Ocean Swirl beads?

[hulagirl]

I've seen them made by a lot of different people. Here are some that Maria Grimes made. (I hope she doesn't mind that I'm posting here.) I'd like to make some for my MIL for christmas.

http://www.gardenpathbeads.com/images/ebay3_064.jpg

Can anyone tell me how these are made? I think I can do the star murini. Just wanna know how to get a good swirl.

[Cosmo]

Take a bead, and lay down two contrasting colors.

Heat the spot where the two colors meet, then take a stringer, stick it into the spot you just melted, and twist. Let it cool and wiggle the stringer back and forth until it breaks off. Fire polish.

You don't need to stick the stringer way down into the glass. You are just moving the surface of the glass, so you just need to barely touch the glass.

[swamper]

And the bigger the stringer and hotter the glass - the bigger the swirl.

[Coreen Lawrence]

You probably already know this but I am new so most things are new to me. I tried this swirl the other day and kept pulling glass when I tried to take the stringer off. Too impatient. Someone told me to blow on the stringer at the join point and it pops off. It worked like a charm. Also, I made sure my stringer had a blunt end and the popping off kept the end blunt.

[hulagirl]

Okay...I was probably getting the bead too hot before.

Thanks!

[Curly Irish Girl]

Add a line of SIS at the junction of the two contrasting colors......great texture and depth.

[jessie]

Add a line of SIS at the junction of the two contrasting colors......great texture and depth.
That's how I usually make mine. And twist with a clear stinger. Let the string cool a bit and break it off quickly, right at the bead.http://www.burkemountainbeads.com/tealtidemarch.jpg

[*Naos*]

I find if you superheat the spot you want to twist, plunge the stringer straight into the bead and twist, not at an angle, you get a nice tight twist. Twist until you feel the glass tightening up and then burn off the stringer, don't try to pull it off. The pulling distorts the twist. :)

[Bubba]

Along with twisting until you feel the glass beginning to tighten up - also count number of turns to the twist of the stringer so that all the work turns out consistent.

[uniqueleigh]

What is SIS? Thanks, leigh

Originally Posted by Curly Irish Girl -
Add a line of SIS at the junction of the two contrasting colors......great texture and depth.

[Glassgoodies]

What is SIS? Thanks, leigh

Originally Posted by Curly Irish Girl -
Add a line of SIS at the junction of the two contrasting colors......great texture and depth.

SIS = Silvered Ivory Stringer

[jrandrup]

To make a SIS (Silvered Ivory Stringer), you need silver foil or leaf. Warm up the end of ivory (the darker ivory makes a more dramatic color reaction), let it cool a little so it's not glowing, then roll on the silver leaf, and burnish it well. Put it back in the flame to make a gather and pull a stringer. Any foil that is not burnisheed well will burn off. Corina Tettinger's Passing the Flame has a good tutorial on this.

[hulagirl]

Thanks for the suggestion Lynn and for the photos Jessie. Pretty swirls!

[pipojasper]

Thanks to you guys I'm able to do this now! Can't tell you all the ways I tried to do this in the past just to end up with a huge mess. It's so simple. Thanks!

[Carlabeads]

I love making swirled beads like this. The one thing that I do that makes it a lot easier to get that good twist is to take a short rod (good use for all of those shorts lying around) and heat the end till you get a small blob, then pull that out into a short stringer (about 4 inches or so) that is about 2-3mm in diameter. Leave the stringer attached to the rod (flame cut the little tab that's left from the tweezer end of the stringer) and use the rod as the "handle" for your stringer when you twist. It makes it MUCH easier to twist when you have this bigger piece of rod to twist with - much sturdier. :)

Carla