Encased Florals and also Breaking Stringers correctly

[Reenie]

I have loved everyone's work and am really, really interested in perfecting the encased flowers. I've been told that after melting the flower ...when you encase it that you should only be heating up the clear. Can this be done on a hot head? It doesn't seem to melt all the way until I put the the whole bead in the flame and then of course it all distorts into a big blob.
Maybe the hot head torch doesn't get hot enough to do this?
Please someone let me know before I go insane.

Question #2
Making dots into swirlies!
I make the dots, melt them down and then either put the tip of a stringer or a very small mandrel into the center and twist. Beautiful swirlies happen but then pulling out the rod or stringer lifts the whole dang thing up and totally ruins it for me.
The stringers seem to think to break off and I don't think I'm supposed to do that anyways.....
Advice again is appreciated.
Thanks
Irene
(on 4th week of journey!)

[sassy]

I am no help for you with the encased florals but for the stringer problem: put the stringer into the flame where you want to break it off and. It will burn into and you pull away at an angle . Don't pull up or down because that will make your stringer leave a stringing tail. Hope that helps some.

[adovbs]

Question #2
Making dots into swirlies!
I make the dots, melt them down and then either put the tip of a stringer or a very small mandrel into the center and twist. Beautiful swirlies happen but then pulling out the rod or stringer lifts the whole dang thing up and totally ruins it for me.
The stringers seem to think to break off and I don't think I'm supposed to do that anyways.....

Yes, let the stringer break off. After the swirlie has been done, take the whole bead and stringer out of the flame, wiggle the stringer back and forth until it breaks off near the surface of the bead. If it's slow, you can gently blow on it to cool it and then break it off. Then put the bead back into the flame to smooth the area back out.

[Cosmo]

For encasing, take the rod of clear and get it hot. Let the bead cool. When the clear gets really hot and droopy, do your encasing. Once you get it on the bead, you can go ahead and heat the whole bead and it shouldn't distort the design.

[hotratz]

I'm having a problem with encasing using a HH, too. If I have to make more than one pass with the clear (and I always do, even if I try to start with a bigger gather), I get bubbles and lines, and sometimes the glass below gets squished up to the surface at the places the clear passes come together. I do keep my bead out of the flame as best I can, but it seems like the clear is harder to keep hot and flowing smoothly.

I tried melting a blob, then mashing it into a paddle. Then when I was ready for it I heated it, touched and pulled, stretching as I went... Worked beautifully, except that my paddle ran out before I got all the way 'round the bead and I was back to filling in.

I've heard that you can get clear glass in flattened rods that would work as above. True? Does anyone use those?

Other tips?

TIA, Hotzy

[J. Savina]

The best advice I give my students about encasing with a HH is to make sure the bead is cooled, but kept warm in the upper part of the flame while you heat your clear rod. The thinner the clear rod the easier it will melt. Try a 6mm or thinner. Melt a nice glob and start applying it on one end of the bead, trying not to get the bead too close as to melt it and distort it. Be patient and try not to hurry. That's how bubbles get trapped. Cover the whole bead with a nice even layer and melt it all in. It takes practice, but when you finally get it, you'll want to do the dance of joy.http://smilies.sofrayt.com/^/aiw/yahoo.gif
J

[artwhim]

Tia - not sure about flattened rods but you can buy Moretti clear in sheet form. Just cut strips. Back when I worked on a hothead I thought this worked pretty good. Make sure you clean your strip really good so no oil is left from the glass cutter. You have to introduce the strip a little more carefully to the flame. Use a strip that is wide enough to cover the bead. Takes practice but you can get a nice even encasing.
Kathy

[sleekbeads]

The side to side method has always worked well for me.
Heat your clear rod as stated above.
Instead of pulling it around like you do your thumbprint bead,
simply wait for the tip of the clear to become molten, while your main bead is slightly cool.
Then from side to side, swipe the clear across the bead,...
then repeat above it.. then repeat.. until you have gone all the way around the bead going side to side...
Then melt in slowly and there you go.
It sounds harder that it actually is.
This is the best way I have found to do encasing on a hot head.

Joanna

[Shawn T]

If you try and do it the way Joanna described from mandrel hole to mandrel hole an easy way to make sure you flowers under saty cool is to make your swipe across on opposite side of the bead. Start a swipe on one side turn your bead around do the other side, than swith and do a swip right next to the first one. This will keep you from heating up on section of your bead when you are applying the clear encaseing glass to it.

I do one swipe down the center, and let it cool a bit than add a swip down each side, towards the mandrels. This also allows my bead to stay cool underneith. If your smearing your design your bead is not far enough out of the flame or too hot to begin with.

[hotratz]

Wow, thanks, everyone!

I did just get some thinner clear rods to see if they'd work better (and to use for swirlies), but I'd never have thought to try adding glass side to side! I'm going to look for the sheet glass, too, and try all these techniques, plus a little more patience. There's got to be one that will work for me!

Much appreciated!

Hotzy