Pump up your Ivory Shards

[gemsinbloom]

Hey everyone, just a quick tip for you. I blow a lot of shards, silvered dark ivory being one of my favorites. If you want to get even more striations in the dark ivory, after you have rolled the ivory in foil, burnished and burned off, heat the bulb again and roll in dark ivory size 1 frit liberally, melt in and blow the shard. Way nicer ivory shards!

Seriously, just try it:)

[gemsinbloom]

http://i48.tinypic.com/2nr26pj.jpg

[LynieG]

ooooooo pretty! Thank you! I will have to try this!

[Ali Oops]

Wowwww so very pretty! Thanks so much for sharing...can't wait to try this :)

[gemsinbloom]

Welcome! As you can see, I couldn't stop making them. They are so much fun. I think that was about four blows.

[SageCreekStudio]

Those shards look awesome! I'm going to try this tomorrow! Thanks for a great tip!!!

[bexrox]

Wow, they look great! Gonna hafta order or make me some ivory frit! Thanks for sharing.. :)

[Sheila D.]

Well...how cool is that? Thanks!

[Dragonfly Queen]

#-o Does anybody have the link on how to blow shards?
thx

[gemsinbloom]

Is this what you are looking for? It is the first I found when googling.

[gemsinbloom]

oops haha I forgot the link , time to Zzzz

http://thatbeadgirl.com/pages/shardtut.htm

[gemsinbloom]

Oh, here is another one.

http://www.glassgirl.com/shards.html

[Dragonfly Queen]

Thank you, that will work. Is this what you did to blow your silver ivory chards?

[selma_belma]

Ooh, thanks for sharing that tip!

[Kalera]

Those are stunning, thank you for sharing!

[gemsinbloom]

Not much time here so I looked at the second link and that is pretty much how I do it but I create two layers of the dark ivory before adding the foil and frit.

[fusionillusionartglass]

Thanks for the tip, will give it a try!

[Lizzydee]

thanks....I am going to try also...love si

[ewdb]

great tip! Thx. :)

[Ravenesque]

oh wow! Thanks so much, it's one of those 'why didn't I think of that?' things, I was just thinking how my shards are too dark sometimes. Those look awesome, and yeah I'll say you're having fun! :biggrin:

[Dianne Gleaton]

http://i48.tinypic.com/2nr26pj.jpg

About how much silver do you use for a gather of say a half rod? I can't
Make very large gathers yet, Dianne

[gemsinbloom]

I use a full sheet of silver foil.

[28676bhe]

If I only have silver leaf, how much of that would you suggest I use as a substitute for the foil?

Thanks!
Barbara

[Ravenesque]

I've only ever used leaf..now I want to try foil, is it that different?

[trickypixies_jewelry]

The only difference is that silver foil is "thicker" than silver leaf, which makes it easier to handle. Maybe try two or more layers of silver leaf to get a more dense layer of silver that you get from foil.

[Lyssa]

First I have to learn how to blow shards. :)