Goldstone

[pearldragondesigns]

Here is what I do, with pretty good success... Thanks to the Tinkster for sending me a sample! I take the goldstone chips ( I had some left over chip beads, and they worked fine. I put a few on my candle warmer, cuz they will go flying if introduced to the flame, and I haven't got the knack to s-l-o-w-l-y warm them up, yet. as they are sittin' on the warmer, I melt a rod of clear, and once I get a decent sized blob, I pick up a chip, and plunge it into the center of the blob, then pull the clear all around the chip, cooling off my tweezers as I go ( wanna know how I figured *that* out? LOL!) and then reheat, and pull, just like stringer! I have used it over beads, like stringer, and encased it too.... HTH,
Tam
Bleh! I'm so confused! I've tried going to sites that have been recommended and looked for goldstone, but I don't find it.

I did a search for goldstone in the forums here and didn't really find anything other than more links that I couldn't find goldstone on.

I went to the site below and I see it offered there but what the heck is it? And what do you do with it? How do you prepare it to use it? I couldn't find any pics that show what it looks like either before or after it's used in making a stringer or bead.



Lil <---feelin' stooopid

[kimberly]

I use them a little differently. I put a smallish chunk in the kiln and pre-heat it. Then, I make a small maria on the end of a boro punty and apply a small blob of Effetre clear to the maria. I heat the clear and use it to pick up the chunk of goldstone from the kiln. Take the goldstone to the flame and heat it gently, shaping it into a cylinder. Then, I case it very thinly with a transparent, usually clear stringer, but sometimes I use amethyst, pink, etc. I try to keep the transparent casing as thin as possible, as this gives you the densest, most sparkly stringer. Heat the cased blob, then pull into stringers.

[Firelilly]

Oh! Coolio! Thanks, Kimberly. I can't wait to try this sometime!

Lil

[Steph'sBeadCorner]

I use them a little differently. I put a smallish chunk in the kiln and pre-heat it. Then, I make a small maria on the end of a boro punty and apply a small blob of Effetre clear to the maria. I heat the clear and use it to pick up the chunk of goldstone from the kiln. Take the goldstone to the flame and heat it gently, shaping it into a cylinder. Then, I case it very thinly with a transparent, usually clear stringer, but sometimes I use amethyst, pink, etc. I try to keep the transparent casing as thin as possible, as this gives you the densest, most sparkly stringer. Heat the cased blob, then pull into stringers.

Yep, that's what I do.

[Steph'sBeadCorner]

Bleh! I'm so confused! I've tried going to sites that have been recommended and looked for goldstone, but I don't find it.

I did a search for goldstone in the forums here and didn't really find anything other than more links that I couldn't find goldstone on.

I went to the site below and I see it offered there but what the heck is it? And what do you do with it? How do you prepare it to use it? I couldn't find any pics that show what it looks like either before or after it's used in making a stringer or bead.



Lil <---feelin' stooopid

I imagine it can be confusing if you haven't seen it before. when you buy goldstone from lapidary sellers, it will usually come in rock or slab form. The size of the rock depends on how many pounds you buy. goldstone is nice and sparkly, sometimes you can see striations in it that are not so sparkly.

http://www.greatslabs.com/slabs_goldstone2.shtml

Here's a website that also sells goldstone and they have a picture of a slab.

you don't want that much for stringer, so I wrap mine in a towel and hit it with a hammer to break off a small chunk... 1/2" or so - a little goes a long ways.

then follow the directions for pre-heating and encasing.

goodluck!
steph

[Firelilly]

I've got to 5 star this thread...and thank you guys again for sharing such great info! It's much appreciated!
:love:

I've gone from feeling like I couldn't even buy a clue on what this stuff was, to feeling like I could play around with it a bit and see what happens...Takes lots of PPP, I'm sure! <--- It's taken me weeks to figure out what the heck that means. Just found out yesterday! O:)

Lil

[pearldragondesigns]

another thing I did ( do? it's too early, and not enough java....) I bought the strands of chip beads... they work just fine.. think the last time with the best price it was 1.58 a 36 inch strand at FMG... almost time to order more.. need some blue, too! Haven't had an issue with incompatibility... maybe it's not enough glass in the chips to make a difference?
Never thought of putting them in the kiln, thanks, guys... of course, be being the klutz that I am, I can imagine the burns I would endure, cuz I would hit one side of the kiln, jump and hit the other #-o ....LOL! NOT that I have ever done anything like that..cough, cough, choke choke.....
I love you guys... so many wonderful ideas!!!!
Tamie

[x_phoenician]

Ok I'm confused now , what's the big difference between gold aventurine and goldstone? Can aventurine be melted and pulled into stringers also? I know goldstone is just glass with shavings in it. I have bought gold aventurine stringers before- is it just 2 different names for the same thing?

Thanks, Tracy

[CorriDawn]

I have moved some of these in here from a different thread in order to rpeserve the info.

[Kevan]

I buy 15 mm goldstone donuts from Shipwreck beads.

[Heather/Ericaceae]

I bought goldstone chunks from Arrow Springs but for some reason I got the tiny chips delivered instead. Every time I try to make a gather big enough to pull a stringer, they oxidize to a murky green - which is pretty in its own way, but not what I'm usually looking for! Any tips on working with chips? They're about 2-3mmsquare by .5 mm deep. They oxidize when I add them as frit, too. Should I be using a slightly reducing flame? Thanks! -Heather

[Steph'sBeadCorner]

I bought goldstone chunks from Arrow Springs but for some reason I got the tiny chips delivered instead. Every time I try to make a gather big enough to pull a stringer, they oxidize to a murky green - which is pretty in its own way, but not what I'm usually looking for! Any tips on working with chips? They're about 2-3mmsquare by .5 mm deep. They oxidize when I add them as frit, too. Should I be using a slightly reducing flame? Thanks! -Heather

I'm not even sure that I'm close... I was just curious if the gather is glowing and getting molten?

[DesertDreamer]

One important note about pulling stringer from chunks. When you encase it, work slowly and carefully to avoid ANY air bubbles. If you pull a chunk with a bubble in it, it WILL shatter for the length of the bubble when you apply it to a bead. (Lesson learned the hard way when I was lazy.)

I still have bunches of goldstone, blue goldstone, and green goldstone. I need to list it on Justbeads SOON! Gawd I'm lazy this week.

[adovbs]

Goldstone and adventurine are the same thing. And, from what I've seen, most of it is softglass, so it's fine to pull into stringers and such.

I do mine the same way Kimberly does hers - and some of my favorite encasings are amber over the goldstone, which makes it *really* gold, and rubino over goldstone, which makes a lovely pinkish gold, and striking red over goldstone, which makes a wonderful sparkly red stringer. Blue and green goldstone are great, too- and if you can find lapidary chunks, you'll have enough to last for a year and some to share! Old goldstone beads do great for me, too, but as someone already mentioned, preheat them before you try to punty up.

[prairieson]

Ok I'm confused now , what's the big difference between gold aventurine and goldstone? Can aventurine be melted and pulled into stringers also? I know goldstone is just glass with shavings in it. I have bought gold aventurine stringers before- is it just 2 different names for the same thing?

Thanks, Tracy

Do be aware however, that there is a naturally ocurring aventurine which is microcrystaline quartz with oxide inclusions that give it the glittery appearance of the glass based stuff that we use. Not only is it not compatible, I doubt you could even get it to melt with the torches we generally use.

That being said, I've only seen the quartz based stuff once at a show. But I've seen several gem and mineral places hawking the glass aventurine as the natural stone... and getting ridiculous prices for it, lol.

[adovbs]

Do be aware however, that there is a naturally ocurring aventurine which is microcrystaline quartz with oxide inclusions that give it the glittery appearance of the glass based stuff that we use.

The natural stuff is usually spelled "aventurine" and is either peachy or jade greenish in color. The goldstone stuff is often spelled "aDventurine" and is the stuff we're all familiar with. And yeah, what he said about compatibility! :lol:

Good idea to point that out, John. Lapidary folks might not know what the heck we torchers use the stuff for and might sell someone the wrong thing.

[prairieson]

Interesting about the spelling, I'd never seen it with the "d".

The mineral's name was supposedly derived from the glass version, created by Italian monks who discovered the glass formula by mistake... hence the name "a ventura" - "by chance". The gilttery phenomena is in general referred to as aventurescence.

You got my curiosity up, did a quick google. Both spellings are used *very* interchangably, with the non-"d" version being prevalent.

And you also correct about the appearance... they's two distinctly different critters.

[Heather/Ericaceae]

Yes, I'm trying to make a gather. It's definitely molten and glowing. With the tiny chips, though, each one only melts down to the size of a round sprinkle, so I keep having to add more and more and it gets more and more oxidized. Has anyone ever had success using the tiny chips that I received? Thanks! -Heather

I'm not even sure that I'm close... I was just curious if the gather is glowing and getting molten?


Quote:
Originally Posted by Heather/Ericaceae
I bought goldstone chunks from Arrow Springs but for some reason I got the tiny chips delivered instead. Every time I try to make a gather big enough to pull a stringer, they oxidize to a murky green - which is pretty in its own way, but not what I'm usually looking for! Any tips on working with chips? They're about 2-3mmsquare by .5 mm deep. They oxidize when I add them as frit, too. Should I be using a slightly reducing flame? Thanks! -Heather

[DesertDreamer]

The problem with trying to pull the small chips is that you need to apply so much heat that you tend to "burn out" the copper, leaving you with a rather blah brown glass and little or no sparkles. The cased chunks tolerate the heat much better.

[adovbs]

They oxidize when I add them as frit, too. Should I be using a slightly reducing flame? Thanks! -Heather

The best way to handle goldstone frit is to heat it wayyy out in the flame to melt it in a bit then encase it with clear or a transparent as soon as you can. Otherwise, there's not much you can do but watch it boil off your bead.

[adovbs]

Interesting about the spelling, I'd never seen it with the "d".

You got my curiosity up, did a quick google. Both spellings are used *very* interchangably, with the non-"d" version being prevalent.


Yeah, I personally think it's a misspelling that just got adapted into common useage. But I thought I'd mention it because I see it pretty often these days.

[Emiko]

You got my curiosity up, did a quick google. Both spellings are used *very* interchangably, with the non-"d" version being prevalent.

"Adventurine" is a common spelling mistake. That's what I understand from many lapidary glossary pages on internet.

[Steph'sBeadCorner]

Yes, I'm trying to make a gather. It's definitely molten and glowing. With the tiny chips, though, each one only melts down to the size of a round sprinkle, so I keep having to add more and more and it gets more and more oxidized. Has anyone ever had success using the tiny chips that I received? Thanks! -Heather

It shouldn't be molten and glowing, just soft enough to shape it and smooth it so that the clear encasing doesn't create bubbles. The tiny chips sound like they would be more difficult to build a gather - but not impossible. I think with practice you'll get more comfortable using it.. .

Steph

[Heather/Ericaceae]

It shouldn't be molten and glowing, just soft enough to shape it and smooth it so that the clear encasing doesn't create bubbles. The tiny chips sound like they would be more difficult to build a gather - but not impossible. I think with practice you'll get more comfortable using it.. .

Steph

:) It's annoying 'cause I did order the large chunks, but they sent the tiny chips instead. Thanks for the tips, though! I'll try to just work cooler. -H.

[Firelilly]

Some quotes regarding goldstone, stolen from another thread...hope folks don't mind...

Roseanne says...You can also encase it with Rubino and it looks amazing!

DesertDreamer Karen says...Moretti lavender blue transparent is gorgeous over goldstone, too. Actually, I like just about every transparent, except maybe orange and yellow.

Karla.p says...amber rose encasing was beautiful too...

Tinkster says...Try encasing goldstone with Effetre black.
It's deeeeelicious!

Lil