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Beads of Courage


 
  #1  
Old 2007-08-24, 7:59am
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Torcha Torcha is offline
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Default Newbie Heart Tut?

Hi-
I am looking for a heart tutorial that would be pretty basic for a newbie like me. I read about the off mandrel and puffy heart tuts, but am hoping for something a little easier. The off mandrel heart sounded interesting, but without pix it is too hard for me to visualize. Anyway, hope someone here can help me out. I have a friend who wants to gve them to some nurses she is meeting with for a retreat.
Thanks!

Alana

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  #2  
Old 2007-08-24, 9:38am
Mopnglo Mopnglo is offline
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Hi Alana,

I'm a newbie too and although I've not mastered too many things. I'll share how I do my hearts.


I'm sorry for the poor quality of the picture of the finished bead. I just took it quickly, but it should give you an idea. I also heat the end up and give it a twist with a pick, just for some variation.
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  #3  
Old 2007-08-24, 3:43pm
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Terri-
Thanks so much for the tut. I will practice it tonight.
Alana


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  #4  
Old 2007-08-25, 9:54am
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if you want a vertical hole in the bead you can make a cone, (but more round on bottom) make a crease in the center on both sides of the larger part of the cone (for the ^^). I flatten it a little bit and and let gravity help you get pretty curves. if you spin it the heart with get wider at the top, just be carful that your glass it not too hot so it does not go flying....

i just made this:
remember that gravity can help or hurt you, and to alternate the direction of the heart ocasionally to keep your ends pretty.

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Last edited by jaci; 2011-04-17 at 8:11pm.
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  #5  
Old 2007-08-25, 10:00am
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This is how I made these! they are probably my fav shape!








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Last edited by jaci; 2011-04-17 at 8:11pm.
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  #6  
Old 2007-08-25, 10:05am
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Thanks to everyone who replied. I think I will spend most of my day practicing the different techniques given here and see which works best for me. This is such an awesome place of sharing. Thanks again!
Alana
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  #7  
Old 2007-08-25, 5:24pm
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Alana - I had the hardest time with hearts until I read Corina's book, Passing the Flame. It made the most sense to me and now I love making hearts. If you can get a copy of the book to look at, check it out.
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Last edited by Lara; 2007-08-25 at 5:31pm.
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  #8  
Old 2007-08-27, 10:58am
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Alana have you gotten any hearts made yet??? i wanna see them!! lol
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Last edited by jaci; 2011-04-17 at 8:12pm.
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  #9  
Old 2007-08-27, 11:19am
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Hi Alana - - - take a look at my website, my "about me" page has a video on there of how I make hearts . . . the video is a little small but it walks you through the steps.


I do mine like Jaci:
* make a fat cone then flatten slightly
* add humps to the wide part of your cone
* melt everything smooth, turn upside down so the humps stay rounded using gravity
* cut in the crease with your razor tool


Mine are big and usually take a full rod of glass, but you can make them small too .. . which I'm sure would be alot quicker and easier

Here are a few of mine so you can see the shape, they're flat and not puffy:



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  #10  
Old 2007-08-27, 8:14pm
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Ginny, lovely hearts. That tourquoise and ivory one is so pretty.
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  #11  
Old 2007-08-27, 9:30pm
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Jaci & Ginny-
Yes, I have seen and tried to use examples from your tutorials. It is kind of embarassing to see them compared with the wonderful hearts displayed on this page. I will try to get home and take pix of some and load tomorrow night. As a newbie I have really shied away from posting bead pix. I am realizing that the best opportunity to improve will be by getting feedback from those willing to provide it.

Ginny - I love your southwestern themed heart! I really enjoyed your video too. Takes me back a bit to my Texas days (Austin).
Thanks!

Alana
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  #12  
Old 2007-08-28, 4:44pm
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I think this is a Corina tip, but I don't have "Passing the Flame" handy, so I can't check. If not, then I remember these tips from WetCanvas or the ISGB forum (I know they predate LE), but can't remember who posted them originally. If you're doing a heart with a vertical hole, start with a cone shape. You may want to press it flat. Add glass to the sides of the heart with a swiping motion starting at the wide part of the cone, going down to the tip, and back up again in one motion. That should drag most of the new glass up to the wide part, which is where you want it. Repeat on the opposite side. You may need to do this more than once, depending on the size of your heart.

As a couple people have said already, gravity is definitely your friend with hearts! You may need to use it to get a nice end on your point if you make a vertical hole. It's easy for the tip to get sharp and pointy, so sometimes you need to heat the glass and let it flow down to re-pucker just a little. Definitely gravity is what will get the best shape on the lobes.

Hearts are a really difficult shape to master. (There are also different styles -- some people like them very plump, while others like a longer, more conical shape, so don't let people tell you yours aren't "right" if you like them.) I've been on a heart binge for a year or so. For vertical hearts, which is what I've been doing lately, I use a Zoozii Lovin' press.

Did you find Jen Geldard's tutorial on making a vertical-hole heart? It includes decorative techniques that you could leave out if you wanted a different look, but the basic shaping might be helpful.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/11899/229/page3.php
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  #13  
Old 2007-08-29, 6:54am
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Oooh Emily
I can't get the link to work?!
Ann
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  #14  
Old 2007-08-29, 10:14am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnnDK View Post
I can't get the link to work?!
Hmm. It works for me, so I don't know what to do to fix it for you. I hope nobody thinks I'm overstepping the bounds if I cut and paste:

TWISTED HEART TUTORIAL, by Jen Geldard

Originally written for the Glass Art forum on WetCanvas!

(this is from a few years ago -- I couldn't find a date on it)

Quote:



Twisted Heart How-to

I’ve been doing these hearts for a while and I consider them to be one of my signature beads. They’re a great way to save that bead that just went awry.
I’m using the colors and patterns that are in my example photo, but of course you can use any colors or patterns you chose.

To make this heart you’ll need glass rods, your choice of colors. I‘m using black, spring green and pink, and a length of latticcino, (twisted glass stringer/rod, mine is pink and spring green), enamels, and a twisting tool or stringer. I prefer the little twist tool because it gives you something more substantial to hold onto, and it’s a great way to use those small ends of rods. Here’s how to make one…


Take a short rod of glass and melt just the tip. Using a pair of tweezers pull out a few inches of stringer, I pull about 3 inches. When it’s cool snip off the very end so it’s clean. It should look like this:

Step 1. Start winding on a basic black bead… this one was approx.15mm.

Step 2. Roll the bead lightly in ivory enamel, and melt it in.

Step 3. Next add a second bead slightly smaller in pink, along side the first one. The size depends on what kind of embellishment you plan to add to it. Marver it down into a barrel shape. It makes it easier to judge how much decoration you need to add to match the size of your first half.

Step 4. Wind on your pink and mint green latticcino until it covers the surface.

Step 5. Melt in the latticcino.

Step 6. Marver the two sides smooth into one cylinder shape.

Step 7. Swipe on a thick stripe of spring green transparent. You might want to do 2 swipes side by side so that you’re close to the width of the bead. You will get narrower with these stripes as you go. I use whatever side of the bead I’m least happy so I can hide any mistakes.

Step 8. Heat up the stripe a bit and tap it into the cream enamel, so that the whole bottom of it is covered.

Step 9. Now swipe on the next color, in this case black, and tap that into the enamel.

Step 10. Now swipe on the pink and dip this one into enamel as well. These stripes are getting a bit shorter each time.

Step 11. Continue on striping and tapping into enamel until you’re happy with the effect. I often only use one color for these enamel steps. The layered marble effect is what we’re shooting for. Your last stripe should really just be a dot.

Step 12. Melt everything in and gently shape with your marver until you have somewhat of a smooth slightly flattened cone coming down from your original barrel.

Step 13. Using the edge of your marver, make an indentation in the top to finish your heart’s shape. Nudge and smooth as necessary.

Step 14. Now here’s where you use that little stringer twist tool. Heat up the center of your heart, and put the tip of your twist tool in the center and twist. The glass surrounding it will follow and all of the elements of the bead come together. Remove it from the flame till it cools enough to snap off the twist tool. It should snap off right at the connection. Now do this again on the other side of your heart.

Step 15. You’ve done it! Now if you like, you can place a tiny dot of glass right where you twisted. TA DA!
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  #15  
Old 2007-08-29, 11:07am
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Thanks Emily!!!

Ann
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  #16  
Old 2007-08-29, 11:17am
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Alania don't be afraid to post pics.. we all start somewhere!!! chances are you are being tooo hard on yourself! i'm sure they are really good! i mean you have been doing hearts for what... a few days.... any work i'm sure would be more than great!
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Last edited by jaci; 2011-04-17 at 8:13pm.
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  #17  
Old 2007-08-29, 2:53pm
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lots of great heart info here already, i'll just add my own technique which is alot like Ginny's...
i make a cone and then add big swoops like "shoulders" on the fat end of the cone on each side of the mandrel.

as i melt those in, i periodically turn the mandrel upside down and sideways so that the humps pull down and away from the mandrel. i generally have to add big fat dots on the tops of the shoulders to keep them round...

then once i get close to the right shape i flatten with my mashers... i shape the flattened heart by adding dots of glass until it's the right shape and the flame polish the whole thing...

oh, and usually i have to do a little repair work on the skinny end... just add a small wrap of glass as close to the end as possible.

Hope that my addition helps some... here's a pic or two of hearts i've done this way...

Melanie


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  #18  
Old 2007-08-29, 9:52pm
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Jaci-
Actually, I was ready to post last night, but I couldn't resize my pctures to fit LE requirements. I have a Mac, but have not spent the $ for Photo Shop...


Alana
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  #19  
Old 2007-08-29, 10:45pm
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Alana
I'm on a Mac too and I use GIMP. It's easy to use and the fact that it's free makes it very cheap, which is just what my budget can cope with

Ann
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  #20  
Old 2007-08-30, 3:23am
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I start my hearts with a very small tube & just keep adding. No two are ever the same shape but I think that is one of the things that appeal with hand made beads. Do any flattening early, then keep adding more glass & tip the mandrel in the flame to let gravity help. I pull short thick clear stringers & use them to fill around the flowers, to add to the 'humps' & around the mandrel holes Kerry
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Last edited by Catts; 2007-08-30 at 5:12pm.
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  #21  
Old 2007-08-30, 8:30am
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Beautiful hearts everyone. Very nice tuts!
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  #22  
Old 2007-08-30, 11:28am
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Those big flowers are lovely, Kerry.

For a quick resize, use resizr.com. You don't need to download it. Just go to the site and either give it a URL or browse to your picture. Just make sure to follow the directions on the screen. There's a point where it says "right click here and select 'save target as'" and if you don't do exactly that, it won't necessarily save your file in a format that LE can read. If you do follow directions, though, it's a quick easy resize -- you can just drag the corner of the photo on the screen or drag a slider, or specify a size.
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  #23  
Old 2007-08-30, 12:03pm
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Default Here's how I make hearts

I can't draw this out because I don't know how. But I have been making hearts forever and am actually known for my heart beads so here's how:

1) make a cone with wide end towards the tip. Make sure the thin end is small and nice because it will be hard to get to later!
2) add additional glass about 1/4 of the way down from the fatest end so it looks kind of like a ring around where the humps would be.
3) Heat the whole thing until it is smooth and ready and willing to flatten.
4) Flatten it on both sides - Not alot just however flat you want it to be.
5) Now the tricky part starts. You really need to watch and read your glass to get gravity to work for you. Heat 1 side edge. Push up with a tool (I use a kitchen knife) towards the hump to make sure the shape is fat to narrow. Then do the other side.
6) Heat the lump on one side and round it up putting our mandrel upside down to get glass to flow and then tilting it and then upside down and then tilting it. The last part of this I heat the middle of the rounded shape slightly just to round it a little better.
7) Make sure the side you have been working on is cool enough not to move and then do the other side.
You are now ready to decorate as you wish.




Please feel free to pm me with questions.
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  #24  
Old 2007-08-30, 6:58pm
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Okay...sorry for the poor quality, but you will get the idea...These were my 1st hearts...I will go out in a bit and try to play with some of the tuts listed since then. I appreciate all of the tips everyone has been willing to share. So many beautiful hearts - beating - and made of glass!
Thanks!


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  #25  
Old 2007-09-04, 4:38pm
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ooooooouuuu! i think your hearts are comming out great!!! i love the first one!! great shape!
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