colored foil

[dragonfly designs 56]

are there colored foils that you can use to do lampwork beads or do you just put transparent color placed over silver or gold foil? thanks for any advice :)

[kbinkster]

I think most people use silver foil and cover with transparent color. I have seen some very pretty beads made with this technique. You can use Aether, I think it is, over the silver to make it look like gold foil. I have seen green covering silver foil that looked very cool. If you look in the tutorial room, Amber (Naos) just put up a tutorial using silver foil (or leaf?) and Ekho to get an opal effect.

[Jammy]

When I first started lampworking, I found some "gold leaf" at hobby lobby. And looking around further I found a package of tiny bits of different colored "metal leaf". The label was desceptive and made me think it was made up of copper and gold. I was so excited and full of new ideas. OK you can see where this is going so please don't laugh!
I bought it, took it home and put some of it on my hot bead, and it just burned up, like paper. I felt so silly. And about $20 bucks poorer.
Anyway it wasn't my fault. I really thought it was gold leaf!

[marilyn h]

Don't feel bad Jammy. I did the same thing. Bummer!

[KJJames]

Me three...

[dragonfly designs 56]

Ive seen it, and almost bought it too!!! lol. great minds think alike, he he.

[neagle]

Have you tried Palladium leaf? It turns to pinks and greens if you keep working it in the flame, and is really hard to burn off.

[kbinkster]

I have some Palladium leaf that I've been wanting to work with for a specific type of bead. It's expensive, so I was waiting to get a certain technique down before using it with it.

[neagle]

It is very expensive, but it's much harder to screw up. I only had one bead go wrong--that was when I encased it. But I think it was CIM cranberry which cracked, not the Palladium. Anyone else out there want to chime in on encasing this metal? I usually don't encase it, so I'm not sure what went wrong.

[bastetsbeads]

Kelly= I think the colored "foil" you may see in the craft stores is probably just some sort of anodized low temp base metal which is why the people (myself included) who have tried it find it turns ugly and burns up.

Encasing silver with colors is the way I learned (actually in my very first beadmaking class) and Leah Fairbanks used to teach it also in her classes and since I learned florals from her years ago, I've always done that too. It's also covered in one of Cindy Jenkins books with another methodology. Somewhere, it got called "poor man's dichro" but I can't find the book that was in.

As mentioned, Amber very kindly also posted a nice tut here on LE to use to get colors from silver foil or the encasing with Aether someone mentioned ought to do the trick with it's tendency to turn things gold.

Encasing palladium and dichro is covered in one of Cindy Jenkins books also so it can be done without harm to the bead. I've never messed around too much with palladium though, too expensive for me.

[Ofilia]

The Italians have long been using a transparent colored clear glass over silver foil to creat sparkly colors, probably since they invented transparent colors! (Dichro is much more scarce there, even now). Some of the most beautiful examples of this technique I've seen are demonstrated by Vittorio Costantini, as he tries to simulate natural coloration in some of his creatures.

I would save the expensive gold and paladium for use where it will claim it's own name, rather then cover up with colors.

[Jammy]

Thanks Marilyn and the rest of you guys....LOL I don't feel so bad now!
I guess we're just a few of the MANY who have fallen victim to that one.
And Kelly your right about that -- if you don't try it how will you ever know? :)
I try stupid things all the time. One of these days I'm hoping I'll find something noone else ever thought of! Hehe then I'm keeping the secret all to myself. ALL MINE!
Heh just joking.

[Jammy]

Speaking of silver foil -- what is the big sensation about silver foil and Lauscha Caramello? I've tried it, and it's beautiful if you reduce it enough. But no more beautiful IMO than silver over most other glasses. Is there something I'm missing? Maybe a few pics would be nice.

[Jammy]

Nina, palladium leaf -- I'm going to buy some of that! Sounds wonderful. But it's so dang expensive!

[SuzyQ]

I have encased it in quite a lot of 104 transparents and never had a cracking issue. I do love that you can really abuse it in the flame and it won't burn off.

It is very expensive, but it's much harder to screw up. I only had one bead go wrong--that was when I encased it. But I think it was CIM cranberry which cracked, not the Palladium. Anyone else out there want to chime in on encasing this metal? I usually don't encase it, so I'm not sure what went wrong.

[SuzyQ]

But it looks different encased that silver does. It is blacker and works well in situations where you know you will burn off the silver.

The Italians have long been using a transparent colored clear glass over silver foil to creat sparkly colors, probably since they invented transparent colors! (Dichro is much more scarce there, even now). Some of the most beautiful examples of this technique I've seen are demonstrated by Vittorio Costantini, as he tries to simulate natural coloration in some of his creatures.

I would save the expensive gold and paladium for use where it will claim it's own name, rather then cover up with colors.

[FishBulb]

Sounds like palladium leaf might have to be my next purchase! *digs in couch cushions for stray coins*

[FishBulb]

Oh, and yes, for God's sake, don't put gold leaf in a bead then cover it with a coloured transparent. You can get similar effects with silver for much less money.

I have silver foil and gold leaf; leaf is much, much thinner than foil and burns off very easily. When I've applied gold leaf inside a transparent bead it almost disappears despite my most careful efforts, whereas when I apply silver foil it stays quite thick and handles any sort of encasing well.

[bastetsbeads]

Very true. It's so much easier to get golden effects out of silver than to try to keep gold leaf from burning off under encasement.

I have seen Michael Barley do it, bit I think it was during a demo of Satake glass, which melts at a lower temp so you aren't in danger so much of burning the leaf off.

Oh, and yes, for God's sake, don't put gold leaf in a bead then cover it with a coloured transparent. You can get similar effects with silver for much less money.

I have silver foil and gold leaf; leaf is much, much thinner than foil and burns off very easily. When I've applied gold leaf inside a transparent bead it almost disappears despite my most careful efforts, whereas when I apply silver foil it stays quite thick and handles any sort of encasing well.

[bastetsbeads]

I think most people use silver foil and cover with transparent color. I have seen some very pretty beads made with this technique. You can use Aether, I think it is, over the silver to make it look like gold foil. I have seen green covering silver foil that looked very cool. If you look in the tutorial room, Amber (Naos) just put up a tutorial using silver foil (or leaf?) and Ekho to get an opal effect.

You can actually get an opal effect without silver glass, it has more to do with the heat treatment, but the silver glass makes it easier, I think. And it's has always been my theory that using a "cool" versus "warm" clear to encase would also affect the possibility.

I guess at the risk of offending here's a bead I did in something like 2004. I don't remember when as I never photographed it before. It was before Double Helix. It only uses clear to make opal gold effects but it wasn't very predictable and was very time consuming to achieve a solid effect instead of patches.

http://www.bastetsbeads.com/pics/opalized.jpg


Here's another, dated 2003, where you might see the effect a bit more in the lip of the urn. Sorry for the really bad photo. I had just about the worst camera possible back then. Though my current photo efforts don't seem to be much better!

http://www.bastetsbeads.com/pics/cyclamen1.jpg

[kbinkster]

Those are very pretty, Mardi.:)

Silver fumes and tarnishes, so I suspect that flame chemistry plays a role in the development of color of foil or leaf applied to a bead and the surrounding colors, as well as heat for crystal development. Base colors can also play a role in how applied silver leaf/foil turns out.

The nice thing about Ekho is that it has a pearly luster, which lends itself to an opalescent look. There are other techniques besides using silver foil that get an opal look with Ekho, too.


Kelly, what kind of look were you going for? If you wanted a reflective shimmer with color, then applying silver foil to a base bead and burnishing it in very well before an encasement of a colored transparent that stays transparent would yield a nice result. This is a tried and true technique for making fish "skin", btw. You can also layer your transparent colors to get different colors over the foil.

If you were looking for something metallic more on the surface, then Palladium foil would be an option. Also, a thin encasement of some of the silver glasses (think shards made of Triton) could give you a metallic foil-like appearance on the surface of a bead.

You can also use copper foil for some different effects. The colors can range from blue-green, to blue, to red depending on the base glass you use and the thickness of the foil.

Let us see what you come up with!

[bastetsbeads]

That's true too Kimberly. The pearly effect of the EKho (and Clio) is inherent to the glass itself (or rather the type of flame applied) and not really reliant on the silver foil to happen. I use that fact in almost every bead I make with either Clio or Ekho to get those cloudy effects in the beads.

I think I also used to use rubino glass over silver and encased to get a reddish opal look at one time, but can't find any pics anywhere from that time period.

But, oh, you've given me more ideas with the foil and shards! And I do have some copper foil up in my studio too! *thinking furiously!*

Color has always been my first and foremost love, over pattern.

Kelly- Kimberly's given some great advice and I hope you can get the effects you are looking for!

Those are very pretty, Mardi.:)

Silver fumes and tarnishes, so I suspect that flame chemistry plays a role in the development of color of foil or leaf applied to a bead and the surrounding colors, as well as heat for crystal development. Base colors can also play a role in how applied silver leaf/foil turns out.

The nice thing about Ekho is that it has a pearly luster, which lends itself to an opalescent look. There are other techniques besides using silver foil that get an opal look with Ekho, too.


Kelly, what kind of look were you going for? If you wanted a reflective shimmer with color, then applying silver foil to a base bead and burnishing it in very well before an encasement of a colored transparent that stays transparent would yield a nice result. This is a tried and true technique for making fish "skin", btw. You can also layer your transparent colors to get different colors over the foil.

If you were looking for something metallic more on the surface, then Palladium foil would be an option. Also, a thin encasement of some of the silver glasses (think shards made of Triton) could give you a metallic foil-like appearance on the surface of a bead.

You can also use copper foil for some different effects. The colors can range from blue-green, to blue, to red depending on the base glass you use and the thickness of the foil.

Let us see what you come up with!

[ROC]

And back to the question about leaf/foil being available in different colors, Jamie Lynn has Blue Silver Leaf on her website: http://www.howacoglass.com/leaf_foil.html

[neagle]

Nina, palladium leaf -- I'm going to buy some of that! Sounds wonderful. But it's so dang expensive!

It is! But someone (can't remember who) had it on sale for about $35-40-somewhere in there. I was able to get a booklet. I see it occasionally for a lower price, and it usually gets snapped up.

[neagle]

Oh, and I made the mistake of putting silver foil on striking red, orange and yellow...and I ended up with brownish, yucky bead poo!

[kbinkster]

You could add a buffer encasement of clear between the silver and any glass that doesn't play well.

[bastetsbeads]

thanks for the reminder on the blue silver. It really does give pretty effects. I think every time I ever tried to order that stuff in the past, it was OOS, so it became forgotten.

[neagle]

You could add a buffer encasement of clear between the silver and any glass that doesn't play well.

Great tip! Thanks!

[dragonfly designs 56]

I have such a hard time using foil without burning it up. When I put the transparent over the silver foil , when i reshape or try to melt in the transparent it burns up. Is there a trick to this, it doesnt seem to matter if I melt it in slowly. I do try to only put the tiniest bit of "transparent encasing" over the foil. maybe I am just still using too much.

[bastetsbeads]

I have such a hard time using foil without burning it up. When I put the transparent over the silver foil , when i reshape or try to melt in the transparent it burns up. Is there a trick to this, it doesnt seem to matter if I melt it in slowly. I do try to only put the tiniest bit of "transparent encasing" over the foil. maybe I am just still using too much.

Kelly- make sure you are actually using foil and not leaf.

You should be able to pick up foil with your hands without messing it up. Leaf is thinner and blows around. You need tweezers when working with leaf.

If leaf is what you have, you'll need some foil.

And you can burn foil out from under if you apply enough heat.

Quick tips:

-Burnish the foil on first.
-Don't reheat the bead til soupy or droopy when using foil. Just lay a thin layer of color on to a relatively cool base bead (that had the silver burnished on to it). A bit more color is probably better than tiny bits, you want to protect the foil with the glass. You basically want to make sure the parts you want to keep are "protected" with the color.

-Try using tools to help form and not gravity. Using gravity probably requires to much heat.

Some will burn off. If you look at my pics, the more you are trying to save the slower and more gently you have to go.

Good luck!

Here's another oldie, moldie from me with foil and color:

http://www.bastetsbeads.com/pics/forward2.jpg

[GlassGalore]

Has anyone had success working with copper leaf? I got some in an exchange and when I've tried to use it, it just cooks (black / ashy) as soon as it hits the heat of the bead or the encasement glass. :(

[kbinkster]

Maybe it does that because it's so thin. Copper foil might be easier to work, but I haven't tried it, either. I have made beads on thin copper tubing and the copper turned a pretty burgundy red.

[bastetsbeads]

copper mesh goes red also. My copper (leaf/foil???) burns/goes black too, but interacts with other colors and turns them blue from what I remember when it does burn off.

[ROC]

Has anyone had success working with copper leaf? I got some in an exchange and when I've tried to use it, it just cooks (black / ashy) as soon as it hits the heat of the bead or the encasement glass. :(

There's a tutorial somewhere using copper leaf/foil and white enamel. Makes the prettiest baby blue and purple colors!
196971 196972
Purple looks kinda gray for some reason. Second one is on Hades.

[SadiesJewels]

Yeppers ... try copper leaf on white. It gives a lovely green blue when encased and cooked.

Not good on ivory though from what I remember.

Sadie

[Beast Master]

I was staring and staring at Vittorio's beetle in the case at Corning Museum of Glass Store last week. His color combinations and use of silver foil are astounding! :shock: Not that I didn't already know that, but those beetles were just NUTS. Hopefully I'll get my photos onto my 'puter soon and post a photo here.

I do some decent foil encasements such as described in this thread, but totally elementary compared to what I was drooling over last week...

[one hot beader]

LOL. I wasted nearly half a book of copper leaf and shedloads of beads before I worked out that I should do some research on why my copper leaf kept burning! :grin:

That's what it does!

Try it over white or my fav opal yellow. Burnish it on, burn it off and heat until soupy and watch the fab blues and greens develop.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b127/aloomba/dec08013sml.jpg

The pendant in the front is done with copper leaf over opal yellow.

[bastetsbeads]

ooo- really nice!