Dali lama?

[PerfectDeb]

i impulsively added some Dali lama to an order.

yes, well, interesting shade of snot green - what the hell do i do with it?

[gemsinbloom]

I have some too and I have had zero luck with it.


Bueller?


i impulsively added some Dali lama to an order.

yes, well, interesting shade of snot green - what the hell do i do with it?

[jamie lynne]

Base glass for Amy's tutorial is the only way I can get anything out of it. Occasionally I get blue but still mostly beige. I think the only person I've seen that has had luck with it is Anouk, and I think that was the green version and I'm pretty sure she is including it in her next tutorial.

[Oenone]

I got a little colour in this bead (excuse the fugliness, it's an older one) but it still insisted on staying mostly brown.
188354

When I'm brave enough to try it again, I will super-heat it, cool it off, and then strike it gently a few times before encasing it. I think I will get better colours that way, but what do I know really.

[jamie lynne]

Ohh I like that color you got. Beats the heck out of beige. :lol:

[Carolyn M]

Here is a thread where Jenny from TAG explains how best to work this glass. If you are on a Hothead it will be challenging http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122853&highlight=dalai+lama

[BoulderGlassMonkey]

Basically, you have to heat the crap out of it. I stick the rod in the hottest neutral flame I can and let a white hot gather form until it is completely clear. Apply to your bead or mandrel, then (and this is the important part) let that baby cool as fast as you can (I blow on mine) until you think it will shatter until a million pieces. I strike mine by applying the encasement at this point and then shape my bead.

187973

This bead is transcendental (a relative of dalia), but it works the same way.

--Joy

[PolychromeBeads]

It will go back to brown unless you encase it, that's the only way to ensure you hang onto the pretty pinks and purples. I heat it 'till it's almost drippy, let it cool and watch for it to turm all brown, then encase. I get lots of pinks and purples in my Dalai beads.

These are Dalai, with a bit of silver clear frit, encased in diamond clear:
188369


Aimee
36617

[gemsinbloom]

Yum!

It will go back to brown unless you encase it, that's the only way to ensure you hang onto the pretty pinks and purples. I heat it 'till it's almost drippy, let it cool and watch for it to turm all brown, then encase. I get lots of pinks and purples in my Dalai beads.

These are Dalai, with a bit of silver clear frit, encased in diamond clear:
188369


Aimee
36617

[PaulaD]

It's such a pretty color!

[PerfectDeb]

well i guess it makes me feel better that i'm not the only one with a bunch of snot coloured beads

try again....

[Elizabeth Beads]

I gave up and sold mine. I love striking silvers, but for me with this one, the game wasn't worth the candle. Figuratively and literally!

[jamie lynne]

Use it as a base it will do some neat things with other silver glass. I've got just about all of the striking colors down, this one still is a mystery to me.

[BoulderGlassMonkey]

188413

The core is Dalia by itself.
--Joy

[Troll Lover]

I will include it in my bext tutorial, but honestly it is the most challenging silverglass color of all the striking ones :). Let's just say that you'll learn some heat control ;) :D.

[tracidawn78]

I'd like to think I'm fairly proficient at getting decent color out of silver glass, but Dalai lama is beyond me... I've used a good 1/4lb trying to get color, and have never gotten anything. I think I'm just not very good with TAG, with the exception of Green Dali which makes its way into just about every single one of my beads :) Good luck!

[PerfectDeb]

ok, made a couple of test beads - they looked good going into the kiln, we'll see...

[J&M]

This is a mixture of D.L. and Striking Color. I worked it hot until it almost fell off the mandrel!

188622 188621

Jack

[PerfectDeb]

ok, i got soft bluey purples - i worked it hot (not hot enough methinks) and then held it in front of the aircon flow

try again - i think i need to turn the torch up, i tend to work with a small flame

Jack, that is gorgeous!

[J&M]

Thanks Deb. I had to work it HOT, HOT, HOT.

Jack

[Firebrand Beads]

Hi there and Happy New Year!

Yes, what they said. It's a funny glass, and my own working methods with it have evolved over time. But the most important thing seems to be getting it hot enough at first - even in the gather before you add it to the bead - then letting it cool enough before striking it.

This is the painted desert effect that I was originally getting from this glass:
96277

and what I get when I heat it more:
169248


I will say that batches have varied a LOT on this particular color. The shift in the world chemical market had a very marked effect on how we make this color. I think the most recent run is the best we have ever made, and we have been able to make Tibet again, too. If you really hate the batch you have, you can return it to the factory for replacement. I'd rather swap you out than have you hate that color, lol!

~Jenny

[nmsaddlebum]

Hey Jenny!
I was reading through this thread, and was going to suggest Deb contact you. I have never recieved better customer service than I did from you. Lots of helpful suggestions and some fun conversation as a bonus! *lol* I am certainly not an expert, but I agree that Dali is a difficult one!

Kate

[Ekkie]

WOW Jenny - I love the painted desert effect.

Try using DL over a colour known for reactions like Effetre trans light brown or Straw Yellow and encase - I get great results this way. Sorry, I don't have any pics.

A small flame won't get you any where.

[PerfectDeb]

hey dont get me wrong! i'm not unhappy with it, just perplexed. I see it as a challenge!

i got the painted desert look and thats really pretty, now i'm looking for the deep vivid purples.

and, i've never played with silver glass before (except Triton) so it figures i'd try a difficult one:roll:

[PolychromeBeads]

Hey Deb - you want to try a difficult one, get some TAG Dark Opal. I love all the TAG colors, even managed to get color out of Jupiter (finally!) - but Dark Opal has me stumped.


Aimee
34194

[tracidawn78]

Hey Deb - you want to try a difficult one, get some TAG Dark Opal. I love all the TAG colors, even managed to get color out of Jupiter (finally!) - but Dark Opal has me stumped.


Aimee
34194

ditto :lol: that and Mars. Jenny has generously offered to replace my mars, but I'm going to give it a few more attempts.

[BoulderGlassMonkey]

Hey Jenny!
I was reading through this thread, and was going to suggest Deb contact you. I have never recieved better customer service than I did from you. Lots of helpful suggestions and some fun conversation as a bonus! *lol* I am certainly not an expert, but I agree that Dali is a difficult one!

Kate

Jenny is, hands down, the heart and soul of TAG... and it couldn't be a better one!

--Joy

[PerfectDeb]

to me its all a learning process - if i omitted all the glasses that people told me were difficult i'd be just using black!

early on someone told me not to go near the opalinos - i LOVE the opalinos, most of my BHB are made with them

[j2canoe]

I gave all of mine away at first - but am ready to try it again now! :)

[PerfectDeb]

ok i'm reviving this thread cos i tried again...

you guessed it

SNOT!
206737

i heated the gather till it almost fell off the rod, made the bead, heated the snot out of it again, marvered and cooled it till it nearly cracked, heated it again, you where i got the best colour? on the end of the bloody rod!!

[Firebrand Beads]

Hi Deb!
OK, so you activated the glass with that first deep heating. But you also reset it once again when you heated the snot out of it the second time. For me, I need to see the actual WHITE glow on the surface, not just a red glow, to get the stronger colors -- and it takes a HELL of a LOT of time to shed all that excess heat. Sometimes the more recent batches of Dalai Lama will appear to boil a little, but then the microbubbles vanish once it cools enough to blush and strike?? Weird, I know. So take it under the table, make sure there is no glow, and then look at it in the light to see if it is blushing at all. THEN start to strike it at the back of your flame. You only need to give it a light red skin at that point to go into the strike sequence. But it can wash out with long hot working. And they are right, too, I also need to encase this one (after the first or second strike, it goes one more strike color with the encasement) to keep the purples in my kiln. Otherwise they go back to ambers.

The good news is, we are making a LOT of the new Dalai LOTUS, which seems to also need a deep heat to activate, but has been giving color like a crazy fool without that much effort on my part other than working the shape of the bead. (!!!!)

[PerfectDeb]

ok, try again, back to the torch

i will not let this beat me!

[Oenone]

If you're having trouble, try using a metal-rich colour as the base. It helps to not lose the strike and helps make the colours more vibrant.

My favourites for this so far are Leaky Pen and TAG Montreux.

[PerfectDeb]

i have some leaky pen - will give it a go

[PerfectDeb]

just to clarify, should i be encasing this stuff or not? i thought i had to encase it

[Jody Lee]

I haven't played much with the TAG glass, but Dalai Lama is one that works for me. I find that with this colour, the less number of times you wind up striking it, the better. Jenny is right about letting it cool significantly (no glow), and then reheat to a gentle glow. I haven't tried it unencased.

FWIW, here's what I usually do with it:
1. make a thin, longish barrel with it, heat the snot out of it, cool to no glow
2. make cuts with my razor tool; this is when it gets it's one and only strike
3. encase with a nice clear (I'll keep the glass on the mandrel barely warm way in the back of the flame at this point)
4. cap ends of beads with a ring of black.

or, I'll just do encased spacers with it, following my one strike rule.

[Firebrand Beads]

Yes, Deb, I prefer it encased because it does tend to shift in the kiln - back to amber. I keep better purples when I encase it.

Jody, do you find it is striking a second time when you melt in your encasement? I think the second-strike color is the best on Dalai Lama. Sometimes the third strike color. It also depends on the batch.

<3 !

[Jody Lee]

If I'm being impatient melting my encasing in, yep, it'll strike again. :)

I think the biggest challenge to working striking silver glass is not keeping it warm with lots of "insurance heat".

I think I'll pull out some Dalai today and try striking it a few times - thanks for the tip Jenny, you are awesome :)

[jjwiskus]

here is a flower that i did using DL-three of the leaves using it. They were just pulled for the end of the rod. The redish ones with the blue/green outline.