in dk plum it is really hard [impossible?] to get back.

Does anyone have any tips for us "reduction glass-challenged" people? Tips for reducing? A better color to work with?

Thanks
Jennifer

[alexm]

If you are getting the ugly matte gray your flame is TOO reducing, so you need to turn your propane down and keep the bead in a less reducing flame for longer.

[ukiacat]

Thanks Alex, I'll try less propane and see what happens.
J

[Nanette Marie]

You can also look on Donna Mehnert's site: www.blackberrybeads.com. She has instructions on her site on how to bring up the shine on reduction glass and it works for me every time.

[ukiacat]

You can also look on Donna Mehnert's site: www.blackberrybeads.com. She has instructions on her site on how to bring up the shine on reduction glass and it works for me every time.

This was helpful too. I didn't know that the metals could burn out if I got the glass too hot. Here's the link to the actual document. I hope it works because it took me a long time to find the the link on the website. It's a really nice website, worth a visit for sure, but I almost gave up before I found the information on reducing.
http://www.blackberrybeads.com/HowtocreateGoldStringerandDots.doc

I tried out Alex's advice today. I'll know tomorrow how it went. The bead tests looked good when they went into the kiln but I've been fooled before.

Thanks
J

[ukiacat]

Well, the advice I've received here seems to be helping. The beads I made with raised designs in iris gold, gold brown and iris violet all look good. I've still having trouble with silver green. Those two beads have bad matt grey spots on them. I think I might be going past the reduction point and ruining them before I know it. I'll try the 20 seconds that Donna suggested in her tutorial.

This glass is tricky but I know it will be worth the effort. I'm looking forward to the "ah ha" moment.

Thanks again for the help.
J

[raindance]

Then there is dk plum moretti. That mostly ends up looking like a matt surface with small shiny areas. Once I lose the shine in dk plum it is really hard [impossible?] to get back.

Does anyone have any tips for us "reduction glass-challenged" people? Tips for reducing? A better color to work with?

Thanks
Jennifer

Hi, Jennifer!

From what I've read here on LE, Silver Plum isn't a reduction glass. It needs oxygen to shine. I've heard that you need to flash it in the upper part of an oxy flame.

[Shawn T]

Yup Dark Silver Plum is the opposite to get it to turn to silver. You have to use more oxygen and not more propane to get the silver color to come out and play.

[Emily]

I used gold brown reduction frit pulled into a stringer and put it on a dark amber bead. The resulting metallic look has a blue cast to it.

That means you're doing it right. That color, done correctly, comes out gunmetal blue. You either like it or you don't. (Guess you don't.) If you overreduce it a little, it can come out a dull antique gold, which I kind of like, too. I did a set of beads that way on my Minor several years ago, and I'm trying to reproduce them now on a Lynx, and I can't do it. All I can get is the metallic blue.

[Karen Leonardo]

Hi there,

The best way to get a reduction is to only reduce the glass at the very end. The middle flame should be about an inch to an inch and 1 1/2 cone. Roll the bead in it a few seconds take it out and let cool just a bit and take back in and it will shine up for you as soon as you see the shine come on it stick it in the kiln. SO be sure to flame anneal and get an even heat before you reduce it. I would use silver clear reduction small frit over red and pull stringer if you want a red tinge. You can see my ebay auction with the res I just did this past week. I can't seem to get the link working...here is the number #170035035689

[Kevan]

I've had really good success with this method- the VERY last thing you do to the bead before putting it in the kiln is turn down the oxy until you get about 2 to 3 inches of yellow flame. Wave and spin the bead in it for a few seconds. If you do it too long it will turn yucky. If you do it for 3 to 5 seconds you will get this. This is Kugler Iris gold

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e36/oobeads/opalgoldhollow2.jpg

[ukiacat]

Kevan,

That's great! My iris gold has never looked that gold. Even as I've gotten better with this glass it looks more "rainbow-like" than gold. I didn't think it would even get THAT gold. I'll have to play some more when I have time. Right now I'm spending all my time in our barn, staining three unfinished cabinets, or in the house, hand-feeding my sick cat....kidney failure. Can't wait until I'm back in the studio!

I love silver plum now.... but those kuglers still challenge me.
J