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| Tips, Techniques, and Questions -- Technical questions or tips |
2008-05-15, 8:28pm
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Member
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Join Date: Jul 07, 2006
Posts: 47
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Question About Feathering and Moving Glass
I was wondering if anyone had any techniques that work well for them for feathering, dragging and moving surface glass on a bead? I always seem to have such a problem with this and I know it's not difficult. My bead cools down so quickly that I have to drag the glass in stages. Am I digging into the surface too much or not heating the bead enough? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Pam
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2008-05-15, 8:51pm
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Glassy Lady
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Join Date: Jun 05, 2005
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 2,905
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You have to be quick and use a light hand. Make sure you are spot heating the surface enough to get it really molten but without getting it so hot that you distort the whole bead when you rake. This is something that takes practice to accomplish correctly.
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Alex Mironov
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BHB/PANDORA EXCHANGE IN THE PATIO
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2008-05-15, 8:56pm
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Member
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Join Date: Jul 07, 2006
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Someone once told me to keep the bead directly under the flame and drag the glass once the bead heats up. Has anyone tried that?
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2008-05-15, 9:02pm
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Glassy Lady
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Join Date: Jun 05, 2005
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
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Be careful with your tool if you're going to keep the bead directly under the flame. I've ruined good brass and steel tools that way by melting the points on them into little balls. I've also got the tip of the tool stuck in the glass, necessitating reheating the glass in order to pull the (now most probably ruined) tool out of the glass. I prefer to spot heat until really hot, then raking out of the flame. The trick is to do it fast and not dig in too deep, keep the tip of your raking tool on the surface.
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Alex Mironov
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BHB/PANDORA EXCHANGE IN THE PATIO
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2008-05-15, 9:11pm
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Ad astra per aspera
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Join Date: Jun 15, 2005
Location: Apache Junction AZ
Posts: 7,324
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I've ruined too many tools with the under the flame method, so what I do is heat the bead under the flame, then lift it up above the flame and rake quickly. I use a dental pick with a very fine tip and, as Alex said, a nice light touch. Better to have to go back and drag a little more than to wreck the surface.
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Karen Sherwood
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2008-05-15, 11:19pm
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Junior Member
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Join Date: May 03, 2008
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Posts: 29
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I do my raking at the bottom of the flame. The trick is rake with a tungsten pick. I sell the Handy Andy Tungsten Tweezers. They have a pick on one side, a shaping tool on the other and in the middle you get a hole punch all made of tungsten. However any tungsten pick will work on the edge of the flame.
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Andy Ray
Galactic Glass
Home of the Handy Andy Tungsten Tweezer
"Sometimes you see the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right" Robert Hunter
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2008-05-15, 11:45pm
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Mad about Glass
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Join Date: Nov 29, 2005
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 1,052
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Andy, where do you sell the tungsten tweezers? I have been to your website and your ebay store several times and I can never find tungsten tweezers.
Jenn
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Jenn
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2008-05-16, 6:41am
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Who me?
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Join Date: Jun 15, 2005
Location: Hagerstown, Indiana
Posts: 2,284
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I have found that the best way for me to maintain that "light hand" is to use very thin stringer.
I pull clear stringers to 2 to 2.5 mm from all my clear shorts. Then just before I am going to be doing a lot of raking, I heat a small ball (about 3 to 4 mm) on the end of each stringer and use my very thin tweezers to pull about 3 inches of 1 mm stringer on the end of each fat stringer.
These very thin stringer won't let you dig too deeply into the bead or they will break. It's best to have them at an angle when raking or they will break. I get a clean tip with each use by dipping shallowly in my water glass.
Having the fatter stringer to hold onto with the small stringer ends help control and the thin clear all but disappears in the rake.
You can either imbed the end in the bead and blow to cool to break off or pull the stringer away from the bead until it trails off depending on the look you want.
All other's tips about heating where you rake apply.
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From the Perimeter of the Great Dismal Swamp
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2008-05-16, 7:22am
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The Crazy One
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Join Date: Jun 05, 2005
Location: Lococabana, OR
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Handy Andy
I do my raking at the bottom of the flame. The trick is rake with a tungsten pick. I sell the Handy Andy Tungsten Tweezers. They have a pick on one side, a shaping tool on the other and in the middle you get a hole punch all made of tungsten. However any tungsten pick will work on the edge of the flame.
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OMG The Handy Andy tool ROCKS! I'm mostly an anti tool person, but THIS tool has got to be one of the best thought out tools I have ever seen and used, I love mine! Sorry for the crappy picture.
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loco
Still crazy after all these years...
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2008-05-16, 8:30am
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Ad astra per aspera
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Join Date: Jun 15, 2005
Location: Apache Junction AZ
Posts: 7,324
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That looks like a torture implement! LOL
So, you rake with the outside tweezer point? That looks kinda awkward.
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Karen Sherwood
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2008-05-16, 9:16am
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Ass-kicking Cephalopod
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Join Date: Jun 19, 2006
Location: Duh, Squidville
Posts: 9,523
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I have found that the tungsten tools I have bought do not have a sharp enough tip. The really fine dental picks are much sharper.
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DOG is my co-pilot
Cricket w/two 5 lpm oxycons - and sometimes a Minor.
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2008-05-16, 9:41am
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Who me?
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Join Date: Jun 15, 2005
Location: Hagerstown, Indiana
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Quote:
Originally Posted by squid
I have found that the tungsten tools I have bought do not have a sharp enough tip. The really fine dental picks are much sharper.
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Whatever you do - do not get the dental tools in the flame - they arc like 4th of July sparklers and burn the tips off - don't ask how I know.
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From the Perimeter of the Great Dismal Swamp
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2008-05-16, 10:08am
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Ass-kicking Cephalopod
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Join Date: Jun 19, 2006
Location: Duh, Squidville
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Quote:
Originally Posted by swamper
Whatever you do - do not get the dental tools in the flame - they arc like 4th of July sparklers and burn the tips off - don't ask how I know.
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Yeah, they can't stand much heat at all.
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Cricket w/two 5 lpm oxycons - and sometimes a Minor.
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2008-05-16, 10:21am
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Senior Member
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Join Date: May 21, 2006
Location: Cincinnati
Posts: 2,807
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I use a sharpened mandrel (really sharp). My husband has a grinder (that he uses for some things) I use for mandrels to knock of the edges when they get cut. I had him sharpen some mandrels that were too bent to use any more.
These are nice and sturdy, they can take a little heat without crumpling,
they were FREE and renewable. I have found personally that these work better than stringer for bullseye glass. It's enough stiffer and cools faster so you need something that's a little less delicate to move the glass an inch or more at a time. I tried the stringer thing for a long time, and it was very frustrating. With softer glass, you have to use a lighter touch.
Got a tip in a Jen Geldard class where she had a bead release failure so the bead would be forever stuck on the mandrel, to just leave the bead on the tip so you have a decorated mandrel pick.
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Lynda
Cheetah, 5 lpm and 7lpm conc/generator (8-9 psi), natural gas (booster), started 11/06
"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." -- Bertrand Russell
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2008-05-16, 10:28am
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Glassy Lady
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Join Date: Jun 05, 2005
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
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Lynda, what a great idea! I didn't think of that. I've been looking for something other than dental picks that wouldn't melt in the flame. Thanks!
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Alex Mironov
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BHB/PANDORA EXCHANGE IN THE PATIO
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2008-05-16, 10:35am
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Senior Member
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Location: San Jose, CA
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We carry the Handy Andy tool (soon to be added to our website), as well as both straight and bent tungsten tweezers, and a straight tungsten rake.
And, as Swamper stated, using a stringer as a rake is another way to go too.
Malcolm
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2008-05-16, 8:03pm
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Mad about Glass
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Join Date: Nov 29, 2005
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 1,052
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Thanks Malcolm. I have your tungsten tweezers and they are great. I thought the Handy Andy tool would be good for loops, etc.
Jenn
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Jenn
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2008-05-16, 8:46pm
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Senior Member
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Location: San Jose, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ekkie
Thanks Malcolm. I have your tungsten tweezers and they are great. I thought the Handy Andy tool would be good for loops, etc.
Jenn
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They are 
Malcolm
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2008-05-17, 7:51pm
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Jan 23, 2006
Posts: 1,229
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This tip help me. don't completely melt in what ever it is you want to move.
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2008-05-18, 6:56pm
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I practice alchemy!
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Join Date: Dec 06, 2007
Location: Milton-Freewater, OR
Posts: 716
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The books make raking look so simple; just heat and rake all around. I just tried raked hearts--again--and had better success. I heated the dots and raked each one separately. That way I didn't get major distortion or a tool stuck. I liked how they turned out and will try again.
Celeste
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2008-05-18, 8:32pm
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I speak Murrini!
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Join Date: Oct 12, 2006
Location: In a Glass House, CA
Posts: 9,170
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Hey Malcolm!!!
Any idea when you'll be getting those Handy Andy's - and approx. price?
Thanks,
DeAnne in CA
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2008-05-18, 9:59pm
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Senior Member
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I purchased Andy's tweezers a few months ago just by simply emailing him and requesting a Paypal invoice. They were at that time $45. I love the tool and use it daily!
andy@galacticglass.net
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~Heidi ~
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2008-05-18, 10:15pm
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Senior Member
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Quote:
Originally Posted by theglasszone
Hey Malcolm!!!
Any idea when you'll be getting those Handy Andy's - and approx. price?
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Got them now, and yes, the price is $45. Thanks
Malcolm
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2008-05-18, 10:40pm
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I speak Murrini!
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Join Date: Oct 12, 2006
Location: In a Glass House, CA
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Thanks, Malcolm...back to the dungeon!
DeAnne in CA
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~DeAnne~
I've got a murrini for that,'ya know!
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2008-05-18, 11:13pm
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Senior Member
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Quote:
Originally Posted by theglasszone
Thanks, Malcolm...back to the dungeon!
DeAnne in CA |
Don't lock the dungeon door this time, and we might send down a bowl of gruel 
Malcolm
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2008-05-19, 12:51am
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I speak Murrini!
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Join Date: Oct 12, 2006
Location: In a Glass House, CA
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...oh, but I must lock the door! Otherwise the screaming meemies come marching in, waving their arms and asking nonsensical questions such as "Do you know where my other sock is?" 
(And, of course, that would be RIGHT when my MAPP is about to give out, and I'm adding the tiniest finishing detail on the bead I've been working on for 45 minutes!!!).
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