View Single Post
  #1  
Old 2017-03-08, 12:23pm
Beatrix's Avatar
Beatrix Beatrix is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 21, 2017
Posts: 422
Default Pulling flat ribbon

So for my first pendant I decided to go bonkers and make an attempt at Mary Lockwood's crocus pendant. (Thanks for sharing it, Mary!) This being my first pendant, I didn't even bother trying to make NICE canes like she shows here http://marylockwood.com/yahoo_site_a...es.6480523.pdf but instead just pulled some straight colors, figuring I'd mess everything up and end up with a cracked pendant on top of it.

Well right off the bat I was having issues. I tried using pliers and squashing the end down and pulling slowly, but it quickly reverted to a round shape. So it goes from "mashed blob" to "toothpick" with very little area of the ideal thickness and flatness in between. Is this a matter of perfecting the technique, heat control and rate of pulling? I was wondering if it wouldn't be possible to get a much better length of flat stringer by pulling between two pliers that have flattened out either end, but then there's the issue of needing a third arm to pull off the rod from the gather while holding two pairs of pliers. >;/

I'll post a picture of my laughable attempt at the crocus tonight. It didn't help that I ended up twisting the entire thing so it's a real hot mess.
Reply With Quote