small off mandrel leaves
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This came about through Nicole.....Janelle and Kari.
What a fun group of glass lovers. I haven't seen Jiley in a long time and it was wonderful to be able to see and talk to old glass friends. While I was giving Jiley a quicky tut I met the most fun three people and ended up sharing the leaf process that I do with glass. This is not new to the feild but is the way that I have found to play with the glass.................and I do so love leaves. I told the girls that I would send them the tut and since it is now done..............what better place to share than with the forums that I sooooooooooo lurk ! ! ! What a wonderful day with glass people................WOW.......... O.K. shorter version for a leaf tutorial. In making the leaves you will be working off mandrel. Before you start wrap a ss wire around a mandrel with scrap wire. The scrap wire can go into the kiln with no problem. I have reused mine more times that I can count. To Start: A.......add a ball of glass to a mandrel. keep the glass at the tip. B.......Take your tweezers and mash down the center. keep water handy to cool your tool with. C.......One one side mash three times. keep the leaf warm only. C.......Heat the next side on the edge and mash again. Flash to keep warm. It doesn't take much. D.......Rewarm but don't lose the design. Heat the top just a little and pull the tip out. This lets the point and the leaves curve. Play around.....you can make many different shapes. The fun thing with off mandrel is that you can shape your leaf and design it forever before you attach it to the sterling silver wire. Now: After you have your leaf the size and shape you want, heat up the mandrel where the glass is attached and pull the leaf off with a pair of tweezers. Keep the leaf warm and pick up the mandrel with the wire on it and just heat the sterling silver and the glass enough to be able to slip the ss into the end of the glass leaf. You may have to do this a few times but the glass and the sterling silver wire will stick to each other. After they come out of the kiln I just rub the ss with my fingers a little and it takes off any of the darkness from being in the kiln. 1.......Wire wrapped mandrel. The ss wire is slightly curved around the mandrel so it will not slip while attaching the hot glass to the hot ss wire. 2.......Leaf right out of the kiln. I filed down a pair of tweezers to be able to make thin veins for the small leaves. Bobby |
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OH ! ! !
The reason for the tutorial: |
WOW!!!
Bobby thank you SOOO much!!!! What an awesome tutorial!!!!!! \\:D/ It was great to meet you!!! I am glad you came out of lurk mode for this!!! |
WOW! Great technique. Beautiful bracelet. Thanks for sharing.
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Hey Bobbie, I see you found this forum! How are you guys? Great tutorial. Sheila and Lee
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Very cool and what a great idea. Thank you for sharing.
Beautiful bracelet. Lara |
this is an awsome tutorial,but yet i have trouble getting the wire to stick to the glass,maybe my silver wire is to big?hmm? i think it is twenty gauge,anyone have tips for me with this?
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Thanks so much. I,m learning something new everyday thanks to people like you. Thanks again Mary Miller
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Wow, that makes it sound so easy! Thank you for posting this. I need all the help I can get! :)
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Just Awesome...Thanks a bunch for posting this !!!
Margie |
Wow! What a great tutorial, and perfect timing!! My pet-sitter wants to trade jewelry for petsitting my yorkie; and she wants a necklace with leaves!!
I was trying to make them on the mandrel and not liking how the hole looked!! These will work perfectly with how I want to design my necklace. Thank you so much!!! Mary T. |
Great tutorial....but doesn't sterling wire burn up in the flame?
Thanks, Sandi |
The wire can burn up if you leave it in the flame. I get the glass very hot but not runny and then heat the wire just a little. Not the red glowing look........more like the dark grey look. Work close to the flame with the glass and the wire and it will all come together when the glass is very soft and the wire a dark grey. Sometimes I let a very little ball gather on the wire and then when I add it to the glass there is a little more body to be inside of the leaf. After the leaves come out of the kiln they are a very dark greay and I take a rough cloth and pull up the wire and this seems to clean it and work harden it a little.
Bobby |
Oh ! ! ! In the answering I forgot to thank all of you for looking at the tutorial. I still have fun with the leaves done this way. I too didn't like the look of the hole that the mandrel left and wanted something more delicate for the leaves. Thanks again ! ! !
Bobby |
Thanks Bobby...can't wait to give these a try. I have been unhappy with my on mandrel leaves also so this looks like the perfect alternative. Thanks again.
Sandi |
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Hi Bobby,
I love the idea of poking wire into off mandrel work to use it -- I'm going to adapt that for other off mandrel thingamajigs I try. Quick "off topic" question - you mention a "Jiley" -- is that a nickname for Janelle? My daughter is a Janelle, and we call her Jelley or J, but I LIKE Jiley for something different. Cool, A |
Thanks Bobby for a great tutorial...I too don't like the look of the hole when leaves are made on a mandrel. Yours are beautiful! What size silver wire did you use? I don't make jewelry so don't have a clue what size or where to buy. Thanks again for taking the time for this tut. =D> Kathleen
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Hello there A
Jiley is a beadfriend that makes wonderful beads. http://www.jileysstudio.com/ Poking metal into melting glass is fun isn't it. Take pictures when you do. |
KAS
I have used 20g and 18g. Mostly 18g. It depends on how heavy I want the piece to look. I put a very large leaf on 16g and it was o.k.. I buy sterling silver wire from RioGrande but you could get it from most any jewelry supply catalog. |
leaves
If I can remember how to load a pic I can show you a box of leaves that I keep handy. Also a bracelet that I have worn off and on for the last 5 years. It is holding up very well......Enjoy.........
I need to get on here more often.......the how to of "workings" have gotten a little rusty for me. Bobby |
leaves
O.K. for the box of leaves. I usually make pendants with them. The biggest ones are 2" long.
Bobby |
Well hello there ! ! ! and make sure to say ""HI"" to Adrian......he is a cool guy.
Bobby |
What type of SS,Dead soft,HH?
Thanks for the tut, G. |
Hi G
You are very welcome. Half hard..........I have used dead soft and for me it melted way too early and balled up to soon. It was good for head pins but too soft for the leaves. Bobby |
Wahoo! How cool!
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Great Tut!
Hi Bobby...wonderful tutorial - am definitely going to try it sometime. One question - in picture #1 where the wire is shown on the mandrel, what kind of wire is holding it on, or is all of the wire sterling silver?
As I understand it, the wire stays in place and becomes an embedded headpin? Thanks! Looks great! |
The wire that holds the sterlingsilver wire on is just uncoated wire that I had laying around. You could use any craft wire. I use the same piece over and over. It never gets too hot to burn up. When I take the leaves out of the kiln I take off the craft wire and just have the ss wire attached to the leaf. Head pin style....yes. Then you can pull on the ss wire to harden and straighten it a bit. Some times I pull it through a green scratchy to shine and work harden the wire.
Thanks again for liking the tutorial. Bobby |
leaves
A few ways I have used the .....headpin style.......sterlingsilver wire.
My image loading window has problems ................gotta go find Norman. Will have to load them later. Bobby |
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