Fish???????

[Rose Leslie]

I don't know if any one has asked about making some of the outstanding fish that I have seen on LE. Do you start with a hollow bead than start from there. Help. I sure would like to know. Any one out there that do them that would be nice enough to let us all know. Please!:-({|=

[Teresa justice]

I think sharon peters has a tut for fish on her web site.
SmartAssGlassHomePage
I think thats the name of it.

[Heather/Ericaceae]

There are a million ways to do fish! I make some off-mandrel. You can start with any kind of body - hollow, solid, on or off-mandrel, etc. So many colour combinations are possible! Add dots for eyes - raised or not, encased or not. Add a dot for the mouth and crease it to make fishlips. Then you decide where you'd like to put the fins. Start with fat linear globs of glass (usually transparent) - some people layer the colours. Then pinch them multiple times with a narrow plier tool or tweezer to thin it out and create the fin-look. I then like to softly melt the tips and pull them into points - this is optional! I usually do the tail last because it's the hardest to keep warm. I add a loop in the top fin when I work off-mandrel, and keep it puntied on the belly while I'm working and then on a fin-tip when I'm melting in the belly-punty scar. Then it's easy to burn off the final punty and pop it in the kiln with long warmed-up pliers. If you working on mandrel, you don't need to worry about loops or punties but you are more limited in where you can add fins. Either way, you need to flash you work in the flame every 5 second or so.

Hope this helps!

[dragon myst]

beautiful !\\:D/ \\:D/ \\:D/

[Susan Evans]

You girls in Winnipeg make absoultely beautiful fish! Those fins look perfect. Do you have any specific pointers on how to make them? I just got some smooth pointed tweezers but I'm afraid to try it.

Sage

[Susan Evans]

I just realized that the reply just above mine was posted by a person from Andalusia Alabama! Small world!!! I didn't know there were any lampworkers in Andalusia besides myself and one other person. This is so cool. I tried to email you but couldn't. If you see this, Dragon Myst, I'm so glad you're out there in Andalusia.

Sage

Sage

[Rose Leslie]

Those are beautiful. I tried one that was a hollow bead on a mandre. Now I will try the off mandrel one.Thanks that is beautiful.

[Heather/Ericaceae]

Susan, for my own fins I actually use a pair of round-nosed pliers! I find that it gives a nice soft-edged pinch. Some people like to use the textured pliers, though, because the lines that are added to the fins/wings/leaf-veins add extra detail and realism. It depends on the look you're going for. The other thing I do with my fins is heat the whole edge and sort of rake along it and pull out a tip-point (using another glass rod as the rake) in one motion. This sort of sweeps my fin-pinchmarks backwards. There are no "right" or "wrong" ways to make fins - there are so many possibilities!

One important tip for people wanting to try off-mandrel fish - when I was first developing the steps for making my style of off-mandrel fish, I kept having them crack on me. It was a combination of having the punty too far off-centre, not flashing often enough and pressing the starting blob too thin. When I started keeping the body fatter and puntying in the middle of the fish (making it easier to flash evenly), my success rate increased. The round-nosed pliers are also handy for shaping the dainty fin-loop! Hope my ideas are helpful. -Heather

[Rose Leslie]

OK here is my attempt of a hollow gold fish. A common one at that.

[taj]

Rose Leslie , their is nothing common about that fish. You did wonderful.
If thats your first try on a hollow can't wait to see the others. Keep up the beautiful work.
Taj/Teresa justice

[Susan Evans]

Rose, Your fish is beautiful! I love the colors. I didn't even know that hollow fish were a possibility until I saw this thread. You're putting creative ideas into my head. Make more and post them.

Sage