Do many people use pixie dust

[meister1981]

I was looking over things and was wondering if many people use pixie dust in their bead making? and if you could post some pictures of what the end result looks like.

[stargirlmama]

I have a set on ebay and another one on my specials page. It's really fun to sparkle things up a bit and you can use as much or as little as you want to control the effect.

marianna

[Solana]

I use pixie dust a lot for spacers since it's gorgeous and adds tons of sparkle to an overall set. Plus, it's a lot of fun to use...and simple!

Here are some images of sets I've made using pixie dust:





Hope that helps!

Karla

[DreamMuse]

Wow!! Those are gorgeous!! I have the gold, but have never tried it. I def have to break it out now!

Can you put stringer decoration over it? Or will it pop off?

[Solana]

That is gold sparkle pixie dust on a base of the pale transparent amber (or yellow).

I've tried adding stringer on top of a pixied bead, but never had much luck with it staying on. I know other people have done it, but I'm just not sure how sturdy the decoration would be. Maybe someone else can answer this question better.

Thanks for the kind words, Disa!!!

[meister1981]

I was also wondering if you can encase it in clear or if it will just crack the clear afterwards.

[stargirlmama]

I find that when encasing it it doesn't show up , it either melts away completely or you'll just see a sparkle here or there I haven't been able to get it just right I might be getting it too hot though.

[kandice]

Mmmmm beautifull, Karla!!
I use pixie dust sometimes during the holidays - it does give a pretty sparkle. Let's see if I can find some pics from last year....

[cherokeeflame]

I've tried adding stringer decoration but it just pops right off

[Toni L.]

I have a bunch of pixie dust, but have never had much luck using it. What's the secret? Do you have to roll it a bunch of times, or is there another way to apply it?? I'd love to be able to use it!
Thanks all!

toni

[kandice]

I roll the bead in the dust and then wave it a few times in the flame so it sticks. I never could get stringer to stick on top of it, though.

[Slaterville]

I use pixie dust too. The best way I have found it to work for me is this: Pour some pixie dust into a shot glass, make your bead towards the end of a mandrel, then dip your bead in the pixie dust. I also tap my mandrel a little bit on the edge of the shot glass to remove any excess. Flame flash.

[Solana]

I like to keep my pixie dust stored in glass baby food jars, and like Penny, dip the warm bead into the jar to coat it in the dust. I, too, tap the mandrel on the edge of the jar to remove any extra dust.

The trick to pixie dust is to get the bead warm enough so the dust will stick, but not so hot that the bead can move and become mishapen (sp?). I flash the bead in the flame until the entire bead starts to glow, at which point, I dip it into the jar and spin. Once the bead is evenly coated, I return it to the flame and flash it until it start to glow red again. Then, I pop the bead into the kiln! That's it!

[Toni L.]

Ooh dipping it sounds like a good idea - seems as though you'll get good coverage that way too. I'm gonna try that this week. Thanks for the tips!
Toni

[luke gardner]

Pixie dust works extremely well for honeycombs or base backrounds for inside out blown soft glass beads. Never exposing the pixie dust to direct flame contact maintains its silky integrity. To achieve this effect with out cracking, the bead must be inflated and condensed several times to get the glass to fully accept the dust.

[2catsdesigns]

I made these beads LAST Christmas.. pixie dust with raised reduction frit stringer.. I can't remember exactly how I made them, except that it did take quite a bit of time for me to get the hang of applying the stringer over the top of the pixie dust without having it 'ball' up and pop off... I haven't tried doing this again since, so maybe it's something to think about again. Unfortunately, the photo isn't the best, because the reduction frit REALLY sparkled on these.

Cheers,
Sue

[chrisdd]

I make my beads in the middle of the mandrel and apply pixie dust using a trough made of aluminum foil. I roll, flash in the flame, roll again, flash again, and pop into the kiln. I get a nice, heavy coverage this way for maximum bling.

[*MAR*]

Inspired by Karla's goldies, I made an earring set and a focal bead this last week. Patty is annealing them for me. When I get them back, I will show them off. Thanks for inspiring me to use my pixie dust. I love the effect I got!

[Solana]

Princess - Did you ever get the beads back? I wanna see!