Bullseye luster glasses - gallery and tips

[LyndaJ]

So, I was working on some ideas for big hole beads last night for the exchange in the patio, and started messing around with blue and green luster.

Note: I am ok at encasing, but I've never really successfully encased silver foil, my encasing glass is too hot, I get my bead to hot, blah blah blah = disappointment every time. Well I tried that again last night, because I really need to get this particular look. So I was thinking about other things that I tried a long time ago, but due to lack of skills, they didn't turn out so well.

So I tried encasing the luster glasses, reduced with regular and reactive clear.

O.M.G. !!

I'll list what I *think* I used, but once I started just sort of messing around, some of the first ones are a bit iffy.

ok here we go
1) Blue luster (I think I put green over that) reduced, encased with regular clear, and melted smooth. As this melted in, all the shininess went away and the milky opalescence was left. Anywhere that the original encasing overlapped itself and air was chased out left the lines with tiny bubbles (cool effect)
211947 211948 211949 211950

2) Same treatment as above - only blue luster, but I tried to melt a little cooler. This left in much more of the sheen under the clear
211929 211930 211931

3) Blue luster as above, even cooler. I went with a much smaller bead to try to give it less heat.
211932 211933 211934 211935

4) Blue luster reduced stringer, (please ignore the terrible stringer placement) Heated only enough to adhere the stringer, re-reduced.
211936 211937 211938 211939

5) Blue luster as above, but no final reduction. There is opalescence and sheen under the stringer.
211940 211941

6) Blue luster with reactive clear. Reduced then encased - regular heat. There isn't really any opalescence in this one, but there does appear to be some striking.
211951 211952

7) The same as 6 but decorated. There isn't really any opalescence in this one, but there does appear to be some striking.
211953 211954 211955

8) Green luster reduced. Reactive clear on left and regular on right. I did a poor job of reducing this one in the first place, so it doesn't look as cool as the others. There was no visible opalescence in this one.
211956

9)Amber luster reduced and encased. I *think* this was reactive clear. There is opalescence in this bead.
211944 211943 211942

10) Hematite reduced VERY lightly and encased, again, I think reactive clear. I was not able to capture the opalescence of this with my camera.
211945 211946

Most of these are on a base of dense white or baby blue. The amber luster is on a base of petal pink.

Kiln, set at 970, annealing cycle is held at 970 for 30 minutes for beads this size, ramp 1 degree per minute etc...

Also note, the blue luster was striking into shades of blue and green even without encasing. I will have to work with this more by getting a very thin layer of it over white to better see how and when it is striking.

[danielle]

Wow. This is fantastically useful and inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing!

[Puddy Tat Glass]

Wowzers...this is a great thread. I didn't know BE had a reactive clear, gotta get me some. I once made the mistake of using one of my luster stringers for a cats eyes, it turned out gorgeous! Problem was I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing because I thought I was using a dark blue stringer...so I have no idea how I did it.

[Leslie Dana]

You rock Lynda !!! Thanks for sharing :)

[janetcameron]

Wow! Great beads! I'll have to get some reactive clear, too.

[StephBonniwell]

Very cool, Lynda!!

[LyndaJ]

Thank-you :) I'm going to have to sneak in some torch time during this week.

Please everyone, post pictures of your luster glasses here, encased and non-encased, so that we can have a good tips thread.

[beadbroad]

Really, really, really nice of you to post all this.

[LyndaJ]

I'm hoping everybody breaks out some of their luster glass and starts encasing so we can see LOTS of examples...

[MaryBeth]

Lynda - those are great examples. I haven't tried to encase any of the lustres yet but here are some unencased examples:

The handles and the neck of these vessels are the amber lustre. I work it in a neutral flame. Right before I am ready to put the vessel in the kiln I turn up my gas. I then kiss the lustre with the flame for a very short period of time - maybe 2 to 4 seconds. More than that overreduces it.

119079115660

This is blue lustre. I applied silver foil over a portion of the bead and then very lightly reduced it.

102098

More blue lustre lightly reduced.

94626

Amber lustre lightly reduced.
94627

[Leslie Dana]

Mary Beth, those are fabulous !!

[MaryBeth]

Mary Beth, those are fabulous !!



Thanks, Leslie!

These are so fun to make - you get to pull glittery shiny things from the kiln. I need to make some more!

[janetcameron]

Beautiful beads!! This is going to be great. Too bad it's only Tuesday - I can't try anything now until Saturday!!

Lynda - your amber beads have some pinkish tones. Is that from the amber or the reactive clear?

[danielle]

Not my work, but I just have to link this thread to this spectacular and inspiring disk that Avery made out of copper green lustre (http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3044990&postcount=10)

[squid]

wow, that CGL disc is amazing.

[DPete1104]

...

[bousky]

Thank you for sharing your talents Lynda. You are amazing!

[LyndaJ]

:oops: not talent, just a happy accident.

Janet, yes there is quite a bit of pink/magenta in bead #9. The amber luster does not seem to be transparent under it, the pink color is from the encased reduction. Now, I do get a pink cast to my amber luster sometimes but I think this was gold before I encased it.

There is also a bit of purple to the luster in bead #2.

I tried encasing a lightly reduced cgl bead last night as well as very thin and very lightly reduced blue luster. The results final results were blah. However - before I really heated the cgl bead to get it completely shaped it looked FANTASTIC. Must try again. But I don't think I'll have any torch time before the middle/end of the month so everyone needs to get on their torch and try this so we can get the technique nailed - pretty please???

I also went back to this thread (http://lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97320&highlight=bullseye+july)on the reactive ice clear, but we hadn't done encased/reduced beads in that thread.

[bousky]

Don't discount your talent Lynda! You really seem to have the brain for figuring things out. You have developed some great beads and methods. It is extraordinary that you share your finds so clearly. You are very much appreciated!

Let me just add that I have been sitting on my lusters for a long time. You are also motivating!

[SuzyQ]

I played with a bunch today. But from what went into the kiln I'm thinking a base of antique white might have been a poor choice.

Has anyone ever made something pretty with the uranium luster?

[LyndaJ]

I have no uranium luster :(. I have a little brandy that I haven't tried, though.

I chose unreactive bases - white, clear, powder blue (or baby blue, they look about the same), petal pink.

[KJJames]

I tried some that came out of the kiln this AM. Not so lovely :( Everything was very washed out. I think I worked a bit to hot. I will give it a another shot tomorrow. However, my beads made with Aurora and Dk. Aurora encased came out sweet!

[SuzyQ]

I think I'll stick to using them on the surface. None of mine looked good. The peacock got a hazy look under the reactive clear but nothing I love.

[danielle]

I just tried to encase struck amber lustre on a hothead, and it ended up super boring. To strike lustre glasses I have to use a leather glove to cover the intake holes on my torch, and I have to stop that to have that second hand back to do the encasing. I think that issue caused my lustre to, well, de-lustre-ify while I was encasing it, so it went back to basically clear with a slight yellow/gold-ish tinge. BORING. Woe, hothead, woe.

[SadiesJewels]

Danielle ... I think most hot head users get a reducing flame by covering their intake holes with foil (rather than a glove)?

Please correct me someone if I'm wrong about that ... just hoping to help someone do some free hand encasing!

Sadie

[danielle]

Sadie - That hadn't occurred to me, interesting! Thank you. I'll give it a try (with encasing some lustre for science) and report back.

[LyndaJ]

You have to be VERY careful to keep the bead under the flame (not in it all) during the encasing - otherwise your reduction will come right off.

[danielle]

I think that's hard with the hothead because it just takes so long for my clear to heat up enough to encase without flashing the bead while heating the clear. Maybe I'll try pre-heating the clear rod in the kiln first to speed up the process, too.

[gubnavnania]

I just tried to encase struck amber lustre on a hothead, and it ended up super boring. To strike lustre glasses I have to use a leather glove to cover the intake holes on my torch, and I have to stop that to have that second hand back to do the encasing. I think that issue caused my lustre to, well, de-lustre-ify while I was encasing it, so it went back to basically clear with a slight yellow/gold-ish tinge. BORING. Woe, hothead, woe.


Danielle, you can make a aluminum foil to cover the holes on HH. I think it's easier to use than wear a gloves.
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[KJJames]

I'm going to get in some good torch time today. Well I plan to unless my DIL goes into labor which would be even better :) I am going to give this another try. I'll let you know how it goes!

[Janel Dudley]

This looks like labradorite! Simply stunning!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge! You rock!


2) Same treatment as above - only blue luster, but I tried to melt a little cooler. This left in much more of the sheen under the clear
211929 211930 211931

[SuzyQ]

The only one I liked out of all the lusters I tried was the peacock blue luster. Here it is with a swipe of reactive clear. I lost the luster on the rest of the bead while encasing but I wanted to see the difference reactive clear made.

[KJJames]

I'm having the same problem when I encase. I seem to either loose all the color/lustre or the metallic moves to the top of the bead and just looks kind of messy. I don't know if maybe I am encasing too thickly and having to heat the bead up too much to even everything out or what. I'm not done trying though.

[janetcameron]

OK. I bought Kim's tutorial because I didn't really know how to get the colors. I am just beginning to get them, and have ordered some of the reactive clear, but how many times do you have to re-enter the flame to get these colors. They are soooo beautiful!! All I got out of the amber was a milky creamy color, and I don't know whether I am doing too much or too litte. Kim says 1-2 seconds in the flame in her tutorial. Does that work for Bullseye too?

[SuzyQ]

I think encasing them is advanced technique :) Try just making them shimmer or change color first.

Some of the lusters like only a hint of propane. Instead of putting the bead into the propane flame, I sort of brush the edges of the bead with it. The amber will slowly start to shimmer. But less is more when trying to get it to happen. I find I roll it once or twice and then check to see if it's starting to shine. Once you see it start to happen just keep doing the same thing to increase the shine.

Don't be afraid to blast them with oxy to get it back to the original state and keep trying. Most of them are pretty forgiving that way.

Some of the others want a lot more abuse, like the dark aurora.

[janetcameron]

Thanks. I'll try without encasing first.

[danielle]

I got some wonderful effects by drawing blue lustre stringer on top of nougat, reducing, and encasing with schott clear. (Also on this bead: strata, and dots of silvered strata stringer.)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4094/4955211003_d0a80e91bb_z.jpg

[KJJames]

Ooohh. That is very pretty Danielle. Hoping to get back to the torch at some point this week. Life's been a bit busy and I have new glass...I'm itching to get there!

[Leslie Dana]

Beautiful Danielle :)

[danielle]

Thanks! I just love the depth of color you can get with lustre stringer over reactive bases. It looks like some of the 104 silver glasses to me. Fun to play with!

[bousky]

Nice Danielle!