implosion question

[rusticstudio]

If I figured this out correctly, implosions have a couple of elements that affect the outcome: placement and amount of heat, and flattening the maria.

My question is: If you want a more dimensional implosion, do you flatten frequently and firmly, or just gently? Reason I'm asking is I tried to do an implosion with squiggly lines, and they came out flat, instead of sticking up into the glass. I wish my camera was working so I could take a picture...

If you understand what I'm asking, please help! [-o<

[Cosmo]

To maintain the shape, what works best for me is to heat it less and marver it more gently. A lot of heat and pressure makes it "bloom" like a flower.

Also, when heating, turn the piece around so the bottom of the maria (the part that touches the marver) is pointing towards the flame. That will pull the dots (or whatever design) closer to the middle and help them implode. Just keep rotating while you do it.

Doing the implosion on a tube will give the most detail and keep the design in place the best, however...

[Over the Moon]

Hiya Chad! Got any tutes on tube implosions, by any chance?

[rusticstudio]

Thanks Chad. Yes, it was like a fully bloomed flower, with the petals laying flat instead of sticking up.

I'll try your tips next time.

[Cosmo]

Hiya Chad! Got any tutes on tube implosions, by any chance?

Not right now. I have a few I'm going to be working on in the near future, but we're still getting settled into the new house, so it's going to be a little while...

[Toni L.]

Here's a thread with a couple of tut links...
good luck, and show us what you get!

http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19649&highlight=implosion

[baylie]

To pull pedals into a more 'up right' position, try pulling out some of the glass in the middle and then adding a disc around the center. Might help....

[rusticstudio]

I don't quite get what you mean baylie...

[RuskinDesigns]

I think he means heat up the center (side opposite the clear rod) and take some tweezers and pull the center out. It causes the flower or design to grow more 3D. Then pluck off the excess glass.

This is coming from a TOTAL newbie to boro and implosions, etc. I still have nothing worthy of posting.

[Ro]

the flatter you push the more they implode, but if there is not enough moving clear for color to go to it will flatten out rather than grow tall and curved making petals less dimensional. i frequently heat the top clear maria (feed rod as i go to add more clear) you can also poke in to push glass to the front or super heat center of back and touch with a clean clear rod and pull out, if you do a clean termination you can carefully add clear around it, it will make the flower/dots taller rather than wider. if i do this its usually at the end of the making the piece not as im going. it was originally to get rid of that annoying spot that wanted to make an air bubble. for more petals with dimension between, flatten/reheat a bit a few times before adding another layer of color so there is clear between petal layers, rather than laying all color at once before you start your first squish.
ro