Kristina, Shrimp, Sonja, Bethany and Lisa, thanks so much for your input and experiences. The one thing I'm not having issues with is thermal shocking. The honeydew did lose a couple of small pieces when I put it way in the back of the flame the very first time, but it hasn't done that since. I'm so careful when introducing rods to the flame. I'm even cautious with my Moretti. I just hate it when pieces fly. I still jump even though I've been making beads for 4 years or more!
Also, I was able to pull a very thin stringer with the honeydew. I'd hoped to pull a nice fat one, as the rods are incredibly fat, so I was really hoping to thin the rod out, however the glass just gets like warm honey and goes really thin even when I wait a few seconds!
Shrimp, I think the idea of encasing it sounds great, if I don't devitrify it by heating up the rod to add the clear! My experience with honeydew is that it's great right at the start - first wrap, then forget it! I'm thinking I need to call Natasha and tell her my experience. I can't put the rod any further back in the flame. It's not even melting! When your marver touches it and it makes that tinking sound, you know the glass is cold and yet if I put it as far out as possible but still close enough to get it to melt, it starts to get those devit spots and then it's all over. It's really ridiculous! The other colors I've used, transparent champagne, light and dark peach opaque, dark rose opaque and a salmon opaque are not having those issues at all! They behave perfectly fine!
It's just this one color (so far).
At least there is a solution for it. Thanks so much for the encasing suggestion, Shrimp!
I love this color, but not what it's doing. I'll keep you updated on encasing. Did you encase the honeydew in the bead for your project, Shrimp? (I didn't realize all the posts were numbered - that's excellent and a fantastic way to find specific parts of a thread!)
|