Light color rods turning dark when flaming! Help!

[redbutterfly]

Hi,

I am new to glass bead making, and in the experimental stage. I am having trouble with my light blue glass rod, it keeps turning brown. :( I have a fireworks torch, and not entirely sure how to control the oxygen on it, that is where I think the problem is??? Can anyone help me troubleshoot this?
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Renee

[tiggybubba]

you are probably reducing or burning it. You cannot control the oxy on that type of torch so just work it further out in the flame.

[redbutterfly]

I was trying that, I will try it again...trial & error I guess.

Thank for you advise Leslie,

Renee'

[Listenup]

Is it possible to turn the flame down? If so, you might try that to see if you get better results.

[Firebrand Beads]

What glass are you using? Is this a standard Effetre 104 Light Turquoise? Or is it a special "silvered" glass that is reducing on you?

[Listenup]

Sometimes I'm a bit slow on the uptake. Are you talking about a transparent or opaque color? If it's opaque, then I'll bet it's sky blue or turquoise. It's not an uncommon problem. Try soaking the bead in Coke for a few hours, or even overnight. It should take that yech off.

[wendbill]

I suspect she's working too close to the flame and it's reducing on her to that reddish brown reduced colour.

We all did it when we first started. (well I did anyway).

In which case, working further out, and turning down the flame, as everyone has advised is the way to go.

[redbutterfly]

I am actually not sure about the type of glass that it is. I got it for a gift, and it came in a Fireworks tube container. The glass is opaque, and it doesn't take much flame for it to turn brown...yes reddish brown. I will try turning down the flame & soaking it in coke uh? Coke takes the yuck of metal why not the brown off glass! ;)

[klcbeads]

I started out on one of those fireworks kits, and you are probably using a shade of turquoise and the flame is probably a little too high and you may be working too close to the flame. It use to be something that happened to me quite a bit at first!! Just a little advice about the torchhead: my experience was with that fireworks kit that it was fine to work with for about 6 months and then the head just died on me. I went through two before I just bought a whole new different torch set up. Get your hands on a hothead as they are more reliable and really not as expensive as the fireworks torch.

[Firebrand Beads]

Your average opaque turquoise, blue and green Italian 104 rods are highly prone to reduction. Turn up your oxygen if you can, or work higher in the flame if you can't change your settings. Jim Smircich turned that "flaw" into a "feature" when he did his "Red Web" technique. This involves pulling all that brown and red out of these blues and greens, then oxidizing the reduction into veins, revealing the blue and green again. It's very organic looking. Have fun!

[Emily]

It could be either sky blue or turquoise. I've never had it happen with light sky blue, but dark sky blue does it, so it wouldn't surprise me if light sky could do it, too.

What's happening to you is that you're pulling the copper out of the glass by overheating it in a reduction flame, which is a flame that has more fuel in it than oxygen. You can't really control the composition of the flame on a torch like you have (the oxygen/fuel ratio). However, on any torch, the closer you are to the torch head, the more reducing the flame is. That's why everybody (including me) is telling you to work farther away from the head of the torch. It's natural to bring the work close in to you when you're concentrating, but your best work area for most things is midway in the flame. (As you gain experience, you'll learn that most of the time, only part of your bead is in the flame anyway. You control the heat in the glass by surface heating, spot-heating, dipping the bead in and out of the flame to maintain heat without overheating, and so forth. If you try to work with the whole bead in the flame all the time, you get an uncontrollable blob. But that's off-topic . . .)

You'll probably be having this same problem with any of the turquoise colors, petroleum green (also called opaque teal), and the greens. Those colors are all made with copper. Working farther out in the flame, and trying not to overheat the glass is the only way to control it on a Hothead or Fireworks-type torch.

If you notice a lot of tiny tiny bubbles in your transparents, it's a symptom of the same thing. Working too close to the torch head can boil glass. Sometimes with the Hothead/Fireworks torches, it can also cause brownish dirty/sooty streaks in light colors.

[redbutterfly]

I just want to thank you all for the great advise, I will put it in to practice. Emily thank you for a great reply and insight. There are no glasses where I live on this subject, and you guys are the best information, and help I have found for my new endeavor.
Again thanks & you are awesome!
Renee'

[jillybean]

I agree! I also have no classes which I could join where I live and have learnt everything I know about bead making from you all! I cannot start my day without reading all the info on this site.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank each an every one of you for teaching me something! and would also like to say that every bead that I have seen on this site has been so inspiring. You are ALL amazing!

regards,

Jill

[jaci]

I made a bead 11 years ago. Four years later I only had Cindy Jenkins book and a HH for forever. I never knew of this underground world of lampworkers!! It has improved my work 100%+%+%%!!!! I still have yet to take a class. BUT i did meet a few people who also make beads. it was a whole new world for me!

[klcbeads]

I was taught a beginner class locally but they never had advance classes and I could never afford to travel to the classes I so longed to go to, so this forum has been a great help to me as well. I can't even remember how I stumbled across it but I am glad I did. Everyone is usually so willing to help.