New Thimble Thread
 

I just started making thimbles with Janet's (blackswampglass) great mandrels!
Would anyone else like to share theirs with us.
Any tips would be welcome.


;)You show me yours, and I'll show you mine;-)

here are a couple thimbles to warm things up. i love making the thimbles and have made most with flowers on them. i will take some pictures of some more soon. i have started making ones 2 toned and i like the way they turned out. it takes a little practice to get the hang of the mandrel and get neat bottoms. what kind of bead release are you using? i have used sludge but am going to try the pink sludge to see if it will stay on tighter.
karen m:waving:

OH, those are beautiful thimbles! I have one of the mandrels but I have more problems making a thimble than I want to experience right now, so any advice here would be great.

Cool thread - that's Linda (blackbearartglass)

If anyone will post here specifically what problems they are having I will post what has worked for me. Anyone else feel free to chime in too - there's no such thing as to much information.

ETA - I'll try to do a pictoral tut this weekend and post it here.

Oh, that is great! I guess I couldn't have gotten it much more screwed up.
Sorry Linda.
By the way, thanks for the GREAT service.
Loraine

My problems
 

My problems seem to be mostly in getting a nice even rim.

I also would like to cold work it so the inside is as smooth as possible. I guess it will always look somewhat etched; but I would like to avoid laquer, nail polish, or anything like that.
I do have some Cerium oxide, and lots of dremel bits, but have no idea what to use.

I have been having FUN
 

My thimbles so far..., what fun!\\:D/

WOW

Lori, the even rim is my problem too. Hopefully someone can give us some tips.

For the inside, a battery operated nail shaper (they used to have these on late night tv a couple years ago). Anyway, it came with diamond bits and some white bits not sure what it's made of and works great with just a little water. It's not shiny like the outside but it's not as etched either. I'm sure a dremel will be even better since it has more torque. Hope that helps you to clean it out.

Tutorial coming this weekend but it helps if you don't try too hard to get an even edge with your first layer because you chance going over the edge and locking that baby on the mandrel.

The second layer can be pushed over the base layer to the bottom so that you can use your marver to gently make it flat on the bottom.

I like the look of a stringer rim at the bottom of some thimbles and this helps too.

Usually, after my second layer and I'm done with design, I just make a grove with my knife around the bottom. This kinda gives it a finished look without the addition of the stringer rim.

I've done a few this ones on etsy, don't have pictures of any of the other ones!

http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_430xN.23981699.jpg

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php...ng_id=10917232

I made a white stringer and covered the mandrel with it before I added the aqua....

Lynne

Thimbles - What Works for Me - Share your success!
 

I promised a tut - I suck at making movies - I tried - my torch flame was so small in the frame I know there is no way you could see what I was doing, so I will try to explain what works for me and let you adapt it to your style.

Firstly, I use Sludge Plus. I don't have experience with other releases but I think any release that works for beads, should work for thimbles.

The first thing I do is to make sure that the release is wrapped around the underside of the mandrel like I show in the drawing I send with the mandrels. If the release is too thick, I spin the mandrel in my hand to even it out - not enough to throw release all over the room, just enough to let centrifugal force even the release out. I air dry my mandrels poked down in a piece of styro foam.

At the torch, I heat the living snot out of the head of the mandrel head - the whole thing gets glowing YELLOW hot. When it's good and hot, I start feeding my underlayer on - usually white because it is nice and soft and pushes on nicely. See the first picture. Notice that I do not specifically try to get the white glass all the way to the bottom of the mandrel head. I cover the top of the mandrel head too - then heat and marver the whole thing smooth - even the top, by pressing down perpendicular.

I add the second color that will be my base for design the same way I added the white, only this time, I usually add an extra wrap at the bottom of the head so that when I marver, the color layer will push down below the white to the bottom of the marver head - I marver the bottom of the thimble against the edge of my torch marver to make it even with the bottom of the mandrel head - taking care not to push it under the head - don't want that baby to get stuck. At this point the bottom of the thimble is pretty straight and even.

Then I decorate and add a groove for the bottom with a knife, if the design allows - see the second and third photos.

I heat and flatten the top of the thimble - heat and press into the small flower frog that I got at Michaels. I have seen some round tops, I've seen some flat tops. I guess it's a personal preference.

I think the two most important points are - 1. get that mandrel head YELLOW HOT so that applying the glass does not take off the release and 2. take care to not push the glass under the mandrel head so that you can remove your thimble without cracking the edges of your thimble.

That's it - have fun and share your successes.

For those who need to know this is a flower frog - two small one's can be found at Michaels' for about $4 - use your coupon in sunday's paper it's $2.

We Aussies are waiting ever so patiently for our mandrels - I just posted a link to this site to wet everyone's appetites.

I hope they arrive very soon - sent them Priority - I hope that's faster than First Class - please have all your folks post their pics - I just love everyone's interpretation of thimbles. So many different pretties so far.

I just got my mandrel today! But I'm too tired to torch! wahhhh What are those flower frogs made of?

The frogs are metal pins imbedded in a base - I think the base is lead or tin but since only the tip of the pins touches the glass, the base never gets hot enough to melt the lead/tin.

They are great for making dimples for the seeds on strawberries too.

Here's my first...sew exciting! ;) ♥ Love, Helen

V-E-R-Y nice. Love the swirled flower.

I'm using a leather stamp for my top ... it's actually a pineapple but the texture is good and it's actually got a nice curve too it... Google tandy leather... I have a bunch of their flower stamps too....

Not getting the mandrel hot enough was obviously one of my issues!

Lynne

Just ordered the mandrel, how hard is it to get the thimble off after it's completed? I use blue sludge and sometimes had a bit of a problem with beads so I have to wonder it I'm going to have problems getting these off.

Hi Jan, got your order. I use sludge plus and for me the thimbles are easier to remove than beads - in fact I've had some fall off in the kiln - that is if you have made sure that no glass cups under the mandrel head while you are forming the thimble.

Ohhh, a pineapple pattern sounds neat - glad getting the mandrel hotter is working for you.

Thanks Linda, now that I know there is a way to do it wrong you know I will.....LOL

Looking forward to trying the mandrel.

Hi...
I've been using Bucket O' Mud and the thimbles just pop right off after soaking in water for less than a minute. I was skeptical but I was totally amazed after the first one came off so easily.
I've also been using the Vin Pin for my dimples on the top. Makes a perfect star pattern.
I really like my thimble mandrel in case you couldn't figure that out...;)

Have fun.
Sue

I have seen Karen M's thimbles and they are very nice. Has anyone tried future floor wax on the inside of them? I use it on my pandora beads and it takes that etched look away.

Is that the clear liquid stuff or is it a paste wax? I wondered about using something like glass polish or wax on the inside of beads... but I've never got around to trying it!

Me Too
 

I got also the mandrel. It's so great to make one. The mandrel are great!!!

I used sludge dip and go en it went off very easily!

http://www.margrieten.nl/wp-content/...gerhoedje1.jpg

I forgot the holes in the top... but ok, it's my first one!;-)

This is what I made from the thimbles mandrel:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...wellery631.jpg

Beautiful!!!!!