Boro Marbles

[e. mort]

Hi,

I wanted to start a thread so people could post pics of their boro marbles. So, here is my second one. I was using some Momka shorties and while I like the way the back turned out, I do not like the way they turned out encased in the vortex. Unfortunately not all of them were labeled so I can't tell you everything that I used. The labeled colors that I used were silver beach, orange, American beauty, and magic mirror. Maybe I should re-work the vortex side and add pin-wheels there too to hide all that ugliness. :)

Eric

[HardwoodTrailGlass]

Dang Eric, you are kicking ass.

I haven't made a marble yet, I am waiting on my new torch :) But I'll post pics when I have made my attempts.
Are you doing the Marble Exchange in the Patio?

[e. mort]

Yep, I am in on the marble exchange!

[Cosmo]

That looks pretty good to me. How is that orange to work with? Does it work like the crayon orange? It looks like it went on pretty smooth.

[e. mort]

The orange worked better than the orange crayon. It was very smooth with no boiling or loss of color from the original rod. I read the lable again and it is Momka's Sunset Orange. So far, the orange and the silver beach are my favorite Momka colors.

Eric

[Cosmo]

Cool. I love orange, but I try not to use Orange Crayon unless I have to. I'm off to order some Momka's now...

[Tanya]

Great marbles Eric! I really like the silver beach - I'll be ordering some shortly.

I am absolutely not posting a picture of my only marble...it would be too embarrassing. I think I'm working up to trying another one, though.

[Tanya]

Can anybody tell me what to do to make magic mirror look good? I love the mirror effect on the end of the rod where I burned it off, but couldn't reproduce it on my bead.

[Cosmo]

I have only worked with a little of it, but I seemed to get the best effect turning the oxygen up. Doesn't make sense, because usually a reduction flame produces those results. But, it worked in my case. I only had a 5" sample rod, so I can't do any more experimenting.

[Tanya]

Thanks Cosmo. There seem to be several colors that get a metallic sheen from turning the oxygen up rather than down. I don't understand it. I'll play with some more today. Have you tried Silver Iris? It's supposed to develop color during annealing by mine didn't change at all. Perhaps I should anneal at a higher temperature (that batch was annealed between 1075 and 1100F.)

[e. mort]

Here is my third boro marble. I just used random colors off of the bench and layers of gold and silver fuming on the vortex. I like the colors a lot. It is more of an oblate in shape because I was noticing that the NS Egyptian White Sands had a lot of bubbles that were starting to come to the surface so I decided to just let the shape stay the way it was, and give it a fire polish. It is symetrical...just sort of squashed. :lol:

Eric

[HardwoodTrailGlass]

Dang, I am soooo jealous, you are rocking it Eric!!! =D>

I am going to try my first marble tomorrow. Wish me luck. I am going to follow Cosmo's tutorial, I hope I can do it justice [-o<

I will post a picture, good or bad.
I will post a picture, good or bad.
Well............you get the point here I guess! :grin:

[e. mort]

Go for it Carrie! You are going to love it!

Eric

[Tanya]

I made one yesterday using Cosmo's tutorial. It's not exactly what I had in mind, mostly because I'm not too good with punties yet and it fell in my lap, then to the floor and rolled away from me twice. It was pretty hot when this happened (I am, again, really thankful for my leather apron) and it picked up some grit from the floor. I wish you could have seen me chasing it around. I was having trouble picking it up again because it got a lot bigger than I had planned - 1.25" (which seemed like about 6" when I was trying to retrieve it from the floor.) Anyway, it's got a couple of dents in it and it's not completely round since I gave up on it after the 2nd drop and pitched it (literally) into the kiln. Maybe I'll try again (not) soon.

[HardwoodTrailGlass]

uhhh, my two attempts just sucked, to put it bluntly!

I am so used to a mandrel, that anything off-mandrel freaks me out, it's like the mandrel is my security blanket or something.

I am going to try again today, but smaller, mine ended up being way bigger than I anticipated like you Tanya!

[e. mort]

Here is my largest Boro Marble to date. It is 1.75" in diameter and nicely rounded with the exception of a small flat spot on the back where I knocked off the punty. :sad: This time I tried to intentionally fracture the vortex before laying down fume, colors, and then more fume. The effect is interesting, but not exactly what I was shooting for. The marble would have been bigger but I ran out of propane in the middle of it. So, I garaged it in the kiln while I ran off to get more fuel. When I put in back in the flame the marble was fine, but the rod for the lens fractured close to the marble so I couldn't add all of the clear that I wanted to.

Eric

[HardwoodTrailGlass]

Dang Eric, you are rocking it. =D>
I am embarrassed to post mine :oops:

Maybe after Brent's class I'll feel better off mandrel w/ anything. At least I hope.
I hope I can make a decent one for the marble exchange [-o<

[baylie]

Would someone tell me where cosmo's tutorial is? title?

[HardwoodTrailGlass]

Here it is baylie:

http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14966

It is in the Tutorial room.

[Curly Irish Girl]

Hey, Eric - you could send a couple of those marbles my way - it's always a security blanket for the day that I truly lose mine instead of just misplace them!

Great color & design swirl - can't imagine I'll ever get boro that molten on my Mini & concentrators..

[e. mort]

I made one yesterday using Cosmo's tutorial. It's not exactly what I had in mind, mostly because I'm not too good with punties yet and it fell in my lap, then to the floor and rolled away from me twice. It was pretty hot when this happened (I am, again, really thankful for my leather apron) and it picked up some grit from the floor. I wish you could have seen me chasing it around. I was having trouble picking it up again because it got a lot bigger than I had planned - 1.25" (which seemed like about 6" when I was trying to retrieve it from the floor.) Anyway, it's got a couple of dents in it and it's not completely round since I gave up on it after the 2nd drop and pitched it (literally) into the kiln. Maybe I'll try again (not) soon.

Are you using pyrex punties or steel punties? I use steel for softglass, but I use pyrex for boro stuff. If punties are causing a problem, just make a clear round marble and practice attaching, knocking off, and re-attaching your punties. I did this and it really helped a lot. I still get some that I have to burn off, and I have dropped a couple off the punty lately, but it doesn't happen near as often as it did at first. Good luck!

Eric

[Tanya]

Thanks Eric. I'm using pyrex. I think my problem is that I haven't practiced enough - that's a great suggestion about just making some clear ones to get used to punties.