help with raised dots

[StOrM]

Ok, I have a question about raised dots.

I made about 6 beads in different colors with raised dots on them all. I was kinda looking for colors but also practicing my techniques. Anyway. I went and picked them up and I was looking at them and i see that a few of the dots have popped off......so what am i doing wrong cause I looked them over and to me it looked like i have firmly put the dots on my beads (cause i know they can pop off if you don't put them on well enough.)
I also don't like it when the dots are half melted in.....

so my questions are...
what am I doing wrong with dots?
Can it be a compatibility with colors (all are CEO 104)?
so how do i fix it?

again i am a bit dissapionted.....pls help

this one has dots missing
105524

same bead and the purple dot one has not missing dots yet
105523

same picture different angles
105522
105521

this one is not missing any yet
105520

[squid]

you don't have to melt them halfway in, but you have to be close - no undercuts. Undercuts is what makes them vulnerable to popping off.

[lavendar420]

You didn't melt your dots in well enough... it might help to keep the base bead warm while adding dots, flash it in & out of the flame every few dots. You don't have to melt them in much, but the standard metaphor is that they should look like mosquito bites, not chocolate chips. If there's a seam or edge the dot is not melted in well enough & will probably pop off sooner or later.

[StOrM]

Ok, so it is just practice, practice, practice.

gggrrrrrr this is so frustrating!!!!

[Lisa]

Ok, so it is just practice, practice, practice.

gggrrrrrr this is so frustrating!!!!

Yeah, but the placement and size control is awesome! You're off to a great start. Nice colors too. L

[StOrM]

thanks for that......makes me smile to know i am on my way.......

[Emily]

Yeah, it's a PITA.

It can help to give the surface of the bead where you're about to put the dot a quick flash of heat before you put the dot down. Not always easy to do that when you've already got some dots there, though.

I hadn't heard the mosquito bite/chocolate chip analogy before. It makes me kind of squirmy.

[scoutycat]

I agree with Emily - I think you need to make sure there is a little more heat in your bead when you lay your dots down. You don't want it to be glowing, but not as cold as you would have it for encasing either. When you put the dots down, it shouldn't look like a dot sitting on the bead, it should fuse to the glass right away and take very little extra heating to get it to the mosquito bite stage.

[CelesteK]

The one bead that I had dots come off of had gotten too cold while I worked. Eventually, the entire bead shocked and broke in several pieces while I was working it. Very "shocking".

Celeste

[Lara]

Along with what everyone has said here, sometimes EDP is a PITA.

In the first picture with the purple base, it looks like your EDP has divitrified (turned matte). I find that it is harder to stick decorations on the EDP when this has happened. This is when the tip above about spot heating would come in handy.

[StOrM]

ok, i was wondering about that rod....so i have EDP....the rod is kinda a opaque pinky/purple color and turns transparent pinky/purple when worked.and if worked too much it goes back to opaque. i love that color but what do i need to do if it goes kinda frosted while i am working it on the flame?

[PaulaD]

You can also keep spinning your bead in the outer edges of the flame after the dots are on to fuse them in better. Get just the dots glowing.
Paula

[evolvingBeau]

To ease the dots into a mosquito bite state, you can turn the bead more quickly and evenly, farther up in the flame. Do this briefly and stop to check before anything melts too far in..repeat if necessary.
Like squid mentioned, there can be no undercuts, this is a serious rule of glassworking that is overlooked so often that it's not even funny. It is often ignored for the sake of a design.
An acute angle at the join between two pieces of glass is, in a nutshell, the start of a crack. There is a sweet spot between melted in and not melted in enough that gives you those nice crisply raised designs without having undercuts. It's tricky but worth the practice.

[StOrM]

thanks to everyone who posted.....i guess i will just have to pracitce more.....and i really don't want my stuff to crack......I don't get to the torch very much cause i have to drive 30 min and pay for studio time.......trying to save for my own studio in my basement ( almost there for the bascis i have a torch, and a kiln, i just need my oxycon and i am set) i have a few tools and some glass. so now i just need the practice :)

Thanks again

[Peach Blossom Beads]

thanks to everyone who posted.....i guess i will just have to pracitce more.....and i really don't want my stuff to crack......I don't get to the torch very much cause i have to drive 30 min and pay for studio time.......trying to save for my own studio in my basement ( almost there for the bascis i have a torch, and a kiln, i just need my oxycon and i am set) i have a few tools and some glass. so now i just need the practice :)

Thanks again

So do you have ventilation yet?

I work in the basement, too. I actually love it.

[StOrM]

lol....no i don't have that yet.....lol i was at work when i wrote that last post and i had to finish off the message fast and i knew i missed something...lol

My bf told me that as soon as i get my oxycon he will look to ventalation...and the set up of my natural gas. So i did have an oxycon lined up for fairly cheap but the guy won't e-mail me back so i think i will have to find another one.....too bad though.....i could buy one from brent graber but i think our government instead of getting us with duty they hit us with brokeridge fees instead......my kiln cost me $80 more to get it to my front door cause of the brokeridge fees......and i am sure the oxycon will cost around the same.

so i am excited but still haeva ways to go....you need money to make beads :) and i am working on it :)

[StOrM]

evolvingBeau - I would just like to say i LOVE your beads.......the one i have to say i like the most is the one called "Woven Wonder 2" . To me it looks like oil in water.....the red is just so iteresting.....looks like the red dots could move.....great job....

[Peach Blossom Beads]

So you're working in your basement without ventilation? And you're spending $$ on an oxycon first? Big humungous no no.

Have you read thru the safety forum? Lots of great info. The worse place you can work without ventilation is the basement, fyi and imo.

[StOrM]

no no no...i don't have a studio yet.......i am working on getting one set up.....

i have bought a kiln and a torch.....but have never used them yet,.....

to go beading i have to drive 30 min and pay for studuio time.....and i HATE the ventalation in the place i go to make beads...it is very poor.....and i think i would rather have my own studio in my basement.....

[Peach Blossom Beads]

Ah ha! Ok. Never mind then . I thought you said you had one in your basement. Now I'm much happier - for you. Didn't want you getting into trouble health-wise. KWIM?

[StOrM]

lol thats ok......I would never risk my health.......This is why i want my own studio cause the place i go has bad ventalation and i feel I should maybe have my own studio so i can be a bit safer.

they have what looks like oven fans about 5 feet above the torch that i can not hear or feel unless i stick my head way up into it and feel with my hands touching the ventalation to see if it is on. I would just rather do my own set up i think...and then i can torch whenever i want :)