Encasing tips, pleeeease

[doesdoes]

Can anyone give me some encasing tips, please [-o< I have been trying to get it right time and time again. The bead keeps bleeding. I would be so grateful =D>

Thanks
Jenny

[lripster]

Hi Jenny,
Try letting your base bead cool way down, almost until you are afraid of it:) And have a really good gather of your clear. Drape it on rather than drag it.

I'm still new, but this is what made my encasing better. Good luck. Maybe some of the pros can add to what I've written.

Lisa

[DawnT]

Can anyone give me some encasing tips, please [-o< I have been trying to get it right time and time again. The bead keeps bleeding. I would be so grateful =D>

Thanks
Jenny

If by bleeding you mean your design is getting smeared then yes, you have your base bead too hot. If your design is bleeding up in between the encasing then you are missing spots.

I've found the best way for me to encase is to heat up a gather of clear and wrap it around the bead. Let that cool a bit and then heat up another gather and wind it around so that it's touching the first wrap. This helps me to avoid the bubbles between the wraps that I get when I try to wind continuously. Also, I will sometimes add a small wrap on either end and then heat and tuck that with my brass wand so that the encasing goes closer to the mandrel.

Hope that helps some :waving: .

[DreamMuse]

All of the advice so far has been excellent *Smiles*

The only thing I can add is that I've found (for me) that it's easier to encase using clear stringers, instead of large rods. (Too bad stringers only come in effetre though) I buy the premade clear stringers, and then keeping the stringer in the flame, I can do the "around the world" method very easily, wrapping the stringer around the bead so it overlaps slightly. Then when I go back and melt it in, it's a nice thin encasing.

[doesdoes]

Thank you so much :wave: I appreciate your tips. I guess I have been missing spots then and I'll keep on trying until I get it right.

:waving: Jenny

[Moth]

Hi!

Click on my website link in my signature line and if you check out the 'Education' page, there is a link there to a stringer encasing article I put together for Wet Canvas.

It has pictures of what DreamMuse was talking about. :grin:

~~Mary

[DreamMuse]

Mary, so YOU were the one who wrote that tutorial!! *hugs* That was definately very helpful and stuck in my mind long after reading it. So long, in fact, that I forgot who posted it. Thank you!!! =D> =D> =D>

I think I do things just a little differently from you now, because I push the stringer onto the bead at an angle, which makes a flatter ribbon of encasing. It's easier for me to overlap that way.

However, I never would have tried it at all, if not for your tutorial. So thank you very much for your inspiration!

[doesdoes]

Thank you Mary fot this very clear tutorial =D> After reading it I'm beginning to get the feeling that I will learn eventually :). Jenny

[KAS]

Let your base cool down a bit, then add a large gather of melted clear glass around center of the base....push it on in one swipe to kind of flatten it around the middle and so the sides of the gather stick out a little. Heat one edge at a time and then use a pointed graphite tool to push the gather toward the bead hole. Heat entire bead in flame to round-out. Really simple and works everytime with no seams or bubbles. Good luck! Kathleen

[hummingbird3172]

I will say this about encasing...trying it time and again will get you where you want to be. Practice has helped me so much....but here are some tips that might make it a little easier.


This is a great way to avoid smearage (is this a real word?), ALWAYS cover your opaque dots with either a transparent color or clear....the transparent glass doesn't melt as quickly as the opaque so you have less of a chance of smearage.....

I use the linear casing technique....my round the world technique really sucks....hold your bead about 1 inch or so out of the flame....hold the mandrel vertically and heat your clear to a small gather....start at the top of the bead and quickly push down, cover the bead with vertical stripes of clear, making sure you overlap the stripes to get even coverage. Start at one end and gradually melt to smooth out.... Look at this tutorial, it is from Carol (it is super!)...this is how I do it....much easier to look at and understand: http://www.angelcreationz.com/encased_floral.htm

I also use stringers to encase....they changed my life!


I am not be any means an "encasing master", but my beads did a complete 180 degree turn once I started doing these things....the difference was night and day.

Good luck....I look forward to seeing your floral beads! :grin:

[silverlemon]

Anna,
wonderful tutorial. Am I really the first to take a look?
This is my first post too, I've been lurking for a couple of months now - sorry!
I suppose I should actually go and introduce myself in the welcome room now.
:p
bye, Sarah

[Moth]

Aw heck, thanks DreamMuse! Yeah, I wrote the article, but I don't stake any claim on the technique. I just posted the link cuz I thought it complimented your post...I don't know about everyone else, but pictures always help me a lot.

Plus, I second the parts about practice. You just gotta do it.

And yes too about the mushing the glass into the bead more to get a flatter ribbon. I learned this off Jim S!!! He does it with a full sized rod, and holds it at an even more extreme angle than what I show in my pictures. I do it more his way now that I'm on the minor.

~~Mary

[hummingbird3172]

Anna,
wonderful tutorial. Am I really the first to take a look?
This is my first post too, I've been lurking for a couple of months now - sorry!
I suppose I should actually go and introduce myself in the welcome room now.
:p
bye, Sarah

Oh, the tutorial is Carol's, I'm sorry, I was just posting the link....It helped me so much, because my shaping was always a bit off. The little halo did the trick!

[doesdoes]

Thanks everyone, I will try each and every method out. I must say, it is sooooooo wonderful to have all of you beadmakers to answer every question I might have. It helps a lot. So thanks again from a (very much a beginner) grateful "girl" in the Netherlands.

[SassyCassie]

Lauscha makes stringers...about 4mm or so....and I LOVE THEM! Monique usually carries them.

[totallytorched]

I use Mary's tutorial technique as well, it sure made a heck of a difference!!! I definitely need to try the stringers though, I have heard it is way easier! :grin:

[larrybrickman]

All I can add is try all the different encasing techniques, some are best for a thin coating and some for thicker. Practice, practice and practice. Also, clear being the most transparent (duh) it will show burning and/or boiling problems if you try to work it too fast and too hot, I always slow down and back off when working with clear. By the way .. who and where is Monique with the 4mm Lauscha stringers?

[totallytorched]

www.JodelGlass.com is Monique :-D