help with foil, what's the trick??

[rverk47]

i'm a newbie and am looking for a basic tutorial on how to make a foil bead..anybody have any suggestions.thx

[Cosmo]

Do you mean a bead that has foil under a layer of clear? Or foil on the outside? Do you have a photo of what you are trying to make?

[rverk47]

that's how much i don't know..i don't even how enough to ask the right questions..i bought some of the foil paper..i thought you applied it to the top of a bead and then maybe decorate..i appreciate any info you can share..thx

[Cosmo]

You can use it a few different ways. The easiest is to make a base bead, roll it in foil, then encase the foil in a transparent color. Make sure you use a graphite paddle and burnish the foil onto the base, then make sure when you apply the transparent, the flame hits only the transparent rod, not the foil, or it will burn up.

You can also use it as a surface decoration. There are a few different ways to do this as well. I would sugget finding a copy of John Winter's "Glass Beads in Concert with Metals" video. It gives you a lot of insight as to how to use foil. There are also a lot of people (Michael Barley comes to mind) who use foil to create "organic" beads. There is a member here who has a organic bead in her signature which uses silver foil and is a prime example. Sorry, for the life of me I can't remember her name...

The focal bead on this piece:
http://www.soleiletlune.com/jewelry/IMG_0145.jpg
is made by first making a base bead, encasing it with clear, then adding foil on top of the clear. I then added transparent aqua spots and stringers, then turned the heat up and really cooked it. It gave a nice, almost turqouise-like, appearance.

[rverk47]

what does burnish mean??

[DancingSalamander]

Burnish the foil onto the bead means to rub the graphite paddle over the foil to make sure it is stuck to the bead. It kind of flattens the foil a little more, helps areas that are puckered or not adhering well.

Stacia

[DancingSalamander]

Really, if you are just beginning and want to know about things to try with silver. One of the Spotlight books on silver explains a bunch of different techniques you can try. I'll put the link below and you can check it to see if it is something you'd be interested in purchasing. I'm not associated with this item in any way so no profit in mind. I think it's just a good source of info.

http://www.corinabeads.com/catalog.php?category=3

Stacia