[patienthand]

Liza,

I am not working right now, life is going insane. I dont have one made up right now, but it lends itself well to boro, and not to soft glass.. the poked stars thing.

Basicaly you heat about a 1/2 inch soft spot on the ornament and then use a VERY thin carbon rod and poke towards the center.... place 4 around the middle of the ornament belly and then a layer of 4 on the top and a layer of 4 around the bottom,,, put the top and bottom layer in between the first round and angle all towrds the center.

Note, dont let them touch inside, and keep the piece evenly hot till you are done or the stress monster will kill it. basically it looks like a star inside the ornament.

I use a carbon/graphite rod thats maybe 6 mm.. I get them at the welding supply and peel the copper coating off of them VERY carefully and sharpen one end. I suppose you could also use one of the long tapered graphites that has a sharpish point on it too.

and way back when... we used to get some of the glass paint like they used for faux stained glass and paint the inside of the star pokes for a colored star.. or use the gold that fires onto glass and paint inside it and fire it.

Candice

Candice