striking Momka glass

[PamS]

I just got some Momka glass and would like some advice on the striking characteristics of various colors. I know it'll vary from color to color but in general,
- do you get different results when flame striking vs kiln striking?
- if kiln striking, what temps and durations have you found to work best?

So far I've been working mostly with the citruses and some of the blues, using a neutral flame rather than oxidizing, garaging at 950 then kiln striking about 30 min @ 1100 just to see what happens.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

TIA,
Pam

[gennym]

Hi Pam. I'm sure Kay Lodahl will come along and give all of us some good tips. I really don't flame strike anymore. I keep a kiln schedule much like yours and just to see what happens - but have been thinning it out by melting the colors on a clear rod and swirling them together into a twisty then making 3 wraps of color and covering with a couple of wavy wraps of clear, shaping into a bead and popping into the kiln. I mostly make bead sets but have tried my hand at small hearts. My favorite colors include Rhapsody in Blue, Exotic Citrus, and Silver Dance. You might like to look back at Kay's posts to see how beautiful her beads turn out with Momka's glass - and she uses a different technique to bring out the colors. I'm just not very patient when it comes to flame striking and would rather let the kiln do the work for me.

[Cosmo]

I both flame strike and kiln strike. For colors that aren't under clear, I get the same results with either method. For colors under clear, I prefer kiln striking.

I strike them at 1100 for 30 minutes.

[Gail Joseph]

Okay, time for dumb boro question. If you are kiln striking, do you just putter along, wrap your glass, encase and then pop in the kiln? So, no attempt to strike in the flame at all? If I get muddy colors is it because I'm striking in the flame, and then again in the kiln??? I must master boro, I must master boro, I must master boro..............Gail

[Juln]

There are two main striking chemicals in boro: silver and reduced copper.
These are pretty different than each other. Silver striking is much more variable and complex seeming than copper.

Copper is pretty straightforward - it is either clear, wispy red, transparent red, or opaque red.

Silver goes from clear to yellow to amber to brown to purple to greenish blue... and it's affected by the presence or absence of germanium, nuclei (included in the rod, or formed by you as it's worked), the saturation level of silver, how you work the color, temperature-wise and how much of a 'haze' of silver you leave on the surface... I'd suggest reading the GA user manual. It explains how in fact, 'striking' is growing silver crystals in the glass- and why and how these form.

I find a combination of flame and kiln striking is best for silver colors (Amber Purple/Triple Passion/Silver Beach/Silver Creek etc.). Cool and reheat to under glowing to flame strike. Then I'd soak at 1070 for 45 minutes or so.
Theres not much reason, I find, to try flame striking ruby (reduced copper). Just stick it in the kiln. If you want it to stay transparent, use Elvis or NS Pomegranate/Garnet.

Once you have a color like Amazon Night to deal with, striking the silver too long yields large crystals that, combined with the other colorants, appears as an icky brown. Good Golly. I prefer that one to be medium-struck, so it's a nice green under clear.

[Swampy]

Fascinating. Thanks Glark.

[Cosmo]

Hehe... Glark.


Anyways, to answer Gail's question, what I do is work them hot, so they stay pretty transparent while I'm working them. I do that with all striking colors. Then, when I'm done, if I was going to flame strike them, I'd leave them out of the flame for 30-45 seconds, then flame strike them. At that point the glass is set up to strike. If I am kiln striking them, after working them, and while the color is pretty colorless, I pop them into the kiln.

[PamS]

This is great info - thanks.

Have any of you found that the glass behaves differently when it's a bead vs when you've made a solid object? I've gotten some great colors from citrus and citrus grapefruit and some of the silver blues when making solid scultpures (mostly fish) but much less interesting colors when making a bead. I wonder if it's got to do with the time spent in the torch with lots of in/out for the fish as opposed to much less time for the bead. Also the beads tend to darken more (icky brown). I haven't tried adding clear to lighten them up as Genny suggests, but will try that.

I'll also give more consideration to the copper vs silver component. That's one of the most obvious things I never thought about - thanks Glark for the clear explanation. I have read the GA manual and although it has a load of information to me it's more theoretical than practical.

On a related issue, I'm still on a quest for good bead release for boro. Any recommendations?

Thanks again,
Pam

[Juln]

Yeah, the thickness of the piece and depth of encasement makes a big difference! Clear acts as an insulator for striking colors. They take longer to strike under encasement. I do tend to think of a mandrel beads as a 'solid object', though... as opposed to thinner blown work or those discy things I make.

Pam, I'd recommend Foster Fire 'Heavy Duty' Boro. It's the only one that allows me to make mandrel beads vs. plant stakes.
I believe Mr. Cosmo has been groovin' to Sludge Plus.
I hate FPI. I hate that pink stuff, too. I've been waiting to try pancake batter.

PS......for the sake of clarification, I'm not actually Glark. thats just an expression. I'm Juln, aka Julian ... I could be glark, like 'Glark from Flork', Mork from Ork style. If anyone in Belize want to call me glark, though, I'm willing to go along with that.

Also, I must disagree with myself... you can get cool extra red highlights on the sruface from flame striking ruby. Also, I forgot the reddish stage of silver in between amber and brown. And the last stage is more like blue, then green...um.. I think.

[Swampy]

Sorry bout that Julian, my apologies. I blame the coconut rum.

I guess Flork and Ork are somewhere in the Arctic then and are Glark and Mork relatives of yours?

Thanks again for the good info.

Paul

[Cosmo]

Yeah. I was hooked on Foster Fire for a while. But, recently it hasn't been working for me. Same mandrels, same torch, same glass, but for some reason it just wasn't working. I don't know if the 100 degree days we're having here are to blame or what. But, anyways, I switched back to Sludge Plus and it works for me.

I tried the Foster Fire Heavy Duty and it worked, but the jar dried up solid in less than a week. Yes, the top was on it...

[PamS]

I used some of the Foster Fire some time ago, but I let it sit and it turned green so I tossed it. I've uesed the regular Sludge but will try the super kind. You mention 100 degrees plus. We've had that here in Reno as well. We're also at 4500 feet and I've always wondered if the altitude has any affect on lampworking, since there's less oxygen and less pressure. I don't think it does on fusing, which I also do.

Pam

[PamS]

I also sent the original question to the Momka website and their response is posted below. I was especially interested in the reducing flame idea for blues. Can't wait to get back to the workbench.

Hi Pam,
Sorry we hardly check those in boxes.
Are you getting good results doing that? If you want different results I would suggest using an oxidizing flame then kiln srtiking or flame striking. (you can get different results depending on time with both, also depending on the color) I like to use a bit of a reducing flame when I work the striking blues, just for some creamy white textures. That's personal taste. If you need more advice you'll have to be more specific as to what color you're using and what affect you're looking for.
I hope this helped,
Sabina

[Venbead]

doug r recommends a combo of I think 60/40 fusion and heavy duty foster fire. works like a charm for me.

[gennym]

You know - I think that's a brilliant idea (the 60/40 mix). I have tried everything and keep going back to Fusion - but have to be so careful of overheating the mandrel - think I'll give the mix a shot. Thanks Paula!