Seahorse Tutorial

[ironmountainglass]

I hope this helps someone out there
Tools used: marver, pick, razor tool
Glass I used in this one was silver beach but its up to you what color you use.
Clear rod to color and clear to use as punties. sizes I will have to come back and edit for.

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Color your clear

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Melt into a ball

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Smash it somewhat flat but not skinny flat

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Use your razor tool to cut a groove into it like you were making a heart.

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Like so
Hold on more to come

[ironmountainglass]

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Punty to top lobe and remove bottom rod

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Punty to side, it should look like this

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Punty to side like this; then remove top punty and reposition to other side like this

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Heat and stretch the lower lobe

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Keep heating and stretching until you like the size
More to come stay tune

[ironmountainglass]

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Remove top punty and punty up to the side of top lobe we are going to pull his snout

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Heat just the lobe and pull down and outward at the same time

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Remove punty from his snout
Now you have the basic shape

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Add color to top of his head for the top fin

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Add color to back for back fin

Still more to come

[ironmountainglass]

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Add colored dots to both sides for his side fins

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Heat the dot you applied for his fins till glowing and smash flat with marver

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Like so

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Use you razor to cut a fan pattern into the fins

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Like so

Still more coming

[ironmountainglass]

Heat the nose just a little and use your marver to flatten the tip just a little
Then heat again and use your pick to push up into the center of the flattened nose making a very small hole/poke into the nose. Sorry no pics of this
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Add eyes

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Punty to top of his fin

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Heat the tail, stretch and curve at the same time for shape

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Heat belly and using razor cut belly lines

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Attach punty to tail and remove punty on head. Make a loop on either side if you want a pendant

Still more to come

[ironmountainglass]

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Like so

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Holding him with your tweezers remove punty from tail
Flash him in the flame and pop him in the kiln
You can put as much detail into making these as you want by adding to his fins, eyes and cheeks. But since I was making him and photographing him I just did a basic one. I hope you enjoy making them and please post pics.

[jeepinwelch]

That is fantastic Donna! Thank you for sharing with us. I really appreciate it.

[Nitadee]

whooo hooo Donna! He's really cute!
Thanks so much for sharing!
:love:

[Roo Blaty]

Love it! And Silver Beach...is that boro??? I think I have it!!! Woo-Hoo, it's pretty!!

[Mitosis Glass]

Fantastic!! I'm so glad you provided us with this cool tutorial. I'll give it a shot in soft glass and post my results here, if they aren't too awful. :D

[Deborah]

Wow, how cool! Thanks!

[carolinainmymind]

Thanks for the tutorial! I wish I wasn't punty impaired. Angie, I can't wait to see what you come up with...

[Deb]

That is so cool! I can't wait to try it. Thanks so much!

[essiemessy]

Gorgeous! Thanks for sharing :-)

[dla]

Very cool ! Thanks so much for sharing ! :)

[Imaglassgal]

Thank you Donna!

[PennyLane]

Sweet!

[Jane P]

That's fantastic - thanks for posting this!

[fusionillusionartglass]

Thank you very much for the great tutorial!

[Alaska]

Placed the above tutorial into a PDF format that is 4 pages long. See attachments.

Once each page is downloaded the tutorial can be printed or saved.

It would have been best to post here as a single file attachment. However, the site limits file sizes. A single file is about 350 K in size and does not fit the site's upload size requirements.

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The PDF was created in "Scribus" a free open source program that is similar to the old Page Maker or the newer InDesign for creating documents. Images were processed in PhotoShop CS4 and placed in Scribus along with the text that Donna supplied in her free posted tutorial.

[Crazy Woman]

Thank you, thank you! That's awesome!

[Diane Woodall]

Great tutorial Donna! Thanks so much for sharing.

[tweeky clothespin]

Thank you so much!! I just might be able to do this. :love:

[ironmountainglass]

Thanks everyone I hope that you enjoy this and make many of them. Thanks Alaska for putting this on a link so people can download and print it out and take it to the torch with them it is awesome. I know you put alot of time into it and I myself went to the link and printed out me a copy :)

[Ansuya]

Thank you for taking the time to make the tutorial, Donna. He's a cutie!

[rkoza]

WOW Donna, he's Ssssweet!!! Thanks for sharing. :)

[Mitosis Glass]

I was just out in the studio, trying this for the first time today. Of course I didn't have the instructions with me and ended up winging it. Yech!

Now I've jotted the directions down and will try again.

[ironmountainglass]

Angie that sounds like me with any tutorial. I always leave them inside and after sitting down at the torch think " darn it ohh well I will get it when nature calls, but usually takes a couple of trips inside before I remember to bring it with me" I would love to see everyones little fellow. I hope everyone is having a wonderful time making them.

[Janetlee]

Donna-Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful tut.It is very kind of you. I do appreciate it. He is sooo cute!!!
Alaska - Thank you so much for do putting this tut in a form that can be printed and taking to the torch. You are awesome.
Soon as I get my studio set back up . I'm going to try this.
Thanks again!!!!
Janetlee

[Mitosis Glass]

I have yet to take pics but both of my attempts actually turned out pretty well, both the one before I took notes out to the torch and the one after. My biggest challenge is putting the eyes on in a symmetrical way; one of the seahorses looks like his head is falling off to the side. :D I'll post pics when I've got them -- this is a great tutorial!

[ironmountainglass]

I'm so glad you were able to make you a couple of the little fellows. Can't wait to see your pics. A trick I use with the placement of the eyes is Peters Tweezers. I use them to just make a small indent where the eyes go. :)

[Mitosis Glass]

Actually I've got Peters Tweezers but I still manage to get them crooked; I just end up using the tweezers crookedly! Some people, I tell ya....

[dehoffa]

Thanks for the great tutorial. And thanks for the pdf file. too cool.

[dehoffa]

OK, a year later, plus a few weeks, and having your directions printed out in my "to do" folder.

I actually made a couple of these last night. WaHoo. When I got them out this morning, I loved them. Here are the four I did, including the one I cracked. One must take the good with the not so good. Anyway, I loved the colors on the fourth one, so I made another tonight that is now in the kiln.
They are in order left to right of what I did. The first two are NS Violet Medley and Exotic Citris layered over clear. The second two are Caramel with Unobtainium stringer, then thinly encased with clear.

Not great pics, I took them with my Samsung tablet.

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[ironmountainglass]

Ann DeHoff they are wonderful! I'm glad that you got a chance to make some of the little critters! You did a wonderful job and I love the colors you chose to make them in. Post more of them as you get them made! Happy Days!

[dehoffa]

Thanks. I made a few more. I need to take pics. They are fun to make.

[Crazy Woman]

Wow!!! Love them!

[dehoffa]

Thanks Leslie, I'll show them to you next month.

They look WAY better in person. I'm going to try and use my SLR camera. It has a learning curve I haven't mastered yet.

[smkyquartz]

Love the tutorial and the .pdf's too! Some people are so talented...and I like the little fins...sort of adds something whimsical! Has anyone done any in soft glass yet??

[Carols Glass]

I've always wanted to make a seahorse so I'm very glad to find this tutorial and PDF's. thank you both. I think the side fins are a beautiful touch.

[dehoffa]

Love the tutorial and the .pdf's too! Some people are so talented...and I like the little fins...sort of adds something whimsical! Has anyone done any in soft glass yet??

I haven't, but have thought about it. I'd use clear for the base and silver glass encased with clear. I'm thinking Triton and Olympia rain.

[Blue Weaver]

:smile: Amazing progression of pics. An understandable way of seeing a sea horse created. Thank you!

[ironmountainglass]

Thanks everyone! I hope you make lots of these and have plenty of fun making them. I have also made these in soft glass! I also used clear as the base, it gives it more stiffness and they turned out great!