Twisty Stringers (bumpy)
 

I have a question about making twisty stringers.
I know when I have made black/white twisted stringers the glass is “bumpy”.
I was told because the glass heats at different rates they don’t blend together well.

How do you know what glass will blend well and will the glass have a tendency to bleed if they melt at the same rate??

I see such beautiful stringers put into glass projects, do you just have to keep experimenting or is there something that explains the expansion rates better to allow you to make the best choices.

My desire is to make some stringers with many colors and clear between the various colors for better definition.

If the glass is bumpy, a good reason could be it's not hot enough. It will also vary with the rate that you pull and twist. I'd work on those first, and then see which glass is still giving you a problem....
Some folks do amazing things with those, so I think that's a great goal :)

If you get the glass very hot so that all colors are well melted they will twist together smoother. With black (especially Intense Black) you can make clear encased stringers from it to use in your twisties which will help with the bleeding issue once superheated in the flame.

Ritch, part of your issue is that transparent glass is stiffer than opaque. Unless you're really fast or keep heating your gather as you pull, there's going to be a 'separation' of your colors as you pull. It will look somewhat like a braid. This won't affect your finished piece, as it will all melt down smooth.

ESC

ok then let em change the question....
what are YOU using for your twisties
Pics are very nice.

My black and white stringers are smooth and do not bleed, it's more a technique issue than it is a glad issues usually.

I don't think I ever get twisties hot enough to bleed when pulling them (and I'm using cheep effetre/vetro etc. You want to sort of get a smooth ball going before you pull. I always tell my students to give it more heat than you need and wait for it to cool before pulling rather than fighting to not have enough heat and needing to go back into the flame for heat. It's harder to work with something you are constantly trying to build heat in,-goes for both colors. if you simply over heat (not overlook, just get slightly more heat than you need, getting the glass moving more than you want by a littke) and wait until it is the right heat out of the flame (yiu might need to balance your glass while waiting for the right heat) then pull you will get a smoother more even pull that you are not fighting and will be smooth and beautiful.

A whole lot of this is going to be a learned thing that requires play time.

The thing with twisties is to get the gather uniformly hot enough and then pause for a 3 count out of the flame and let the heat even out in the gather.
The softer glasses (like white) will pull a little thinner than the black but the difference is not very noticeable and that difference will be engulfed by the bead when you apply the twisty to it.
Your right about the method of hiding in plain sight by encasing softer colors or colors that tend to bleed in a clear or a transparent color. As a rule transparent glass will be considerably stiffer than opaque colors although some of the silver containing clear glasses from Double Helix will prove the exception to the rule. I think it is Zypher (sp) but I am not sure.

Keep using the search tools here and practice, practice, practice. Oh and Play and even take notes.

Also start very small with your experiments. Your mistakes won't seem to be so expensive and it will keep you from having two table spoons of OMG HOT glass wanting to crawl into your lap in a hurry. Better to make two 8 inch twisties than trying to learn how to pull 48 inches of hot glass because you don't have a choice in the matter. That gets a little unnerving.