Double Helix Psyche
 

I have been searching and have not found if Psyche likes to be encased with clear or not. I am having problems getting color with it, any tips would be appreciated.
I was having the same problem with Ossa but have finally started to get good color with it so I don't want to give up on Psyche yet.
Bob

Psyche loves ivory as a base, then reduce and encase...it will yield some mirroring with shades of blue to purples. It also loves topaz for a base and then reduce to get all kinds of rainbow mirroring.

I love to encase psyche, but I have the best results if I keep a close eye on it. Sometimes I start to lose the reduction, and have to reduce it again halfway through.

Oh, one more thing, Psyche can handle heavy reduction, like Triton and Gaia, where some wont like Ehko, Notos, and Kalypso. So don't be shy with it, give it a good reduction bath.

Thank you both, I do have some Ivory to play with.
Bob

I encase Psyche a lot. These are a few things I did with it last week:

The 2 on the left are Psyche. The first is slightly reduced, the 2nd is a much heavier reduction:
http://i1359.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3866dc64.jpg

The encased frits in the top 2 are a mix of Psyche frit and Jet Age's Electron frit, reduced:
http://i1359.photobucket.com/albums/...ps050d72d8.jpg

HTH
Alli

I reduce Psyche very gently, then encase. There was a batch a couple of years back that had issues, the rods were very dark, almost black instead of purple.

Alli, what is the one on the right??? It is so cool! Is it really as silver as it looks in that shot?

They can vary by batch I suppose too. I have some from the first batch, so the newer may be different. When it reached a mirrored green reduction that was the time to encase, to get blues and purples.

LOL Naw Melody. It's over reduced Aurae. The Zephyr did some cool things with it, but it's not particularly shiny *sigh*

Psyche and Opal Yellow play beautifully together!

I have trouble over reducing Psyche even when I think I'm just lightly reducing :neutral:

Maybe I'll try encasing it.

Psych and nyx are my fav silver glasses! On the hot head, I loved all reductions better on the HH, they were great. On the minor still great, but still not the same as the HH! I break it out for reduction colors. :)

I was searching for pics, but I don't see them... I bet they are on my lap top somewhere.

I wanted to say thanks to all for the help. I am getting a little better with it, now I am getting some descent color. I am not there yet but am going in the right direction.



The one on the right is over ivory, it was my second one over ivory, the first one did not work out to well. I thought Psyche had to be worked very hot on the mandrel and the ivory seemed to of eaten it all up.
The second is over ivory but I did not cook it as much while shaping.
The last 2 are over a stringer I made using different shades of blue.
Bob

Yay Bob!

Try Psyche over cobalt or amethyst. Just waft it through a reduction flame until it lusters up. If you encase it, this is important, keep it out of the flame until you have your clear covering it. Then melt in the clear slowly. It can restrike though the clear if you work too fast and hot.

You don't need to work Psyche hot. Working hot is for colors that strike, and is generally not necessary for reduction colors like Psyche.

I almost never encase Psyche, I just reduce it & pop it in the kiln. I also agree with Damselfly, you don't need to work it hot at all, just melt it, cool & then wave through a reducing (candles about 2-3 inches long) flame until you get the colours you want. The colours you get will depend on how many times you waft it through the flame & how long your candles are, the colours usually start out blue & silvery & then change to green, purple & golds the more you do it,

These are all Psyche on different bases worked as above.

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...ps5cf36aa7.jpg

These 2 pics are different sides of the same bead, to show you the difference that how many times you wave it through the flame can make.
https://img1.etsystatic.com/019/0/64...00989_cyam.jpg https://img1.etsystatic.com/044/0/64...00983_6blh.jpg

The cross was heavily reduced.
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...ps4ca605a3.jpg

In this pic, Psyche beads are 2nd & 3rd from the right.
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...ps11330811.jpg

Robyn, you just totally inspired me to add some Psyche to my order tonight. Nice work!!

Robyn...can you tell us what the bases of your beads were please. I have a hard time with Psyche and your beads are beautiful.

Wow, thanks Robyn. Those are fantastic.
I love this board you are all so helpfull.
Bob
Bob

Kristen, hope you have fun with it, it's probably my favourite reducing glass because you can get so many colours out of it.

Bob, you're welcome, I hope it helps! :)

Angie, I am really bad at writing down what colours I use [-X , but I can tell you that the heart & the cross are solid Psyche. The others are probably one of the following which are my "go to" colours when I work with any of the silver glasses. Adamantium, Eff Black, Hades/Tuxedo, Cobalt blue, Stone Ground, Canyon De Chelly, Opal Yellow, Ginger, Butter Pecan & Dark Ivory.

This is another one, both sides of the one bead, this one is on CDC.
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...psdb9365dd.jpg http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...ps96c988c6.jpg

how can something that is reduced re-strike ?

Robyn, it did help, thanks. I made some this morning and took pictures on my flat bead scanner which did not come out to good. I was in a hurry, I had a lunch date with Laurie. I see a nice direction with this glass that I gave up on. I still did a couple that were encased and they looked interesting.
I may not give up on it, again thanks
Bob

The same way a striking glass strikes. If you get your reduced glass too hot again or expose it to an oxygenated flame, you will erase the reduction, aka restrike the glass.

You can let it cool and reduce it again if it isn't encased but you probably won't get as nice a reduction on the second go round.

It is the opposite of over-reducing the glass. Some glass tolerates a lot of reduction, some like the gentlest reduction and if you go past that, you will get a dull opaque cloudy result. You can erase/restrike the over-reduction. Take the bead back to transparent, cool and try gently reducing again.

I forgot to mention those last 2 beads are amazing.
Bob

re-oxidized

Thanx Bob!

Elizabeth that is interesting. Something I forgot to mention above, I often wave it though a reducing flame then turn the flame to oxidising, put the bead down near the candles for a second or two, then reduce again. Sometimes I do that 4 or 5 times, & you can see the colours change when the oxidising flame hits the glass. What I hadn't thought of was reheating the glass to restrike it, I never get my psyche to transparent but next time I will try over reducing & then heating it back up again to try erasing it.

I don't recommend it. I get the best reduction the first time. I don't want to erase it. Plus you really have to superheat it, you can't just warm it up.

I do make sure any accidental reduction is completely burned off before I turn down my oxygen. I almost always encase reduction silver glass. I like the mother of pearl look.

I think this one is Psyche.

Thanks again Robyn. Please don't look at the shape of the bead, I was in a hurry. I noticed something on Robyns last 2 beads and wanted to try it. The beads looked like they may of been raked and it made me think silver glass is alot like dicro and the way light reflect changes the look.





Love the colors, I'm glad I did not give up on this glass.
Bob