Jelly Fish

[Mary K]

This is how I make Jellyfish. I know there are a lot of different ways
to make them. I would love to share different ways of making
Jellyfish. By sharing our ideas and techniques with each other we
can all grow and learn. If you read the decription and look at
the pictures I think you can see how I do this.
How do you do a fully encased Jellyfish?
ps. we will all keep this a secret, right?

Jelly Fish
Glass needed:
Clear ( I used 14 mm, any size 12 - 18 would be fine)
You need 2 sections of this in same size.
Carmel
Amber purple #13
Purple Lustre
Very fine, very sharp small tungsten pick ( http://www.dichroicimagery.com/product_info.php?cPath=431_193&products_id=2800)
Very small marble mold,optional
small graphite paddle
Prep:
Pull some fine stringers of the carmel and amber purple, like 2 - 3 mm thin.
Heat the purple lustre rod to a small even gather, remove any bubbles, set aside.
Melt good size gather to round shape on one of the 16mm clear sections.
Set aside right before you begin to make your Jellyfish.
Start:
Melt cold rod of 16mm ( not the one you prepped) into nice gather and
press into an even maria.
Place small dots like size of a seed bead or smaller dots evenly over maria,
almost to edge, but not on edge of maria.
Melt the dots in lightly and focus a small hard flame on them one at a time and
press the sharp pic into them,. If you heat the pick as it goes into the glass so
its red, that will leave an airbubble in your tenacle. Twist it until it comes out, if
it sticks. Actually keep it twisting and it won't stick, as you do this.
Do this to all dots then heat it all up and let it compress.
Keep it all coming together until the face of the maria has closed then hold it so it
droops down, twisting all the while to keep it even, let it droop just enought to let the
tenacle legs stretch out, but not too much. Round out the end where the dots were to form
a platform for your cap. Heat the purple lustre and add a dot about the size of 6 to 8mm bead.
Sometimes I heat this and roll it in the smallest hole in my hand held cheap marble mold.
Keep this warm in the back of the flame with left hand, in right hand take the other rod of clear.
Reheat it until it is good and soft, you will have to practice on just how hot to have it,
Mean while you have heated the part in your left hand keeping the surface good and hot,
just not molten or it will just smear. Then evenly press the other clear rod on top of the cap and it will spread
out, but there will be this big line where they join.Keep all this twisting in the flame the whole while,
and now forget about the joint area and focus your flame on the clear rod in your right hand, melt it off.
Then evenly melt the whole thing together untill you are happy, keep it moving, keep it turning, the line
will eventually go away.
Then I pick the side that will be the back, press it into some frit of your choice, flatten it out alittle
and then add a bail. I then punty up to the bail and after the top is cool enough that it does not
distort, I melt off the tail end, twisting if desired. Practice a few that are not twisted first,
until you get it.
You can experiment with your dot pattern and maybe lay some small lines of the
Amber purple and then pierce them lightly in 2 places with the small pic.
That will give your jelly legs of different lengths and color variation.


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Please post your Jellyfish, and technique used to make it!
This is a study in Jelllyfish technique.

[Dragonharper]

I use a totaly different approach, I construct mine starting with 4mm clear rod.

Pull some NS Serindipity into 2mm stringer. (You can make your own by encasing NS Star White with either AP, DAP, or other transparent color, light cobalt works well too).

GENTLYwarm the 4mm rod, and apply the stringer to a 1 inch section, I get about 5 or 6 tentacles on a 4mm rod.

Encase with 3mm clear, melt in and marver smooth.

Repeat the above is desired.

To make the bell marver the end of the tentacles to a smooth flat end.
ETA:
Add Image link

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa434/dragonharper/_DSC5887.jpg (http://s1197.photobucket.com/user/dragonharper/media/_DSC5887.jpg.html)



Add a gather of either AP or DAP to the smoothed end, melt in and shape.

Encase with 5mm clear starting with the union of the bell and the tentacles, keep the 5mm clear very hot to avoid air bubbles. When the bell is encased to your liking melt a 6mm rod on the the encased bell for a handle.

Using 5mm clear encase the tentacles, at this point you may twist the tenticles if desired, this is also a good time to either lengthen or shorten (by gathering) the tentacles if desired.

Finish shaping and punty on the the bottom. Melt off the 6mm handle and make the loop.

Pop off the punty , fire polish and place into the kiln.

[istandalone24/7]

thanks for the write ups! can't wait to try some...i haven't played with making jellyfish yet.

[Mary K]

Oh, I forgot to add, could we have a picture of your finished Jelly? Roy if you have
one I would love to see it!

[MagpieGlass]

I second Mary K ... would love to see a pix of your jelly as well Roy. I like the variety of the techniques and Roy's just valididated my thoughts on attempting something totally non-related.

Thank you both for sharing how you make your jellies. Now I just need to find some serious time to play.

[Dragonharper]

Oh, I forgot to add, could we have a picture of your finished Jelly? Roy if you have
one I would love to see it!

I've updated my original post with the image link. These were some of the first, they are between 0.75 and 1.00 inches in length.

[Mary K]

Hey Thanks Roy! Great, this is perfect. Anyone else who has a Jellyfish technique
that is not top secret, and is willing to share, please post your fish and your technique.
Also, If you try one of these techniques and make some Jellyfish ~ Post picture of your results! We want to see no matter how they turn out!

[pattycake]

new to boro and glass making, I want to try both ways, thank you very much

[Dragonharper]

I started the stringer on 4mm clear as an exercise in heat control...

[istandalone24/7]

i'm hoping Maui Greenstone will chime in here....but he's holding on to his method...and i don't blame him, his jelly's are truly awesome.

[Jackson River Glass]

This is great! Thanks so much for starting this thread, Mary. I'm with Magpie, just need to find some serious play time to give this a try!

[marcel]

Here is my jelly i used stormy weather for the jelly and simax as clear
the tentacles are a tube implosion , the mantel is made by putting a dot or stormy weather on top of the implosion and pushed hot glas on top to encase it ;-)

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[bepnewt]

Thank you for sharing, everyone.

-BEP

[Mary K]

Awesome Jelly there Marcel, always love seeing your work,
thanks for your generous share.
Here is mine for the day
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I am just not a good photograhper of glass!
Darn it! this is really sparklie in person,
the cap has Jackpot frit on it that glitters
and the backround has Jackpot too, and
the whole thing just sparkles!
(You can get Jackpot frit from Magpie Glassworx)
Love that Jackpot frit, Bling!Bling!!!!

[Jackson River Glass]

Love the jellies so far \\:D/

[jhamilton117]

These are awesome! I can't wait to try these they look so cool! And I agree with Istandalone, I would love a nice (hopefully free, one can hope) tut from Maui Greenstone on his intense jellies! Great work everyone and thank you for sharing. I've wondered how to do this since seeing Mauis'

[istandalone24/7]

hell with free....i'd pay for that one!

although i must say...after reading this thread i don't think i'd buy a tut anytime soon....there's enough info here for days worth of experimentation.

[Mary K]

While he is much more practiced at this,
I believe that Maui Greenstone does his Jellies the same way I do mine. But....
He does something to the cap that gives it that flared look. My husband gave me
an empty 30calibur rifle casing, it is brass, to try to push on the cap to get a small indentation. Then add the clear on top as usual. I'll see if that does the trick for that flare.
All you need is Love!
"There's nothing you can do that can't be done"
"There's nothing you can make that can't be made"
John Lennon/Paul McCartney

The thing is, even if we use the same technique, we are all going to get different results, individual to each unique artist. I took a 3 day class from John Kobuki ( best class I ever took)
and he showed us his technique. That doesn't mean I can do stuff just like John Kobuki now. Darn! I wish!

[Jackson River Glass]

Made my first two jellies today! The first one is below, the second one is not something I'll be photographing... lol I used Blue Moon for this one. Need to work on my tentacles - they look kinda chubby and flat but I was happy that I didn't squish the cap too much. Excited to try again, it was fun!

[AmorphousDesigns]

some jellies do have flat, stubby tentacles. It looks like a jelly and it's beautiful, nice job!

check this stubby tentacles jelly
http://uniquenaturewallpapers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jellyfish-swimming-underwater-1920x1080-Wallpaper.jpg

[Jackson River Glass]

some jellies do have flat, stubby tentacles. It looks like a jelly and it's beautiful, nice job!

check this stubby tentacles jelly
http://uniquenaturewallpapers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jellyfish-swimming-underwater-1920x1080-Wallpaper.jpg
You are so kind! Thank you!!

[Mary K]

Nice Jelly Susan!

[jhamilton117]

So how exactly do you get that retichello(?) Look? Anyone willing to do a vid?

[Dragonharper]

Nice work! Looks like you used the stringer method. After about a half dozen more you will have it nailed! My next attempt will be going for realism and trying to make an Austrailian Box Jelly. I just haven't figured out which glass to use, Star White frit for sure. Also, if you encase your colored rod with clear then pull stringer you can get a finer tentacle, this technique works best with highly saturated colors like Star White, Turbo Cobalt, Jet Black, etc.

[Dragonharper]

So how exactly do you get that retichello(?) Look? Anyone willing to do a vid?

Stringer on 4mm clear and then encased. I use 3mm clear to encase. When the piece is still hot let one handle drag in your hand while you turn the other, that creates a nice twist.

[castaway]

well if people are showing their jellyfish here's one from me, cheers, B

[Mary K]

Stunning Jellyfish Bernard, would you be so kind as to tell us
what technique you used to make it? This is a study in Jellyfish methods.
What I would love to see here is how LampworkEtc. used to be,
when people gave freely of their wealth of skills and information.
I love the way you did your tenacles, and also the cap on your
fish is very realistic. How did you make this? It used to be if you
asked someone how they did something, they were flattered and
actually told you.

[castaway]

Oh sorry, the tentacles are imploded, first the english ivy ones then half way through the implosion the blue lightening ones were added, the cap is a large dot placed on to cover the ends of the implosions the main gather is stretched at this point then the cap is tooled out slightly to cover the ends of the tentacles then a gather of clear is placed onto the cap and also tooled over it ( I use a knife blade) I attach a rod to the top finish pulling the tentacles and twist then, punty to the bottom and make a loop.
cheers.

[bepnewt]

More gorgeous Jellies. Awesome.

-BEP

[MagpieGlass]

Susan ... you tried a jellie!! Very nice. and awesome for a first attempt.

castaway ... Gorgeous ... I love the double tentacle and English Ivy imploded ... wow.

[jhamilton117]

Very nice jelly cast!

[Mary K]

Here are 2 I did yesterday, Thank you Bernard for your input!
I used English Ivy,blue moon. and stormy weather for these.
I pushed the edge of the cap with a metal thing that is made
for pushing back cuticles in a manicure, it's arc shaped and big,
it is a professional tool from back in the day when I had my beauty shop.
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no backing on these, I think I'm improving.
Let's see what you are working on! Post those Fish!

[GlassAlias]

Here's my first.

[istandalone24/7]

rockin that bravo, glassalias!!

[Mary K]

Nice Jellyfish there GlassAlias!

[patienthand]

there are some good you tube demos,, search making glass jellyfish. I just figured these out this week. I did the stringer method. Make a large grape size ball of clear on an 8-12 mm rod and set aside. stripe about an inch of 6 mm clear with stringer. add a dot of color on the top and melt in. Heat the snot out of 1/2 of the clear ball you made, and get just the little ball of color on the end of the striped rod hot, make sure you have no haze. Then plunge the into the hot clear ball.. melt off the handle on the tentacle side and encase, around the world style around the tentacles. Melt it all in, get the shape you want, make the loop etc etc.

what was making me crazy is, I was trapping air below the bell cap trying to do it just like the you tube video, and I didnt have much clear at the cap over the bell of the jellyfish. So, I fiddled with it till I figured it out. my solutions were to heat the snot out of only 1/2 of the clear ball before plunging in the color and tentacles. to keep from trapping air the trick is to not plunge too deep and have an undercut where the bell has formed and the tentacles begin.

I will have to try the implosion version and see which one I like best

[dlando1]

Here are some jelly's that I made yesterday. The first, the illusive Golf Tee jelly. Next, a long cap one. The next one I think came out best. Thanks for taking a look.
Dave

[VooDooVixen]

this is such a great thread! Thank you for posting your tutorials! I will be trying my hand at this way of doing it. I tried the second method but didn't work as well. I think the first one will work for me :) I'll post pics next week.

[Mary K]

Whoa Dave you nailed it on that last one, the one with the
blue dots. The flair on that is perfect, I'm getting some good ones,
Can't seem to make that flair happen. Howya do that?
Here's what I made today. Using black pearl mixed with
clear then frit for caps. Also Jackpot frit on top of the cap.
In person, the caps shimmer with sparkle.
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I hope these sell because I enjoy making them, could wind up with a pile of these. Addictive.

[dlando1]

Thanks Mary,
I used a graphite rod when I was about done melting the cap. I gave it a little push and that's what happened. I have made about six more but none came out with the flared edge. Oh well... Your right, they are addictive to make. I'll post some pics if the sun ever comes back out here in Derby city.
Dave

[Mary K]

Thanks Mary,
I used a graphite rod when I was about done melting the cap. I gave it a little push and that's what happened. I have made about six more but none came out with the flared edge. Oh well... Your right, they are addictive to make. I'll post some pics if the sun ever comes back out here in Derby city.
Dave
ok help me understand what you are saying. you pushed before you added clear glass on top of the jellyfish cap, or you pushed the jellyfish cap and then added clear?

[dlando1]

Hey Mary,
I do my jellies in a two stage process. I make two maria's. On the first maria, I put six indents with a pick, then I add the dots of color. I heat those until I get the rise of the dots that will become "Tentacles".
When the maria closes in on the color dots, it will have a sloped look. I put that maria to the side, or just inside my kiln to keep warm.

I prep the color rod that will become the cap. I put the color in the heat and make a small gather. You can add small dots of color to that gather if you like.

Next I take the second maria and heat it up. When it's good and hot I take my small color gather and push it into the maria, just like you do to make a mushroom. I then burn off the end of the color rod so all I have is the ball of color in the second maria.
I heat the maria and let the clear glass move around the ball of color just a bit.

The next step is to use a rounded graphite reamer to push into the color ball. This just indents the bottom of the cap and can flare it out at the bottom.

Now you can take the first maria, with the tentacles out of the kiln. Heat both maria's and connect them by attaching the tentacle side to the underside of the cap. The nice part about this is that any air trapped will be up inside the cap. I burn off the the rod that has the cap. The shape of the glass now looks like a mushroom.

I heat the cap side and let it flow down the sides of the first maria.
Next, put as punty on the cap side. Now you can work on the tentacles. I heat and turn the rod of the first punty until I get the tentacles the way I want them to look, while I burn off the rod. Keep heating the pendant until it's the shape you want, punty the bottom of the pendant, knock the punty off the top and form your bale. When that's done, take tweezers and grab the bale, knock off the bottom punty and flame polish the bottom of the pendant. Pop it in the kiln.
Here are some caveman drawings to make this all as clear as mud!
Dave

[Mary K]

Hey Dave ~ Glad I'm not the only one making cave drawings. Thanks for yours. That is a different way to make a jelly yet. I will try it. I always put my cap on the tentacles, then add the glass to to top of that. Only problem I would forsee for me, is that I wouldn't match up the cap to the tentacles right. I'll give it a go, & post picture, not matter how funny it may look.
And Thanks.

[dlando1]

Finally a sunny day to take some pics. Thanks for taking a look.
Dave

[VooDooVixen]

Dave- thats a interesting way of doing them. I was about to go out to the studio to start my process and reread this thread. i'm glad I did cause I like how you do it. Hope to have some pics to post tomorrow of what I make tonight

[Mary K]

Hi Dave, I tried your way today, and just as I had feared, I had a hard time aligning the cap with the legs. First one went in my trash pile, second one not too bad but certainly not on center. For me, I'm going back to my old way where I know where the cap is going.
Love what you posted today, very nice.

[dlando1]

Hi Mary,
Mine don't always come out centered, so I try to adjust for that when I'm adding the bale.
Sometimes it works, and sometimes... Anyway, I think the jellies you make look great.
I think they will sell too!

Here's one that is off center, but I still like how it turned out. I'll just tell people I was trying to convey movement. Remember, there's one born every minute!
Have fun,
Dave

[Mary K]

Yes your right Dave, and I for one, was born in that minute. And likely die the same way.

[tnehlers]

Thank you so much for this!! I combined instructions and now have 5 jellies in the kiln. They are so fun to make.

[Mary K]

Your welcome, please post pictures of what you did, whether you like how it turned out or not. Would like to see please. Thanks.

[Mary K]

Here is one from today. I decided to try a twisty of clear and white under the cap to get the look
of all those tiny tentacles on the edge of some jellyfish I have been studying. I wish
I could get a better picture, as this is the best jellyfish I have done to date.
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[MagpieGlass]

Wow ... you have been busy and love how the jelly turned out. Great job!

[tnehlers]

Ok, here are mine from yesterday. I took quick pictures this morning.

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[khan]

Those are some really cool coool jellies guys..!!!
i am just wondering how much ppl usually try to get for the real nice ones?

Does anyone mind telling me how much they are asking?

Thanks for all the info on these... it sure helps alot.

Khan

[Mary K]

I have no idea what other's charge, but I have been selling mine for $30 to 40
depending on how much detail etc. Want to buy one? lol pm me.
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This one for instance, would be 40. This is one of the nicer ones.
I am maybe too cheap, but the economy is down, If I want to keep
doing this I must sell some stuff.

[dlando1]

Mary, that twisty of clear and white make your jellies look real! How did you do that? Tnehlers, I like the middle jelly on the second row the best. You're right, these are fun to make. Here are some from this week. Thanks for taking a look.
Dave

[Mary K]

Hi Dave,
For twisty that I put under cap, I take chinese white ( only white I use ) and mix some up real well, What I do is take 2 sticks of the white and holding one in each hand I make a gather in the middle and just twist it and work it untill it seems mixed and smooth. Then pull the gather out to what ever size you are looking for. For this It would be pretty thin like 1-2 mm. then take a rod of 9mm clear and put 4 stripes on the end of it about an inch long. lightly melt the lines in so they won't pop off. Then take small rod of clear, I have some 4mm that I use for this, and attach at the end of the white/clear rod, making sure to let your joint cool just a bit so it won't just pull off. then heat the white/clear striped area and twist like mad,this were the small 4mm comes in, it lets you spin it tighter, pulling lightly as you go. You want it wound really tight for this. Then you can either make a tiny ring of this spiral white rod and use that or if you have enough control, you can put it on directly. I make my jellys a little differently than you do, remember I add my cap to the tentacles. So for this I would lay that clear/white spiral twisty on and melt it and flatten it with paddle just right on top of where the tentacle are. Then I put my cap on and add the clear as usual. I am getting some really nice jellyfish this way, and they do look very real. They look so much more interesting in person than they look here, wish I was a better photographer.
Anyway, that's how I do it, the long version.

[Mary K]

Hey T Ehlers, Your jellyfish are coming along nicely. If you want thinner tentacles, try to make your dots on maria as small as possible, and use a very thin very sharp tungsten pick, ABR has them, I think there is a link on first page of this thread, to poke them, and you want it to faintly glow when you poke the dots. ( you have to sharpen the tool when you get it, and constantly keep sharpening it, you want it kneadle thin pointed for the best tentacles)
Good Job. And thanks for posting pictures, look forward to more from you.

[tnehlers]

Thanks Dave, that one's my favorite too.

Thanks Mary. I actually combined a couple types of tentacles to achieve the look I wanted.

[dlando1]

A friend told me that if you make a hundred of something you will get the technique down. I'm at about 20 now. Here are the latest. Thanks for taking a look.
Dave

[MagpieGlass]

David ... really like that last one.

I don't have the patience or the attention span to make 100 of anything :lol:

[heartglass]

Ok you guys and girls so far today I have made 6 jellies ...thanks I needed a little inspiration I'll put up some photos tomorrow ...great tips ..Thanks

[BellaBean]

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This is one of mine. Totally imploded (J Kobuki style)

[Mary K]

Very pretty Cori. I just can't seem to get something that looks like a jellyfish the J.Kobuki way. You did a wonderful job, beautiful colors. Thanks for posting yor fish.
Let's see 'em Heartglass, pictures, pictures.........
Jellyfish are addicting to make, I keep thinking of something else I want to try.

[dlando1]

Cori,
That is a fine jelly. I also liked your orchid in the May collection. Did you take one of
John K's classes? Anyway, very nice work!
Dave

[mightymike]

here is my version of one combining the different techniques.
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[bepnewt]

I hope this thread never dies. Awesome job, all.

-BEP

[BellaBean]

Cori,
That is a fine jelly. I also liked your orchid in the May collection. Did you take one of
John K's classes? Anyway, very nice work!
Dave

I took a John K class up at Playing With Fire in Maine 1 1/2 years ago. It was wonderful. Being mostly self-taught, it showed me a lot of different ways of doing things. It also increased my heat control drastically. I highly recommend it.

[heartglass]

I tried the different techniques quite interesting and fun ... I had trouble with bubbles ....


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[Dasi]

Nice jellies!!! I have been making them for a few years too.

Here is one of mine. I posted this one about 2 years ago so maybe some of you have already seen it? I also sold a bunch at the gathering. I sold out of the 20 I brought.... felt very lucky because the beads around me were so beautiful!!

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I even had one customer throw a stink about it. Another told her friend that she could make them too and she does not need to buy it..... Then she demanded to know where I get my jellies before I pour the acrylic over them......

[heartglass]

Heather love your jellie what's your color combo, you have an amazing glow...WOW!
Thanks for the laugh its so funny that people think we put the real thing inside our glass...

[Mary K]

Lovely Jelly Heather. What technique do you use to make your jellies?
Is that DAP for the jelly, and the red backround, so striking, is that american beauty?
Hope you remember!

[Dasi]

The tentacles are serendipity and the mantle is an odd batch I got from Momka. I have no idea what color it is. I ordered Violet hue and got that color and it is not violet hue... this I know. I have ordered violet hue 4 times since and every time I have gotten the same color and it is not the color I got the first time. I have one rod left and I am saving it for special order Jellyfish.
All I can say is it is a momka glass... At least that is what the order was for... only Momka glass.
The background is pomegranate.

[Mary K]

OH don't ya just love that "mystery" glass. I got some cane a long time ago, from MP it was the first version of one of the daisey canes, and I just have 3 rods left, it's one of my favorite's too, and never to be more. What does the cane look like ( that they sent you for violet hue) ? Hard to tell by photo, but could it be magic mirror?
What is the backround color, or did you dip it in acrylic? lol. sorry.

[Dasi]

OH don't ya just love that "mystery" glass.
What is the backround color, or did you dip it in acrylic? lol. sorry.

The background is pomegranate as listed above...... the acrylic idiot got to you!!!

[Mary K]

Jeesh! I can't even read. Sorry. The comment about acrylic was a joke.
Hope you all keep this thread going for a while, I am headed out today
to Stanford Medical Hospital for major surgery. Please think positive healing
thoughts for me Tuesday May 28 @ 12:20.

[PennyLane]

Oh Nooooo Mary Kay! Sending positive healing thoughts to you. Please hurry back, I will miss your great info and pics. You have been so helpful to us all, so giving. Hugs!

[marcel]

Sending positive energy as we speak ;)
wonderfull jelly's wow love them all !
here is one o mine with dichro have a hard time though getting the cap more round....

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[dlando1]

Here are a couple that I did like Mary does them.. I like the way they came out, especially no bubbles at the point where the cap and the tentacles meet.
Thanks for taking a look. Mary I hope a goes well for you, and for a speedy recovery!
Dave

[angelique_redhead]

I really like those, Marcel and Dave. They look great. I haven't seen a dud in this entire thread though. We have so many talkented people. :love: Angelique

[Max Hardcastle]

After reading this thread I tried one of each technique I saw:
(from left to right)

Mary K - Rod implosion with tungsten picked dots for bubble covered by color for cap and then clear for cap spreading...

Dragonharper - Paint tentacles onto a 4mm clear, then encase and add a cap

Marcel - Tube implosion with dot on back that is coated in clear to create cap

Castaway - tube implosion with dots added partway, cap is tooled over and creates the lip up like maui greenstone's jellies

Patienthand - mushroom method with stringers over clear, not with reticello

dlando1 (Dave) - Double maria method - tentacles as a rod implosion, and cap as a half-rod implosion indented by graphite before attachment

Mary K - sometimes adds white&clear twisty to make tiny tentacles on edge of cap

I'm grateful to all of you who posted these. Never before have I tried making jellies, but they are a lot of fun! I think I'm going to try and make a moon jelly soon and I'll try to remember to post that... I'd love to be able to contribute to this thread. I'm also sure that each of these techniques would turn out a lot better if I practiced a bit. Each time there were things I would have done differently... :) The one thing that really helps is the marble mold! I highly suggest everyone who tries these to test out using the marble mold to make the cap of the jelly!! Also if I messed up your technique in my notes let me know - I tried to do a one sentence synopsis but I might have misunderstood :s

Cheers!
Max

[MagpieGlass]

Wow Max, what a great group of jellies!!

Each one is really special in it's own, slightly unique way.

Can't wait to see the moon jelly!

[bepnewt]

Very nice, Max!

-BEP

[angelique_redhead]

Max, I like all of these. It's really hard to pick a favorite out of that group. :love: Angelique

[dlando1]

Max,what a great application of techniques! I love this thread!!!!

[Mary K]

Dave that last batch is outstanding, Max my favorite one is the one in the middle of picture.
Dave what is the color combo on the jelly with the spots? Are the spots blue moon?
I think those might be your best yet.
Just letting you all know that my surgery went well, it will be a long time before I can sit and melt glass again though. I am feeling ok, but weak and sore. Thanks all for keeping this thread alive. I'll be back at the torch as soon as I can, and seeing your work just makes me want to recover and get back to the flame even more.

[MagpieGlass]

Mary ... glad your surgery went well. May you have a speedy recovery!!! and get back to making beautiful jellies!!

[Max Hardcastle]

Glad you're doing okay Mary!

[dlando1]

Hi Mary,
I'm glad your on the mend. I hope you get back to your torching soon. I went back to the way you do your jellies. I have a lot more control over how much air gets trapped between the cap and the tentacle's. The base of the cap is Elvis Blue Stardust, with dots of GA Aquatic Carnival. It's close to Blue Moon, but w/ a little more of a green hue to it. The tentacles are also Aquatic Carnival.
Be good to you,
Dave

[Echobaby1]

This is my first post here, I lurk mainly and if I do say so myself I'm really good at it! I have only been torching since April but I wanted to show Miss Mary what her jellyfish thread inspired me to do. This is my very first attempt at a jelly and its a bit wonky but I suppose so am I so it fits. Thanks for all the tips!


288171

[Max Hardcastle]

Wow Arryn - you've been torching less than 2 months and your loops look like THAT!? Incredible... It took me ages to make anything worth wearing haha. Good on you! Nice work on the bubbles too - very nicely done. Do you have a marble mold? Before you add the cap heat the tops of the tentacles and let them droop "upward" (hold it upside down) a little bit and then when you add the cap you can use the mold to create a nice round shape. That's what I've ended up doing for the most part and it seems to be working well... :)

[bepnewt]

This is my first post here, I lurk mainly and if I do say so myself I'm really good at it! I have only been torching since April but I wanted to show Miss Mary what her jellyfish thread inspired me to do. This is my very first attempt at a jelly and its a bit wonky but I suppose so am I so it fits. Thanks for all the tips!

So glad you posted and a very nice first post it is!

Thanks to all for sharing.

-BEP

[Mary K]

You Arryn are going to be very good. Anyone starting out with that much skill has infinite possibilities. Please keep melting and keep posting. I don't know where you live, but you should try to get into a good class. Amazing.

[dlando1]

Arryn, Very nice jelly! Here are a few more jellies. Thanks for taking a look.
Dave

[Mary K]

Wow Dave. Nice work. Only thing I think would improve the look of these is a little more clear glass on the bottom around the tentacles. But man, nice.
Hard to stop making these.....huh?

[Max Hardcastle]

Here's a few more:

288231288230

[dlando1]

Today's NPR's The Diane Rehm show was all about jellyfish. She posted several jelly pics, very inspirational. One of the guests talked about a jelly that had a cap as big as an old satellite dish! You can catch it on her podcast.

A few jellies with Tequila Sunrise. The last one I'm going to try to kiln strike like Maui G's. Thanks for taking a look.
Dave

[dlando1]

Here's a jelly that I kiln struck at 1125. It's the first time I have ever got glass to kiln strike! Thanks for taking a look.
Dave

[angelique_redhead]

This is lovely both ways. You should make more of both. :love: Angelique

Here's a jelly that I kiln struck at 1125. It's the first time I have ever got glass to kiln strike! Thanks for taking a look.
Dave

[Max Hardcastle]

So cool! I have GOT to try that... how do you know what colors will kiln strike? Should I look it up on Glass Alchemy or something? I had a color one time that worked almost clear and then when it came out of the kiln it was chocolate brown.... first time that happened I was very disappointed because it ruined everything I made. The next time I used the same glass I expected it to turn brown but it did not... the only difference is that now I have a digital controller for my kiln! Perhaps I accidentally kiln struck it the first time by overheating a bit?

I'll try a few jellies with that brown today... might look kinda cool with a high contrast white tentacle or something.

[angelique_redhead]

I like this idea! Amber purple, tequila sunrise, amber green and some of the reds also kiln strike well. A lot of them also have that they kiln strike in the detailed descriptions if they do this. :love: Angelique

So cool! I have GOT to try that... how do you know what colors will kiln strike? Should I look it up on Glass Alchemy or something? I had a color one time that worked almost clear and then when it came out of the kiln it was chocolate brown.... first time that happened I was very disappointed because it ruined everything I made. The next time I used the same glass I expected it to turn brown but it did not... the only difference is that now I have a digital controller for my kiln! Perhaps I accidentally kiln struck it the first time by overheating a bit?

I'll try a few jellies with that brown today... might look kinda cool with a high contrast white tentacle or something.

[dlando1]

Hey Max,
Check out Maui Greenstone's Boro in review. He lays out a bunch of striking colors that he strikes multiple times. it's a great thread!

[Mary K]

Well I guess I will have to call arrow springs to have them help me with a different annealing program that goes a little higher. right now it only goes I think to 1075, I think it needs to go a little higher to kiln strike, right? any suggestions for a program?

[Rough_necked]

I think some will strike at that temp but you need a longer hold time, like 3 to 4 hours. The ga site has this info. You need to make sure the haze is completely burned off also.

Not a jelly but shows haze and no haze138815

The purple has no haze and the blue is haze. Kilned at 1075 for 3 hours with a small amount of flame strike. Done on a cricket with 2 oxy cons.

[Rough_necked]

Oh yea, passion colors, dragon colors, rubies, some oranges are all strikers. I don't know if luster colors strike, but hit them with a slight reducing flame and they change. Black pearl is one that starts black then changes to this:138816

Not the best pick but went from black to blues and greens.

Chuck

[dlando1]

This is another Tequila Sunrise cap that I kiln struck at 1125. Thanks for taking a look.
Dave

[dlando1]

I like how the tentacles turned out on this one.
Dave

[Echobaby1]

Dave that last one is just incredible! Everyone at my work agrees.

[dlando1]

I'm on a my quest to make 50 decent jellies. A couple more w/ extra tentacles.
Dave

[MK]

I love this thread so much. And Dave, I could look at your pendants all day! Clean, bright, bold and lovely!

[Mary K]

Wow DAVE!
I love what you're doing here man. If you could be so kind to go back and edit your last couple of pictures posts 107 & 109 and add what colors you used I would love that. I love the contrast of the colors you are using, and I also notice that you are not tapering them as tightly on the last few. I like the over all shape of the pendant that has more glass at the bottom, don't you? Really shows off those tentacles you are doing. You're killin' it Dave. Keep 'em coming. I am going to try to put in a little torch time this next week, still in recovery mode from my surgery, but I think I could do an hour or 2. Seeing your amazing jellies makes it hard to keep away from the flame, it calls me.
Thanks for the inspiration.

[dlando1]

Hey Mary,
I'm glad your feeling better. I think torching will be a help in the healing process. I wanted to thank you for suggesting that I thicken the end of my jellies. I just had to utilize my torch in a better fashion. Once I did that, I was able to add a second set of tentacles to the pendant.
The colors for the blue jelly (# 107) are:
The cap, is Mystery Adventurine,w/ a decorative stringer of Asian white over dark cobalt. I like the contrast the stringer adds to the pendant.
The inner tentacles are Blue Lighting.
The outer tentacles are the Asian white /dark cobalt stringer again.

The orange Jelly(#109):
The cap is Elvis Experimental Orange that a friend gave me. I tried to find it at the company where I usually buy my glass (ABR), but they didn't offer it. I kiln struck it a second time to get the deeper color.
The inner tentacles are Blue Moon.
The outer tentacles are the Asian white / Cobalt stringer.

A friend told me that making a bunch (50) of anything helps you to understand
the materials you're working with. Making so many pendants forces you to try to be more creative.
I'm glad i did.

Here are both, reposted. The orange jelly is a new pic in full sun.
Hope you're back to doing what you love, very soon!
Dave

[dlando1]

Yeah, a few more.
Thanks for taking a look,
Dave

[Echobaby1]

They are all gorgeous Dave! If I had to pick a favorite, that first one. Keep it up!

[dehoffa]

I'm on a my quest to make 50 decent jellies. A couple more w/ extra tentacles.
Dave

I love how you've made these your own.

[angelique_redhead]

I'd love to see one like number 2 with the opal have tentacles reaching down to take it out of the tip of the pendent. :love: Angelique

Yeah, a few more.
Thanks for taking a look,
Dave

[dlando1]

Hi Angelique, I think that would be a good idea too. This is the first time I ever got an opal to be where I wanted it. Then my tentacles didn't come out very well! I'll try it again later today. Thanks for the idea.
Dave

[angelique_redhead]

You're very welcome. I still like number 2. Good luck with the next opal jelly fish. :love: Angelique

Hi Angelique, I think that would be a good idea too. This is the first time I ever got an opal to be where I wanted it. Then my tentacles didn't come out very well! I'll try it again later today. Thanks for the idea.
Dave

[dlando1]

I'm starting to feel like a thread hog. Please post any jellies you guys are making. It's getting lonely in here. I am on a jag of making these. They have really helped me get a better grip on how my torch works.

If you can stand it, this is a triple struck jelly with Tequila Sunrise for the cap.
Thanks for taking a look.
Dave

[bepnewt]

I'm starting to feel like a thread hog. Please post any jellies you guys are making. It's getting lonely in here. I am on a jag of making these. They have really helped me get a better grip on how my torch works.

Love it. If you STOP posting Jellies, I'm going to find a Man-O-War and throw it in your sock drawer.

Sunday is my first free time in a while, I may actually attempt one.

-BEP

[angelique_redhead]

YUM! Love it, Dave. I'll make you a deal. If it EVER drops back out of the triple digits here I'll attempt to make one. I've only been in the glass building long enough to take in labeled glass and GTH out before I roast like a suckling pig. :love: Angelique

[dlando1]

Hey Brian,
I also have a Bravo,and an M20, plus an M15. I have all the power I need to work that torch. I love that torch.
Please no man-o-war in the sock drawer. I hate when that happens!
Dave

[Mary K]

LOve your Jellies, please keep posting, or if you want to branch out there is the floral compression and marble thread, would love to see you do some florals as well. Your control is obviously getting better, I see a steady progression in the appearance of your jelly fish, each one nicer than the last. Very good job Dave.

[dehoffa]

OK I did some jellies. Too cool not to try. I did two different methods given in this post. I really don't remember which is which. I used Amber Purple blended and Silver tan.

The two on the bottom were flattened when I put them back to strike and I put it WAY too hot, so I made them into pendents.


289938

[Mary K]

Uhh...you got your kiln hot enough to flatten boro? Whoa......that be hot.
Jellie's are fun to make, and hard to stop making. Thanks for posting Ann!
Yer Jellies are cute!

[MarianneM]

290391Thank you all so much for sharing. I'm a boro rookie and this is my first jelly fish marble... There aren't any boro teachers in my area, so I rely on videos, tutorials, and the kindness of those on this forum to learn new techniques. I'm so happy with the results (it's really round and no scuzz). Now, if I could only get the colors to strike.:grin:

[dlando1]

Thanks for taking a look.
Dave

[PhatPat]

Hello everyone! I dont say much but thought it was time to show a lil bit of my work. Cool thing is i found a thread with a bunch of jellyfish heads like my self so here it goes hope yall like.290730

[PhatPat]

A couple of more290731 . Thanx for looking :koolaid:

[Rough_necked]

What color is that dlando1? Looks like dragons eye?

Chuck

[dlando1]

The cap is North Star Striking Yellow, the tentacles are made with Blue lighting.

[PhatPat]

Hey dlando quick question. How do u get your clear bails on pendants . I use Peter tweezers and my pick but never seem to get them that clean lookin. Thanks

PS or do u have a tech to clean the hole out?

[dlando1]

Hey PhatPat,
I use Peter tweezers, and bore it out w/ a graduated reamer. I get mostly clear bails, but there is still some funky stuff on them. Clear glass seem to show blemishes less, but there is still some on it.
Dave

[PhatPat]

Koo thanx for replying I guess I have to do it better. Love your jellies ! Thanks again!

[dlando1]

I put an opal in the jelly cap, along w/ a giant air bubble( on purpose of course).

I really like this NS yellow strike. Adding opal's are another learning curve incline to experience. Thanks for taking a look.
Dave

[MagpieGlass]

Lovin all the newest Jellies!! Marianne ... stellar marble ... love the double tentacle technique.

I haven't played with boro or jellies recently. About time for me to switch to Fall/Winter show mode. :cry:

[Mary K]

Oh Jeesh, I am going to have to do a thread on bail construction for you all. I never use peters tweezers or any tweezsers for bails. Try this:
Decide where you want bail and put a dot of clear there, then if it is where you wanted it, add a length of glass to that dot, enough for a decent bail. leave it hanging.
then go to the back side of where bail will attach and add a bigger dot of clear for a landing pad for the front of your bail. then heat the hanging bail glass, bend it so it touches the dot on back. Then heat and manipulate the bail, using your reamer to round it up, you will not have a bit of scum or anything, just a nice bail, perfectly in the center and even. Please look at the bails on my floral thread pieces, I think they demonstrate what I am doing pretty well. When I do get a chance, I will do a thread on this. I like to use black for most bails, but usually use clear on Jellies. Jet black is stiffer, and easier to learn how to get a good bail. You need a paddle tweezer, and a brass reamer.

[PhatPat]

Thanks for the tip Mary ! When i first started out I tried this tech out but was not very good at it . I started using the tweezers and reamer bcuz i did mostly black bails, but i agree with u on having clear bails on jellies thats why now im looking for a new way so i jus have to practice more. Thanks again Mary !

[mandoziller]

Had to get in on the fun! Thanks for the inspiration 8) 290867

[dehoffa]

Cool, I like the colors of the two on the right.

[mandoziller]

^ Thanks, I believe the caps are Momka Blue Reflection with a little wrap of NS 105 Silver Creek

[PhatPat]

Here is another jelly this time i used Mary's advice for my bail came out nice. Im taking pictures with my iPhone so hard to get a good angle but thanks for looking!

290877:koolaid::koolaid::koolaid::

[Mary K]

Do you have a reamer?
http://www.dichroicimagery.com/product_info.php?products_id=987
This is a good reamer for pendant work. I have the large one too, I started
buying metal reamers when I realized that if you drop a graphite one, you are done.
I really think that a bail should at least be 6 - 8 mm for most chains or cords to fit thru. Your bail looks perfect my dear, but me, I would stick a reamer in that and open it up a tad.
Here is something else about adding bails, and the way you manupulate the glass. When you add the glass, you really want to heat it where it joins while you are shaping the bail, and give it a tug, even if you are going to let the glass settle back into place. This aligns the molecules/structure of glass so that it really blends and becomes part of the piece, not just something added on that can easily be broken off. I am not sure how to explain this right, but I know that a good bail, put on right, is a lot harder to break than one that is just barely sitting on the piece. Reaming and stretching the bail a bit while you are making it, then letting it shrink back down does a good job of settling the bail on the piece. I'm not sayin' make it big as a quarter and then heat it, just a bit, just a bit.

[PhatPat]

Hi Mary!
I do have a few different sizes reamers . Here is a side shot. I really like the way it came out this was my first go at it again i think the dot placement is what really helps. I really appreciate your advice as for the first one im really happy with results . Im gettin a tank filled tomorrow so ill be working all weekend. Thanks again Mary .

290908

[Kalorlo]

Gorgeous jellyfish in here! I had a go at a couple of mushroom-technique soft glass ones recently (not enough oxy at present for boro!). We made boro ones on a course with Jennifer Umphress.

Here they are, if you'll excuse soft glass in the boro room! I have some boro sitting around waiting for me to do oxycon maintenance and buy another one.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2829/9221694823_6abdd9de24_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9221694823/) http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2832/9221694507_e874b6028b_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9221694507/)

[Mary K]

These are whimsical Jelly fish.

291191

This one has great bubbles.

291190

I hope I can stop. This is just 2 out of about 12 I have made in
the last few days.

[PhatPat]

Nice Mary ! I really like the tentacles on the first one.:koolaid::koolaid:

[Mary K]

I saw a show on TV about Jellyfish, how they feed etc. The ones on the film
were mostly white, so that is what I am experimenting with.


291237

291236
Wish I could take a better picture, these have sparkle to them,
& they are very feathery.

[dlando1]

Mary those look great! What colors did you use for the cap and tentacles? Do you get Glass Line magazine? There is an article on Jellyfish pendants. MauiG also has a great article on kiln striking.(Aug/sept. issue) Again, great jellies.
Dave

[Mary K]

Dave the tentacles are china white, I think I did put in a few dots of some silver glass - silver creek or ?,the twisty I make for the edge of the jelly is china white and clear, the caps are some glow glass I had laying around, I used it because it is translucent & whitish. After I got the cap on I dipped it in small size purple luster frit, one dip and then one more dip in fine paparazzi frit. Another one (not pictured) that I did that turned out well had a cap of magic mirror, dipped in frit same way. I do not presently get glass line mag, wish I did. May have to re up my subcription. Thanks for comment.

[dlando1]

Hey Mary,
The striking info is here in the boro room thread named, Boro in review. Glass Line has some pics of Maui G's work. He makes some really fine glass. I will say that the Jellyfish tut in the magazine is really good Thanks for the tech info on your jellies. I just got some aqua glow sticks today. Torch time! Be good to you!
Dave

[dlando1]

I put backs on a couple of these. And One with Elvis orange. Thanks for taking a look.
Dave

[Mary K]

Elvis Orange, eh? Why are you doing this to me? I dont have that color!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh well, I am running low on Jet and always need something, so now I will have
to make a glass order. I just got home from a 2 day show, and this year I had
my best total yet there, and I know it was from Jelly fish. I sold almost everyone I brought, even the one I put a really high price on cause I wanted to keep it. Sold it.
guess I will have to keep trying to make another like it. Jellyfish rock!!!!
I love how you got those bubbles on that one too, really cool. Good work.

[PhatPat]

Here's a lil jelly i did with gold and silver fume.

291520:koolaid::koolaid::koolaid:

[Mary K]

Nice Pat!

[dlando1]

Some jellies with many bubbles

[fourpawsglass]

I have always wanted to make jellyfish pendants. I followed Mary K's tutorial (thank you!) - it did take me a few tries to get the cap to flow right. I needed to drop the clear glass on top of the cap more vertically and pull off that way, rather than twisting off which stretched out the cap. Here is my third attempt:

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL918/4262723/22249839/407308389.jpg

Next I want to try dlando1's way of putting the cap and tentacles together. Thank you again for a very fun (and addictive) tutorial.

[Sweetsoap]

I LUV the color and the way the tentacles go all the way down towards the bottom of ur piece. Still working up the courage to give it a try!:rolleyes:

I have always wanted to make jellyfish pendants. I followed Mary K's tutorial (thank you!) - it did take me a few tries to get the cap to flow right. I needed to drop the clear glass on top of the cap more vertically and pull off that way, rather than twisting off which stretched out the cap. Here is my third attempt:


Next I want to try dlando1's way of putting the cap and tentacles together. Thank you again for a very fun (and addictive) tutorial.

[Mary K]

After the tentacles are built, I just leave mine hanging straight. I add the cap of the fish, and I like to leave it higher than I really want it, cause it's gonna push down when you add the clear top. I keep this spinning with one hand just behind the flame and I keep the cap farthest away, I want it to be a little cooler, so it will be stiffer. make sense? I get the gather for the top about the size of my original gather that I used on the base. Sometimes I give it a small push to spread it a bit, but I make sure the face of this gather is hotter than the base. Where you focus your heat, or have your heat base, makes a difference on how the cap will shape up. I keep the whole thing spinning, my two rods horizontal, and when I join them I don't rush. I spin and push, keep the flame on the hip of the top glass, till I get what I think will be enough. then I spin a bit letting it sort of cool, maybe 30 seconds or so then heat the rod I want to remove and remove it. the cap will not stretch because the heat base has been transfered to above it at where you are melting it off. Once the top is off, then focus your heat on the part you want to move down around your jellyfish cap. Lately I have been pushing it down with a graphite shaper, metal tools left marks, and making sure the cap is covered all the way.
Fourpaws your jellyfish is very nice, I love your bail too. It's nice to see a well finished piece, and doing a nice bail is an art in itself. Only thing I would suggest to you is slow down a bit, think about where your piece is the hottest and use that to your advantage.

[fourpawsglass]

Thanks Mary! I'm off to AGI tomorrow in Pennsylvania for a week. I have your latest directions in my notes - I will definitely give them a try. Bails have been my nemesis for a long time but they finally come easy to me. Look for pictures after I get back.

[Kalorlo]

I'm going to lower the quality here :biggrin:
This is my first go at boro on my own torch and this got much bigger than I should have been attempting for the amount of heat I have! The colour is NS blue exotic. The cap is way overreduced and a general mess (it got too big to begin with), but the colour of it is actually better than I was expecting: it has a pink iridescent flash. I'd tried putting clear dots on it before encasing. I like the blue wispy skirt under the cap and the green in the tentacles.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5481/9456826057_4363f9e040_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9456826057/)

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5441/9459607400_00e5ef9847_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9459607400/)

I need to keep the size much smaller than this - I started off thinking ok, the glass is melting well enough... but then it took an hour at the end to get the clear into the vague semblance of smoothness we have here!

This has just gone through a soft glass annealing cycle at the moment - I'll do a proper boro one once I've got a few pieces to do.

For even more hilarity, I went on to make soft glass test spacers straight after doing this, and I was melting the glass all over the place for the first couple! It was an amusing night, all told :biggrin:

[Mary K]

Heather I say Bravo! Well done, much less for a first try! You may see a color change once you run it thru a boro anealing cycle. If you had added just a dot of clear on the smaller side of the bail, and heated just that spot to settle it in your bail would be perfect. I really think a well done bail is important, a sloppy bail, ( which yours is nothing even near sloppy, it's fab) will detract from the nicest pendant.
Lose that soft glass and lets see some more boro! much more fun to melt, IMHO.

[Kalorlo]

Thanks Mary! I went back and read the thread again and did a much better (and smaller!) one tonight.

LOL, I won't be leaving soft glass behind, but I like being able to do everything :biggrin: I don't see myself doing many beads in boro for example because that just sounds less fun.

[Kalorlo]

Jelly 2. This is using Mary's instructions. This one's 3cm including loop so would fit in the cap of the first one! NS blue exotic again. I should have kept a little more clear at the top - I let it move down the sides instead.

I see what you mean about the bails - it can be hard to notice that when you're actually making it.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7427/9462973421_e09cc504fe_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9462973421/) http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5518/9462973577_70e7731249_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9462973577/)

[mandoziller]

Well done^

[angelique_redhead]

I like it, Heather. This is exactly how they look sitting just below the surface of of the water at times. :love: Angelique

[Mary K]

Hi Angelique!
To even out a bail, heat the part that is too wide slightly, just soften it a bit, not getting it too hot, then just give small tugs with the end of your reamer, then even out the heat in the whole bail and let it settle using gravity to even it out. When you tug on the bail glass, you are making the bail more stable on the piece as well. I have sometimes put a piece back in the kiln when I turn it on, heat it up and fix only the bail if I'm not %100 happy with it.
Your jelly fish are so nice, and it 's hard to stop making them.
I had to stop though. My kiln switch had a melt down, and I mean melt.
A big thank you to Craig at Arrow Springs for talking us thru fixing it on the phone,
This is a pretty old kiln, and I love it. So I sent my kiln controller in to be tuned up, while I take a trip to Oregon. Hope I don't get too shakey, getting withdrawl symptoms already. My whole house is cleaned up and all the laundry is done. Would rather melt glass any day than house work. lol

[PhatPat]

Here is one i did last nite i did it with GA double passion! Nice color!

291988:koolaid::koolaid::koolaid:

[dlando1]

Nice jelly Pat. Your'e right, nice color.

[Kalorlo]

The colour change from top to bottom is rather cool, Pat.

Jelly 3, same again. This one has been through a proper boro annealing cycle (so have the others now - no change in colour). I have another two in the kiln today where I had a go with different colours. I think I'll gradually work through the few colours I have before deciding what else to buy!

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2888/9479530645_4ce5c3e44c_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9479530645/) http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3722/9479530891_940dd7d884_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9479530891/)

[Mary K]

Pat that is really beautiful! Heather when you decide to buy more glass,
you just need to check this thread for ideas on colors, some really great ones
on here, I have learned a lot, and gotten so many great ideas from you all!

[Kalorlo]

Mary: Yup, I have a little notebook that I'm putting colour notes in :)

Jelly 4 is NS rust and some blue exotic, though I think I should have gone with caramel for the little tentacles instead. Jelly 5 is NS caramel with a flat back and twistie of blue exotic and clear.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2828/9483415783_d8ab308ee2_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9483415783/) http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7323/9486214150_23505602e6_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9486214150/)

[MagpieGlass]

Heather ... I love the pinkish tentacles of Jelly #4. I'll have to keep that color in mind whenever I get back to playing with Jellies. I'm in Fall show mode right now. No jellies for me for a while ... :cry:

[Mary K]

Heather, on your next jelly,try making the dots for the tentacles really tiny, and then give them a poke with a really really sharp tungsten pic. I sharpen my pic every time I sit down to work, and I have the really small one from ABR. You will be surprised at how that will change your tentacles.

[Kalorlo]

Heather, on your next jelly,try making the dots for the tentacles really tiny, and then give them a poke with a really really sharp tungsten pic. I sharpen my pic every time I sit down to work, and I have the really small one from ABR. You will be surprised at how that will change your tentacles.

I have been doing that on and off (bottom tentacles of the rust one, for example). Think the caramel one is the only one with no poking at all. My pick's a medium size and not extra sharp though - also if I keep it red hot and drill in and out again, it's pulling some glass out with it. Should it be doing that?

I've got a thinner tungsten pick that was sold as a soldering pick, might have a go with that. I tried it once with glass a long time ago, melted the tip and haven't looked at it again!

[Mary K]

If you melted the tip, maybe it's not tungsten. If you are getting your pic red hot and the glass is sticking to it, keep it twisting it should not stick that way, also just a red faint red glow is enough, not brite red glow. you can sharpen the pic you have to an extent, but I really love my tiny pic, I use it a lot.
size of the dots try to make them as small as the head of a pin, I mean small. If you lay them on and they are too big, use a small rod of clear to pull glass off until they are really tiny. Just heat the dot on the surface and touch a 4mm clear rod to them that is warm, not hot and lift it off. If your 4mm is too cool it will not stick and pull the glass off.
Here is my pick, and go ahead and order the replacement tungsten along with it, it gets brittle with a lot of use, and then you need to keep sharpening it.
http://www.dichroicimagery.com/product_info.php?products_id=2800
Oh and keep your pick clean. Surfur will build up on it, kind of looks yellow on the metal, that will cause sticking too. I have a big flat rubberized nail file that lays on my bench, I can clean the pick if I need to as I am working by just rubbing the pick on it. Or in between pendants I scrape the pick carefully, remember it's brittle, to get all the buildup off of it.

[Dragonharper]

If your pick is for soldering, it may be aluminum, as solder doesn't stick and it is easier on circuit boards.

[Kalorlo]

Ahaha, I'm a muppet. The small one was a jeweller's pick = titanium. Right, I won't be hunting that one out...

I'll check what our glass suppliers over here have for picks - I'm pretty sure there are some smaller ones than the one I have. (My pick is a 3/32").

This is from Sunday: Jelly 6, with the big pick. GA persimmon strike with dots of unobtainium on the back surface. Too many unintentional bubbles here and I think I should have covered the whole back surface since the dots are distracting. Didn't have a great day then, I have a bad marble to add to the flower thread too.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5471/9505210156_5aa325fdb7_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9505210156/)

[Mary K]

Heather do you have a welding supply store? I have gotten some tools there, I think they might have tungsten there, if you can get the rod, you can get a pin vice at a craft store or tool store to hold it. If you have a good grinder, even a grinding tool on a dremel type tool you can grind the tungsten pick you have into a pretty pointy edge. But much easier with the 3/16th rod.

[Kalorlo]

I'm going to have a go grinding mine, and I can also get tungsten rods on eBay. (No welding supply store nearby).

I was on holiday last week and am back at work now, so I won't be posting things quite as often!

[tbone]

My first attempt at one of these. Made with Mary's guide and Mary's torch, thanks! :) I'm lovin the lynx Mary, works like new!
http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g345/tim13x/CD8C46C7-66BC-43BE-835D-84AAF349E3CA-8154-000001FE4CA861E5_zps1b23132d.jpg
Didn't come out quite as I'd hoped but i have had almost no time behind the torch so its kinda what i expected. Now its time to make 50 more. I like how the tentacles came out but that's about it. It's the 2nd pendant I've made so I have a bit of practice to do, especially on the loop. I'll be sure to post my progress, even though its kinda embarrassing with all the amazing work being posted here.

[Toloma]

Just found the post and I have to say "Thank You" to those who have shared their techniques. What a great place where people share so that others may grow and then continue to share.

Thank you

[Mary K]

Hey I'm glad you got set up and are using the torch. Hope you also followed my advice about ventilation, so important if you want to keep your health.
This is not bad for a second pendant. Keep an eye out on the boro room, as when time allows I am going to do a thread on bails, or loops. And keep posting your work, it really helps when you are learning. Next jellyfish make sure your cap is smaller, and gets covered by the top glass so it looks like it is floating inside, with glass around the cap. Keep the cap almost pointed, it will flatten out as you put the top glass on.
Good to hear from you!

[tbone]

Thanks for the input, and looking forward to the thread on bails! I'll definitely work on trying to get the cap smaller and pointed. As far as ventillation, I don't have a hood but I *think I'm pretty good. I work literally right in front of a window and I mounted one of those huge attic fans in the window blowing straight out, I think its like 1800cfm or something. I have makeup air coming from my garage door and the side door near me. I did the incense test right at the head of the torch and the smoke goes straight out the window.

[angelique_redhead]

I have a similar set up you might like to look at here. http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64554&highlight=ghetto+ventilation It's been moved to Boyd and is in a seperate building all it's own but it's pretty much identical. We moved the bench, box, and bought a new fan. All you'd neeed to do is build a box. :love: Angelique

Thanks for the input, and looking forward to the thread on bails! I'll definitely work on trying to get the cap smaller and pointed. As far as ventillation, I don't have a hood but I *think I'm pretty good. I work literally right in front of a window and I mounted one of those huge attic fans in the window blowing straight out, I think its like 1800cfm or something. I have makeup air coming from my garage door and the side door near me. I did the incense test right at the head of the torch and the smoke goes straight out the window.

[Mary K]

Thanks for the input, and looking forward to the thread on bails! I'll definitely work on trying to get the cap smaller and pointed. As far as ventillation, I don't have a hood but I *think I'm pretty good. I work literally right in front of a window and I mounted one of those huge attic fans in the window blowing straight out, I think its like 1800cfm or something. I have makeup air coming from my garage door and the side door near me. I did the incense test right at the head of the torch and the smoke goes straight out the window.

With a window right in front of your torch it would be so simple to be completely safe. Just build a box that sits on table the torch is on, like the picture in Angeliques post. My first attempt at ventilation was a boxfan in the window with a cement board box that I put on table when torching. it worked.
The incense test is a good indicator, but could you smell the incense? A hood is the only way to capture the nox, as it curls around and circulates thru the air. Sounds like what you have is pretty good though.

[tbone]

Thank you both! Ill definitely have to add that to my to do list. It would be simple to add a box on my bench to funnel the exhaust, and it never hurts to be extra safe

[Kalorlo]

Jelly 7, made of GA Dragon's Eye and backed with the same twistie as before. This is with tiny tentacle dots and a part-sharpened pick, I can have at it some more. It was still bringing out glass and spreading the dots if I used the pick hot, so after the first couple I used it cold instead. I'm going to get some of the thinner tungsten. The bright streaks across it are because there are slight gaps between the lines of twistie on the back.

I had no idea what colour the Dragon's Eye was going to come out - could have done a more contrasting background, though I quite like this one.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3692/9559390222_6f7ccb3b3e_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9559390222/) http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2872/9559390396_9351ba45c8_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9559390396/)

[Mary K]

Nice Heather! I think this is your best one to date. Shape is even, bail looks good, well done.
Next one try doing the cap with the dragon's eye, and use double amber purple, or purple luster for tentacles.

[Sweetsoap]

I love it. The twistie background gives the feel of wavy water! Very nice! I haven't had the courage to try them yet.

[bepnewt]

Jelly 7, made of GA Dragon's Eye and backed with the same twistie as before.

Very nice, Heather. Everything about it is nice.

I'm new to Boro and wondering if that cap on the jelly will kiln strike. I don't know what colors strike or not, so forgive my ignorance.

-BEP

[dlando1]

This little guy has a tequila sunrise cap.
Dave

[Kalorlo]

I'm new to Boro and wondering if that cap on the jelly will kiln strike. I don't know what colors strike or not, so forgive my ignorance.


My annealing schedule does have a striking segment and I put it up to 621C (1150F) as per instructions for this one for 10mins, but it didn't really change colour from what I had already. *shrug* I dunno if it should have been longer than that.

Normally I have the striking as 590C for 20mins. But I've not had any colours change yet - my persimmon strike came out the same as it went in, but it was already pink.

[tnehlers]

I made a bunch of these at the end of the last school year. Now that school has started again I finally got the chance to start photographing.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5538/9578919162_c5d451f344_n.jpg

[preciousglass]

I made a bunch of these at the end of the last school year. Now that school has started again I finally got the chance to start photographing.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5538/9578919162_c5d451f344_n.jpg

ooohhhhh pretty!

[tnehlers]

ooohhhhh pretty!

Thanks Sarah!

[Mary K]

Trying out a new camera. Once I read the instructions I think
I might like this camera. These are 2 I did this morning.

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I bought a new tool from Arrow Springs that helps me
get an even conical shape, & I really like it.

[Mary K]

I made a bunch of these at the end of the last school year. Now that school has started again I finally got the chance to start photographing.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5538/9578919162_c5d451f344_n.jpg

T Nehlers that is stunning, what colors did you use?

[tnehlers]

T Nehlers that is stunning, what colors did you use?

Thanks Mary! I am not entirely sure because I mostly have shorts, but I believe the long tentacles are blue caramel, and the cap might be too. I couldn't even guess at the short tentacles.

[kaliquen]

I've really been enjoying this thread and making jellies! One tip I can add if you don't have a fine pokey tool is to use a long sewing needle. I've been using one and it works really well and doesn't stick to the glass.

[dlando1]

Hey Mary, Love those crazy tentacles on your newest jellies! What color are the tentacles?
I posted some info on fuming for you in the fume quest thread. Have a good one.
Dave

[swamper]

Trying out a new camera. Once I read the instructions I think
I might like this camera. These are 2 I did this morning.

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I bought a new tool from Arrow Springs that helps me
get an even conical shape, & I really like it.

holy cow! do you want to give a hint on how you got the ruffles on the edges of the cap?

[Mary K]

Read back thru the pages here Swamper, it's posted how I do the edges.
Lots of great jellies here, tomorrow I finally have that orange that
Dave used - orange elvis - going to give it a try. Did a really nice one
today with andromeda as the cap, very nice.

[Kalorlo]

Jelly v8: this is persimmon strike over NS garnet. I made an encased cane which works for the cap, but after applying the tentacle dots I realised that they were small enough that they'd just be using the outside of the cane, so I added little garnet dots over them and poked them down with my pick. It came out rather darker than I expected, but I think that's my fault for forgetting to change my strike segment back down after the dragon's eye...

The background is a twistie of clear encased in cobalt with blue exotic stripes.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5475/9618835458_88102d9694_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9618835458/)

Mary, your suggestion of dragon's eye and DAP is on my list! A friend sent me some pieces of various reds to try with the persimmon strike to give it a little more oomph, so I am doing those first.

I'll try the needle suggestion for poking tiny dots too.

[PhatPat]

Couple new jellies the one in the back is is SIlver strike and the first one is butterscotch with white tentacles .
http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a568/Phragile/abf719ebcfbdb51ae3bb6ea34492b4e9_zpsfb6ac198.jpg:k oolaid::koolaid::koolaid:

[dlando1]

Those are phat Pat!

[PhatPat]

Thanks Dave! :koolaid::koolaid::koolaid:

[Mary K]

Nice Pat! I'd give them 4 koolaides myself!

[PhatPat]

:koolaid: oh yeah thanks Mary!

[Dasi]

wow! so many more beautiful jellyfish... love them all!

I had an order for a blue background jellyfish. I needed to make some for upcoming art festivals so here are some more of mine.

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[PhatPat]

Really nice Dasi!

[dlando1]

Dasi, How did you catch so many jellyfish at one time? Really, they look fantastic!
I especially like the one that curve. It implies so much movement. The bottom 1,2,3, are my favorites!

[Dasi]

Dasi, How did you catch so many jellyfish at one time? Really, they look fantastic!
I especially like the one that curve. It implies so much movement. The bottom 1,2,3, are my favorites!
thanks to both of you!

Those little jellies were just laying on the beach and I could not wait to catch them and encase them in acrylic! LOL... thanks

[preciousglass]

Heather, I really like how you let the jelly dictate the final form that the pendants took. I think it adds a lot of interest to already beautiful jellyfish. I'm sure they will be very well received

[Mary K]

Heather! those are really fun! Love how you have them swimming sideways on some of them. Very pretty!

[Mary K]

Hey Mary, Love those crazy tentacles on your newest jellies! What color are the tentacles?
I posted some info on fuming for you in the fume quest thread. Have a good one.
Dave
The blueish tentacles are peacock, and the almost grey ones on same fish are just indian purple, and of course all the rest are chinese white, well mixed.
Thanks for all your fume info, I printed it and will try some fuming this winter when I can open the place up for more ventilation. And just too busy right now to try anything new, I have to really get to work, I have 3 big art shows coming up soon and 3 big orders on top of that. I get up everyday and go right out to my shop and work till noon.

[Dasi]

Heather, I really like how you let the jelly dictate the final form that the pendants took. I think it adds a lot of interest to already beautiful jellyfish. I'm sure they will be very well received

not actually..... they were all centered like #1 and 2. I then manipulate the glass after they are made like #1 and 2 to create movement in the pendant. It is an extra shaping step.

[Kalorlo]

Dasi, those are fab! I love #3 and 5.

No new from me yet, I had soft glass to test.

[PhatPat]

Hello Jelly Heads! So i usually make my jellies in a one step process. This time I used The two step tech and I am pretty happy with my first one. Basically I imploded a dot of NS Alaskan Thunder then on the second rod imploded my dots to form the tentacle . I think this is the way Dlando explains in his mini tut.
Then put the two together to form the jelly. Then i used cobalt for the bail. Thanks for looking!
http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a568/Phragile/c63f6a553d8da8379f7119869564dca0_zps5124eade.jpg:k oolaid::koolaid::koolaid:

[Mary K]

Really nice Pat! lol Jelly Heads ~ I like it. I have been called way worse, lol.

[dlando1]

Hey Pat, I started to put my caps directly on top of the tentacles. I found that I kept placing the cap off center when I tried to add the cap the way I drew in that post.
Try it, placing the cap on top of the tentacles. The next thing I do is heat the cap and push it down into a small marble mold. Reheat the cap to take out the chill marks, and then heat a gather of glass and push it down on top of the cap. I usually pre-make the gather so all I have to do is reheat it. Just before you push the gather down on the cap, reheat the cap so there are no air bubbles caught between the cap and the gather. If this makes no sense to you, I can take a few pics to make up for my poor communication skills. By the way, the one above looks great.
Yes, I'm a proud Jellyhead! Actually, that explains a lot about me.
Dave

[PhatPat]

Hey Dave ! I tried that way to it jus seems like i i start spinning to much and the tentacles are way to twisted. But the reason im practicing imploding the cap , i was reading this post on another forum and instead of imploding the tentacles they layed stringers down and encased layed stringers and encased. The end results r awesome. But basically im to the point where im jus experimenting on a few different techs. And in the mean time for smaller stuff ill give it go putting the dot directly on top of the tentacles. Thanks for the tips!:koolaid:

[dlando1]

Pat that encasing thing sounds interesting. Where did you find it? thanks

[PhatPat]

Hey Dave her ya go!
Look at post #7 . Actually after reading he puts his dot on top also. But anyways a very nice tech.

http://www.talkglass.com/forum/showthread.php?21426-Jellyfish&highlight=jellyfish%3F%3F%3F

[dlando1]

Gonna' try it this afternoon. Thanks Pat

[PhatPat]

:koolaid:No problem Dave always happy to share info. Yeah I might give it a go again tonight. Hopefully yours makes it to a picture cuz my first was well lets jus say not photogenic at all. Lol! Have fun !:koolaid:

[Dasi]

When you put the dot on top of the tentacles, you can just adjust it a little by pushing in whatever direction you need to. Just center it by giving the dot a little nudge. I use a cheese knife and flatten it a little in the direction I need to center it. Then heat, and it becomes a mound again on top of the tentacles. Then encase in clear.... make sense?

[Doctor Hue]

Thanks to everybody for the info on how to make jellyfish pendants. I mostly make marbles, but I thought I would try to make jellyfish pendants. I’ve made 26 of them so far. Most of them I’ve experimented on trying different methods, so those turned out bad. But here is #18 which isn't too bad.
To make my jellyfish pendants I basically used a combination of Mary K and Dave’s methods, with some differences. At first I had trouble with getting an air bubble under the bell, so I used Dave’s method for the bell. But, I didn’t have a graphite tool to push in the bell. So, I used a rounded glass rod. Now I’ve made a couple of brass push tools using screws. To make one I drilled a pilot hole into a wooden dowel and screwed in a brass screw. Then I cut off the head of the screw and sanded it round. One is 4mm. The other is 5mm. I just used this today. It worked best if I pushed lightly with the brass pusher, then pushed the bell in further with the tentacles. I think the brass pusher would be better if it were bigger, but I used the biggest brass screws they had at the hardware store.
For the tentacles I used Mary K’s method, but instead of putting the dots close to the edge of the maria, I put them half way between the center and the edge of the maria. When I do this, I make the maria twice as big as I normally would. The reason I do this is too have more clear glass on the bottom around the tentacles. I end up with less bubbles and the pendant isn’t as pointy. When I first tried to make jellyfish pendants I had trouble getting the gather to melt down towards the tentacles without getting bubbles. Plus there is a thin seam line in the clear glass. At first I didn’t notice it, but it is noticeable when you aim a bright flashlight towards the side of the pedant. One jellyfish pendant I tried encasing instead of put a big gather on. You could see the seam lines on the bell. I’ve made a few jellyfish marbles and you can notice the seam line more on the marbles than you can on a pendant.
Now, I just need to practice making bails. That’s the hardest part for me to make on a jellyfish pendant.

[Kalorlo]

These two I used my new thinner pointier tungsten poke, but the main difference was in the amount of stretching I did to the tentacles afterwards: they were looking more or less the same as my previous one before I did that.

Jelly 9: this was NS light ruby with GA persimmon strike on top. This came out the same colour as the persimmon strike on its own, but stopped the tentacles washing out, which is handy. Backed with cobalt.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5346/9725394023_4fa4da74d2_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9725394023/)

Jelly 10: cap is NS blue caramel - went beige and the beige was not budging! Tentacles are double amber purple. The pendant shape isn't as good because it fell off the punty and landed in my lap when I was shaping the bail and got singed bits of leather apron on it, so I had to pull some of the glass back off. I hadn't added a backing either as it takes me quite a long time to melt those in. The second pic shows the blue fumey part under the cap.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7443/9725394199_43d8751252_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9725394199/) http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3727/9728624030_09c9ca76d7_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9728624030/)

[Mary K]

This is 2 shots of best of day today. They all look about like this,
but this one has the most frilly tentacles of them all.
I made 8 of these today. gasp

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no flash
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[Kalorlo]

I got a 10lpm oxycon. Aaaaah, I can turn my torch up if I want to now! It's great.

I've started with my Momka sample pack. This jelly is violet medley - the cap struck but the tentacles didn't. The backing is cloud, which is really pretty and also hard to photograph! The in-hand photo is most representative of looking at it head-on. Turning it about gets light peaches and blue-greens depending.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3770/9941620875_ccf2e70083_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9941620875/) http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2889/9941751043_bf3331d667_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9941751043/) http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7301/9941622635_b50f727182_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/9941622635/)

[Mary K]

Very nice Heather! Great you got your concentrator! Flame on!

[Kalorlo]

Here are jellies from the weekend.

12. Jellyfish is Momka Alaska Night, backing is Winter Sky. I love how this one came out! The Alaska Night has gone darker at the ends of the tentacles, where they are reheated to pull and twist them out, and is a great blue on the cap. Winter Sky is very well named, it's a chilly frosty blue. My sample was also very bubbly, but in this case that didn't matter, as the tiny trapped bubbles just add sparkle to the background.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2883/10044620285_f0f2f018cc_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/10044620285/) http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7298/10044717643_c73fb16791_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/10044717643/)

13. Jellyfish is Momka purple thunder, backing is crystal blue. This one got pulled out a bit too much and had to be recondensed, so is all a bit squished. It should have had a larger cap. There's some purple in the cap, while the tentacles are that silver glass caramelly beige colour with hints of pink here and there. The crystal blue is a very pale blue, but still has enough presence not to look like clear. It was also a bit bubbly and I've got some silvery schmutz on the back - overheated or reduced. Again, in this application that doesn't matter so much as it adds some sparkle when viewed from the front.

(None of the colours changed in the kiln).

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7391/10044639196_edd5151833_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/10044639196/) http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5515/10044580184_01e7dac903_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/10044580184/) http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7355/10044621445_131572bbdb_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/10044621445/)

[Dasi]

Beautiful Jellies!!! keep them coming!

[bepnewt]

Anyone else having withdrawals? I mean, it's been like a whole TWO DAYS since we saw a new Jelly. Feels like an eternity.

Getting the shakes?
Acting irritable towards your family and coworkers?
Having trouble sleeping at night?

Me, too. All I need are some pics of new Jellies and I'll be fine. I promise.

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeez?

On a slight side note, after I make 15 or so Tree Ornaments, I'm going to try my first real Boro item and I'm going to try a Jelly. The only reason I can do that is because of all the great information sharing in this thread. Thanks, folks.

-BEP

[Dasi]

I took some pictures from 2 weeks ago when I did jellies. Both pendants and earrings. Last weeks I did spacer boro beads for earrings. This week is eyes.
Next week I switch back to soft for 4 weeks. Then I do assembly for 2 weeks. Then 4 weeks in a row of shows. I usually don't photograph any of my work until it is ready to be sold. I attach sterling silver bails on all my work. Some will get leather cords with sterling silver findings.
But here....
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[Kalorlo]

Wow! That's a *lot* of jellyfish!

I rather like the red-backed ones :grin:

[mandoziller]

Wow Dasi, those are excellent! Price 'em high....

[Mary K]

Beautiful Heather, thanks for sharing. I feel better now too.
I have been really busy, but have not had time to photo anything,
sorry. Your work schedule Heather reminds me of my own, but
you must make hay while the moon is full. This is my busy time
of year for sure. Have a 2 day show this weekend, actually
I have to get off this computer and go, and then next weekend,
another 2 day and then a one day after that. then I have a month
to get ready and then my biggest show a 3 day the three days after
thanksgiving and then done. I get gallery orders almost weekly now,
so that goes on and on, but getting sort of tired and need to slow down some.
When I was in Arcada this summer, I met a guy who was a judge at the
Eugene Glass School Show, and he told me my prices were too low.
So hard to price things, I try to go for $1 a min of making time, and a little
more for pendants that turn out reallly well, but always a challenge to price.
Have a great weekend everyone, what ever you do!

[Dasi]

I charge $36 for a jellyfish. Does that sound to high or low? they take about 30 minutes each and I use a few dollars of sterling with each one. What do you all think?

[mandoziller]

Sounds reasonable to me.

[Mary K]

That certainly doesn't sound like too much Heather, if anything, too low. I would think anyone willing to pay 36 would not even notice if they paid 39.
What about putting a glass bail on them to save $$ I am getting so I hate silver, it is too costly these days, which makes me mad, and then if you take it to a show that has moisture in the air, ( ie; any outdoors show) the silver tarnishes and then you have to clean it. I used to do silver rings on some pendants but found that the glass bail ones sold better overall. Thru the years I have gotten very good at bails, but they can be a challenge. I use either clear or jet black for bails, though recently I used purple rain for a bail and it was really nice, will do again. What I do when I am thinking of raising a price on something, I price a couple that I particularly like higher than the others in a group, say of jelllyfish pendants. If someone looks at jellyfish and buys it without considering the lesser priced ones, I tend to move them all up. Then there is the area where you are selling. Do the people going to your show have good employment posibilities? If so you can charge more. I live in a poorer area, so my prices are low. I charge 45 for most of my jellies and sell for same price to galleries that triple the price and sell them. So sometimes what the market will bear dictates the price. also be sure to price the ones you like the best higher.

[Dasi]

I have done glass bails too. The last picture has a glass loop on them for hanging. I find the sterling silver works better with my customers. They put them on sterling chains too. I do about 20% with glass bails.

I found this picture of last years booth for my thanksgiving weekend show. This is my 8th year doing this 3 day show.
http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3971572&postcount=507

[Kalorlo]

Kevin of meltinglass.co.uk very kindly sent me some Chinese white to try out - I love it! No bubbling whatsoever and it stayed nice and dense even when very thin. Easy to pull good long stringers too.

Jelly 14 has Chinese white tentacles, and I had a go at Mary's little twistie wrap under the cap (cap should probably have been bigger, though - I wasn't sure how far down it would cover them). The cap is Momka almond nugget - really like the way it came out.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5327/10162875413_e0a7d502b9_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/10162875413/) http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2816/10162876613_466165bfba_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/10162876613/) http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5514/10162820076_d3d0f6df3e_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/10162820076/)

Jelly 15. I found an incompatibility here: the little tentacles are Chinese white dots poked down into Momka lustrous blue dots, and they have checked. (I'm sure that'll get old fast, but right now it is *fascinating* to see such tiny localised cracking! Don't get that in soft glass). I did search to see whether there was anything about lustrous blue not being suitable for implosions but didn't find it, so am assuming it is the white's fault. The longer tentacles are the other way around and seem to be fine - the blue only really shows through at the ends, though. I forgot which dot colour would end up inside the other - I had meant them to be like the little tentacles until I realised I'd done them the wrong way round. Just as well, really!

The cap was Momka silver iris on top with a wrap of Caribbean coral around the bottom. The silver iris was bubbly and stayed very transparent - don't think this was the best way of using it!

The backing is Momka green envy, which looks greener if you look at the back, but bluer when you look at it through the clear. I like it, it's a very good watery colour.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5513/10162749475_1974178f70_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/10162749475/) http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5333/10162638384_3e6c69fbe0_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/10162638384/) http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7347/10162750835_e19c750534_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/10162750835/)

These are tiny mushroom-style jellies with tentacle cane that has layers of Chinese white and Alaska night. The Alaska night shows up better in the front one, where it has gone near black. Caps are Caribbean coral.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2877/10162880303_b942ca0026_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalorlo/10162880303/)

(This lot have only been through a soft glass annealing cycle thus far. I don't think I'll bother annealing the cracked one in case it gets worse, but will post again if any of the others strike differently).

[Dasi]

Really nice jellies Heather.... ( feel like I am talking to myself.. from one Heather to another)

As for the chinese white, I alway mix it up before I use it. I take two rods and mix them and pull it our into thinner stringers. This could be your problem with the cracking but my guess is it is the blue. Are you sure it is momka? That color is usually very good. I use it all the time. I have 3 batches of it. I keep my batches separate in case. (After problems with Lauscha clear years ago when I dumped 5 pounds of bad stuff into over 5 pounds of good stuff....)

Back to the blue, are you sure it is even boro? That looks more like a soft glass blue rod. I suggest you test it with some clear boro and do a stringer test. See if it is a bad batch of the momka but momka is usually fantastic glass. I have gotten some real bubbly stuff but not compatibility issues.

Now the silver Iris, I usually wait for it to cool a little and then flash to build up haze of silver on the mantle before I cap with clear. This helps the jelly tops to glow if you bring the silver to the surface.

Can't wait to see more of your jellies and everyone elses... hope I am not a thread killer...

[Kalorlo]

Heheh, yes! It's why I've been saying Dasi :grin:

It's definitely Momka - I have a labelled short rod pack of all the solid colours that I am working through. I did pull the Chinese white into stringers, same one for both sets of tentacles. I think the two colours just didn't get along. I'll be doing something with the lustrous blue on its own later.

If the blue had been somehow mislabeled (and I think the sample packs come direct from Momka, not being made up by the suppliers?), I'd expect it to have cracked at the ends of the long tentacles and it hasn't.

[bepnewt]

Wow! That's a *lot* of jellyfish!

No doubt! Love 'em.

-BEP

[bepnewt]

Jelly 15. I found an incompatibility here: the little tentacles are Chinese white dots poked down into Momka lustrous blue dots, and they have checked.

They look great. I've only made one thing out of Boro so far, a horribly misshapen marble, and it has some green in it that checked, too. At least on your Jelly, it looks pretty cool.

-BEP

[Dasi]

Heheh, yes! It's why I've been saying Dasi :grin:

It's definitely Momka - I have a labelled short rod pack of all the solid colours that I am working through. I did pull the Chinese white into stringers, same one for both sets of tentacles. I think the two colours just didn't get along. I'll be doing something with the lustrous blue on its own later.

If the blue had been somehow mislabeled (and I think the sample packs come direct from Momka, not being made up by the suppliers?), I'd expect it to have cracked at the ends of the long tentacles and it hasn't.

Are you mixing the white before you pull into stringers? It really needs mixing!!! Don't just pull stringers for it. It will get nice and creamy if you mix it well. This makes a difference when you use the white. The outside of the rods is crusty since it is processed differently. I don't understand it to explain but the white needs special prep to work well. Then it is a fantastic white.

[Kalorlo]

It seems creamy enough - all the white in both jellyfish is from the same stringers. Since it only happened on those specific dots, I do think the encasing of the white with the blue was the problem.

ETA: If I have a free evening before the weekend I could try some little dot implosions to test them.