blues going muddy making me nuts!!

[hotblubonnet]

I know this has probably been covered for someone else before, but this is making me NUTS!!

The blues i have...like a royal or navy blue are turning to poopoo color or grey.

I am assuming it is because they are getting too hot...but i have tried going to different spots in the flame...going sloooooow melting things in like frit...

I am on a Hot Head using MAPP bottles. I did have ONE bead go right tonight and for the life of me don't know what the difference was!!

Any guidelines anyone can offer on where to start? Any tricks?

Please save me before I go entirely earthtoned in my beads!!!!

[suzanne]

They are not getting too hot, there is too little oxygen in your flame and too much gas. You might want to try and work further out in the flame , this will prevent the blue glass from reducing ( wich causes copper to cover the surface, that's the brown stuff you see)

good luck,
Suzanne

[wendbill]

Is that why I keep sending corals grey?

[Peach Blossom Beads]

Wendy:
Are your corals staying gray after they cool? Corals always go gray in the flame bu then they turn back to coral when they're cool.

Hotbluebonnet:
Don't go nuts... there's really nothing you can do - this happens to everyone. It's definately going to happen on your HH because it's such a reducing atmosphere. Just make your bead and after it's cooled/annealed put it in some coke or toilet bowl cleaner and soak it for a little while. That grayish coating (which is copper) will come off and you'll have your blue bead.

[ChaseDesigns]

Wendy:
Are your corals staying gray after they cool? Corals always go gray in the flame bu then they turn back to coral when they're cool.

Hotbluebonnet:
Don't go nuts... there's really nothing you can do - this happens to everyone. It's definately going to happen on your HH because it's such a reducing atmosphere. Just make your bead and after it's cooled/annealed put it in some coke or toilet bowl cleaner and soak it for a little while. That grayish coating (which is copper) will come off and you'll have your blue bead.

Or etch it

[hotblubonnet]

so there needs to be more oxygen in my flame? could having the little marver thing mounted on the torchhead be blocking some of the oxygen flow? at the moment i am feeling too lazy to get up and go look at it

[wendbill]

I dunno. My corals always look grayish afterwards as well.

I suspect it's because I hate the colour anyway.

i haven't tried etching it yet. Doesn't look the same as the greyish cast on the likes of copper green or turquoise though (not that it's not). I'll have to check now.

[Judi_B]

hotblubonnet, your marver won't cause any problems. The hothead gets air from the holes at the base of the torch, so make sure those are not blocked by anything. The hothead flame is always slightly reducing, it's just the nature of the torch. Turning the flame down and working further out in the flame will minimize the reducing problem. Like taramag said, you can probably get rid of the gray by soaking the beads in toilet bowl cleaner (about 10 min) or coke (overnight). Etching will also take off the gray film. :-)

[Jane P]

I find I have to turn my HH way down to prevent sooty beads - especially the lighter coloured transparents. Keep turning it down a bit, make a bead, if still muddy, turn down again until you find the right spot. I can tell by the "sound" the torch makes - not so much of a roar :o)