Help with DH Oracle Violet Opal
 

Hi Bead Brain Trust! Hope everyone had a happy Turkey day! I’ve been trying to get the Violet-Opal to strike like their sample bead. The color is beautiful, I’d like to achieve that.
Their Sample:

My closest attempt is smallest bead, it’s getting there(actually looking at both pics here for first time side by side - I don’t have anything freaking close!)… :wtf: one problem with other attempts is the kiln changes the color! I’m using a Paragon I’ve used for years;set to 960 turned first few solid pink!

I Reduced it to 920, tried these, annealed at 920 set using the dial Low-High set so temp sensor shows just around or just below 920. This is closest - smallest one…had shortest time in kiln b 4 shut down…like 15 minutes, followed by next size larger that’s just starting to muddy up, can’t see the mandrel…the clearest one shows mandrel. (Not counting triangle beads)
Mine:

Ideas?

I’ve found it likes cooler temperature flame but never strikes like their sample.

I’ve been making the bead like normal, then cooling it & holding under my work bench till it’s no longer showing any heat color 30-50 seconds Im estimating…then hold it in the very tip or front edges of the flame. No changes to flame, just holding bead at very edge, rotating it until it just begins to color from heat…out till cooler, then back…repeating doesn’t seem to matter…mine is no where close to their sample…what am I doing wrong?

Thank you in advance!

If I understand what I've read correctly about the temp/garage timing, the lower the temp, the longer the soak. So, if you were soaking at annealing temp of 960 for an hour, you need to extend the annealing time even longer at 920, say an hour and a half or two hours.

if it helps, the base is clear for that bead, it's not a solid opal purple bead.

What kind of lighting did you use for your photo? Some purples look different depending on the light. I think they look more blue under fluorescent and more pink in natural sunlight. Might be worth checking into, along with the other suggestions. Good luck! I'd love to know your results, as I just bought a single rod of this glass.

In working with that line of opals from DH, I found that if I can see much cloudiness in the bead by the time it will go into the kiln, it will further opacify a great deal while annealing. So I try to keep the striking as limited as possible while making the bead, so that what the kiln adds doesn't overdo it. I do agree, though, that lighting makes a huge difference. That morning light is hard to beat for glass photography. :)

Thanks Yonil!

I think that may be the trick! Clear core!
 

Thanks folks! I really appreciate your input!

Sorry for long delay, I’m in a funk for some reason and have lost interest in most everything :(

I did sit at the torch and try 1 real short session(5 beads) the other day using Kirsten’s input of a CLEAR CORE then o-v-o (4th bead, note clear center & colored ends) & theia over the clear. I’m pretty sure THATS IT!! The purple Theia (3rd bead) came out lighter and I’m sure in GOOD SUNLIGHT it will look much better & closer to the sample! I agree, rainygrll & Yonil, sunlight makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!

I was making a barrel with o-v-o over clear and got it outta shape after the STRIKE(which looked real close) but in trying to reshape the barrel I think I reset the damn thing :oops: See picture below. The first 2 beads are Elpis(first bead I had used a light blue transparent core that WAS NOT compatible with 104(think it’s bullseye left over from a previous mixup) :confused:

I think a second reason for colorful ends & clear center is the rolling I’m doing to make the barrel - I was sliding marver as well as rolling it to move glass to even up outside edges of bead…I think I thinned out the o-v-o in center.

That last bead is Melia….first try - I’m amazed how easy that one colored up! Lots of potential in that one!!! 8-[

The ANNEALING problem is the 920 for 2 hours caused the o-v-o to turn opaque pink & theia to turn very dark that it looks black!! So how do I anneal? Lower temp again & lengthen the time? I actually wrote to DH about that & some questions concerning their terminology on their frit & how to use it when striking/reducing. I’ll share. That annealing problem make sense ESC? Sorry I didn’t describe it clearer first time!!

Again thanks everyone for your help!!! [-o<

Just to mention again with the o-v-o: I found that if I purposefully tried to do the strike method (cool, then reheat), it would end up cloudy after annealing every time. So I just work the bead like normal, without the purposeful strike, and it ends up working much more nicely. When I see it get cloudy before going into the kiln, I know it will be overstruck and fully opaque after annealing.

I would also suggest thinning out the Theia. When I make solid-colored Theia beads, they end up darker than I'd like, but over a core of clear, the color really shines. For the size of the beads you're making, I'd think the annealing schedule shouldn't be an issue. I only hold my beads for 30 min. at 920 before ramping down, actually. (I don't make many large things.)

Lovely Melia colors!

Thought it might be good to have some example photos.

Solid Theia, looking pretty dark.
Attachment 179593

Theia blown out into a vessel, to show it's color as it's thicker or thinner. The bird on top is Theia over a core of clear.

Attachment 179594

Theia over clear, and in some sunlight.
Attachment 179595

Opal violet. (Opal violet core, aurae frit, melted in (but not super heated to clear), and cooled a bit before reducing the frit, then encased in clear and shaped into a fish. So these beads did get some striking due to that reduction step, but not the "Heat to clear, super cool, warm again" strike sequence. As I make the fish, the bead does cool off a bit, so there is some mild striking that occurs there as well.
Attachment 179596

Opal violet, same color combo and process. I think this one is cloudier because I used a reduction glass for the fins/tail, and the cool+reduce gave it some extra striking that the previous fish did not get.
Attachment 179597

Good morning all!

A BIG THANKS to Yonil for your excellent beads! Very clear(pardon pun) colors with zephyr as the core! PLUS it just makes so much cents (another pun, dohl, sorry)…that also saves the special glass and makes it go that much farther….

THANK YOU YONIL!!

For some reason I have trouble making things small…your fish & birds are beautiful examples of Theia. It’s a very cool color and it truly shines, I now understand what the clear can do as a base, plus they are excellent examples of what you can do with smaller beads. I try, but before ya know it, it’s big! I have seen some gorgeous beads that were very small, about the size of a penny, in a string of 20+, made with DH glass, encased in zephyr, and all beads matched perfectly by Three Muses Glass….

Excellent information & work folks! Thanks a bunch - off to try my hand with DH glass & making my beads smaller. I sorta tried that last night making just plain old round donut shaped o-v-o over a core of zephyr. I DID notice beads clouding up & if that happened I reheated it until it got clear, cooled it & tried the strike again…I didn’t anneal them, just put in a fiber blanket to cool. Will test annealing with 1 Theia & 1 o-v-o ramping up to 920 for 30 minutes then let it cool. If those beads keep their color, I’ll batch anneal all I’ve been putting in fiber blanket.

Thanks again to everyone for your help! I’ll post my latest..

Best luck! Hope to hear your results!

I'm so glad this thread was started because I was so discouraged by my results, I just closeted the glass and frankly forgot about it. Now I need to get it out and try again. I agree that purple bead DH uses for its sample is such a fabulous color. I want that color too.