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-   -   Shorts...What do you do with them? (http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80852)

momoharley 2008-02-02 3:15pm

Shorts...What do you do with them?
 
I use mine until the very end, when my hand gets to close to the flame I get out my long pliers and hold it with them. Glass is too pretty and expensive to waste.

Kalera 2008-02-02 4:15pm

I heat the tip of another rod of the same color and stick them together. With practice, you can get a nearly seamless joint, and just go on using it without any waste at all.

Hothead Beads 2008-02-02 4:21pm

I melt them to another rod of the same, like Kalera. No waste.

jewelrybylh 2008-02-02 4:44pm

I make frit out my short rods.
Laurie

Jane P 2008-02-02 4:53pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by weimy (Post 1626118)
I melt them to another rod of the same, like Kalera. No waste.

"Ditto"

Teri.p 2008-02-02 4:53pm

Ditto for adding them to a longer rod. As long as I do this as I go along, I don't end up with a pile of shorts.

Teri P

StellaBlue 2008-02-02 4:59pm

I wait until I have a pile of them in the same color, then spend a few minutes melting them together into a longer rod that I use to make spacers...

Unless it is really expensive or hard-to-get glass; then I punty onto it and use it to the bitter end.

Rita

Wendyki 2008-02-02 5:15pm

I am hottible I thow them in apileonce in a while and save them to give away sell or for a rainly day :)

scoutycat 2008-02-02 5:29pm

I usually join them to a longer rod, but sometimes I put it in my jar of shorts if I'm in the middle of something. When I'm 'warming up' at the torch, sometimes I'll melt like colors together. If i'm making frit, I go to the jar first to find colors.

evilglass 2008-02-02 6:28pm

If it's nice, expensive glass, I use every bit of them...usually, LOL.

Mostly, I dump them on my work surface (granite slab) and a couple of times a year sort through the mess and bag 'em up, to maybe trade or sell if I ever get a scale. I do have a separate section of the mess that I try to put the expensive shorts in....

Sue H-K 2008-02-02 6:33pm

I throw them into a 9x11 cake pan and then when I'm out of a color or running low, I'll go pick out the shorts in said color and fuse them together.

NLC Beads 2008-02-02 10:27pm

Keep a pile and make them into Beads of Courage - use up leftover stringer or twistie bits while I'm at it. I use them down to the last maybe 1/8" - whatever I need to hold onto them with pliers....

CO_Phantom 2008-02-03 1:15am

I'll use them down to where I feel the heat and then, depending on if I still need that color immediately, I will either toss it aside to deal with later, or I will use the hemostats and use it up entirely.

The ones that are tossed aside for later...well, I have ambition to either make them into frit, or use them if I need a little bit of a color later. I can just grab 'em in the hemostats and use 'em up.

I won't throw them away, though. I hate to waste glass.

-Amy

ewdb 2008-02-03 7:38am

i use my shorts to make bead cores or twisties

lunamoonshadow 2008-02-03 9:12am

You didn't leave an option for "Send them to me please" or "I've bought people's shorts!"
I don't have shorts of my own--I spin them onto the rod as I'm making a base bead...don't have any fancy rod holder or pliers--I've gotten really good at "stick & spin" on the rods as they get too short for me to hang onto--I just spin them into the base of a bead & Crunch-Press it! I use a random tool off the table to keep them spinning/melting in semi-straight. (Whimsicalities tools are great for poking the rod scraps back in line & so is a tiny brass marver)
Silver glass scraps (because all mine has been gifted!) get used on top, to the last little chip--If it's really short, I might nip it into little millifiore sized pieces & stick my bead into/onto them when it's hot to pick them up. That's the nice thing about the silver glasses--add a few twists & even the little chips can give you something fun!
~luna

teefee 2008-02-03 9:19am

I add them to a longer rod also...not necessarily the same color. In fact, as the longer rod I use those weird colored rods that I wonder why I ever bought and know I won't use for anything else :)

NLC Beads 2008-02-03 10:15am

Quote:

Originally Posted by lunamoonshadow (Post 1627169)
You didn't leave an option for "Send them to me please" or "I've bought people's shorts!"
I don't have shorts of my own--I spin them onto the rod as I'm making a base bead...don't have any fancy rod holder or pliers--I've gotten really good at "stick & spin" on the rods as they get too short for me to hang onto--I just spin them into the base of a bead & Crunch-Press it! I use a random tool off the table to keep them spinning/melting in semi-straight. (Whimsicalities tools are great for poking the rod scraps back in line & so is a tiny brass marver)
Silver glass scraps (because all mine has been gifted!) get used on top, to the last little chip--If it's really short, I might nip it into little millifiore sized pieces & stick my bead into/onto them when it's hot to pick them up. That's the nice thing about the silver glasses--add a few twists & even the little chips can give you something fun!
~luna

I just got a new pair of pliers that rock - I need to get you a pair - they're perfect for shorts, good grip on the glass, and nice handles, too. :D

And yes, I buy other people's shorts... :-#

Karen Hardy 2008-02-03 11:37am

I bring mine to the So Cal Flamesurfers meeting, and donate them to
a good cause (my buddy Rich Santa Clause!). He makes the most
beautiful marbles with them - I love seeing my twistie odds end up
in one of his marbles!

categ50 2008-02-03 11:53am

I melt mine on the end of the same color and use to the end, bash some into frit and use others that are a little longer to pull a 1 or 2mm stringer end to use for swirls. I have a glass full of the latter in all colors, and it comes in handy when I decide to swirl something after I have started the bead.

StellaBlue 2008-02-03 6:25pm

And hubby's choice
 
My husband (he isn't registered for this board yet) grabs shorts from our shorts bin and melts them onto a base paddle to make awesome twisties, encased cane, latticinos, all manner of pretty things...

momoharley 2008-02-03 6:32pm

Awsome ideas everyone! I didn't know I could fuse them to one another, I figured it would cause a weakness in the glass. But know that I think about it that doesn't make sense, we add glass to glass all the time. Duh!

Jane P 2008-02-03 6:56pm

When I took my first class the teacher showed us how to do it. She said to slightly pull the "fuse" apart as it is hardening up so that you don't get a big lump. This way, for some reason it helps avoid any "shocking" later when you are melting to that point - not always, but most of the time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by momoharley (Post 1628086)
Awsome ideas everyone! I didn't know I could fuse them to one another, I figured it would cause a weakness in the glass. But know that I think about it that doesn't make sense, we add glass to glass all the time. Duh!


Bohemibeads 2008-02-03 10:26pm

I crush them into tiny pieces and use them as frit, or fuse it to another piece of the same color.

kismet 2008-02-04 6:47am

I use them until I feel the heat, then I set aside and use to make stringers. They way nothing is wasted.

FordGirlGoneBad 2008-02-04 6:50am

I make twisties out of my shorts (I wonder if that's anything like getting my panties in a knot???:grin:) And once in a while stringers...but I use them to the very end.

Hayley 2008-02-04 8:48am

I use this awesome tool:

http://merickal.com/

nitefire 2008-02-04 11:31am

I make frit with some of my shorts. I have an awesome frit masher that DH made me. The other glass shorts i punty together or share with a newby friend.

Elaine

My solid steel frit maker named monster mash.

teachertracey 2008-02-04 3:29pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hayley (Post 1628882)
I use this awesome tool:

http://merickal.com/


Now that is pretty nifty. I bookmarked that site quickly! Thanks.

chrissij 2008-02-04 3:35pm

I either toss 'em aside and save 'em (for what I don't really know), or melt 'em to another rod.

tt4st 2008-02-04 4:42pm

When the rod gets too short to comfortably hold onto - I clip the rod end into my looped hemostats. I can then use that down to about 1/3", then into the water it goes!


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