Easy SIS stringer How-To

j2canoe · #1 2009-12-28, 10:00am

SIS was such a mystery to me when I first started lampworking! I looked everywhere to try to find it for sale, but to no avail. With no one around me to ask at the time -I didn't know that everyone made their own! It is really no different than pulling any other stringer with one extra step involved. It is so versatile. I will also attach a pic of a bead using the SIS to show you. Here's how to do it: First, cut your silver foil into a strip - It should be about as wide as you want you finished gather to be (I usually make it just under 1/2 inch wide - don't worry about the length) Then, take an old 3/32nd mandrel and a rod of dark ivory. Do NOT put any bead release on this mandrel. Heat just the first quarter inch of the tip of the mandrel to glowing. Wrap the ivory around the very, very tip of the end of the mandrel just like you were going to make a disk bead on a regular rod of glass ( maybe 5 or 6 fat wraps). Now melt and marver until it forms a ball just hanging a bit off the mandrel - (it should look like the gather on the end of a regular rod). Quickly roll the gather across the silver foil and pick it up on the gather. Burnish the foil down onto the gather with a tool (I use a steel nail thing from Revlon that looks like a file without grooves that I got at Target). Now, back into the flame and melt in the silver. You will see it start to disappear - this is what you want - it is actually going into the gather itself. Try to get as much of the silver melted in as possible, but don't worry about a few balls left on the surface. Now, get your handy set of tweezers/needle nose pliers ready. Remove the gather from the flame and watch for a couple of seconds as it turns into the most yucky, disgusting greyish-green mess you ever saw (this is what they call the "skin" - you can't miss it!). Pull stringer just like normal. This will quickly become your "go-to" decoration and is essential if you want to make organic effects or bases under dots, etc. Using the mandrel in place of your base rod can be used for making any kind of stringer or twisty. It is really, really easy to do and the mandrel makes it so you don't have to worry about your base rod getting overheated.
When you are at the end of your pull, you just dunk the mandrel in a glass of water (handily waiting nearby) and the remaining glass on the mandrel pops right off.

One Caveat: Your silver must be the Fine Silver leaf or foil which can be found at most glass suppliers. Do not try this with sterling silver foil or with whatever they sell as silver leaf from the craft stores - only the fine silver will work.

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clan tabby · #2 2009-12-28, 11:19am

Yes, yes, yes, I was always looking for it every time I bought glass! Oh, darn, they must be out of it again.

I finally figured it out, but it was a total mystery for months!

Thanks for the mandrel-technique. I seem to always forget about using mandrels for stuff like this. Not yet accustomed to doing end-of-mandrel work.

CarolWatson · #3 2009-12-28, 1:06pm

I remember when I first started making beads, I asked the group of gals that I used to meet and talk glass with "where do you buy your silvered ivory stringer??" They looked at me like I had three heads !!

j2canoe · #4 2009-12-28, 3:33pm

I can't take credit for the mandrel technique - I learned about it in several posts and a couple of tuts from the pro-ladies and even they stated in the tuts that they had learned it from someone else. I suspect it's been around awhile - but it sure makes life a little easier when handling the big globs!

Anne Ricketts · #5 2010-01-01, 4:49am

Quote:

Originally Posted by CarolWatson

I remember when I first started making beads, I asked the group of gals that I used to meet and talk glass with "where do you buy your silvered ivory stringer??" They looked at me like I had three heads !!

Carol you made me laugh!

I was in that same boat 8 yrs ago! Shirley Cook answered my plea on where to "get" the SIS! LOL! I thougt it was commercially made also!

ROC · #6 2010-01-01, 11:08am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anne Ricketts

Carol you made me laugh!

I was in that same boat 8 yrs ago! Shirley Cook answered my plea on where to "get" the SIS! LOL! I thougt it was commercially made also!

Ya'll just crack me up. If the stuff weren't so darn fragile, someone could sell the stringers in their etsy or artfire . . . although it may arrive as SIS frit!

Scraphappy · #7 2010-01-01, 7:43pm

wow...I will try this tonight...I took a class a couple of years ago and the teacher thier showed us you lick (yuk) you ivory rod then wrap the silver,barnish then heat it and pull the stringer ... but actually I think your method might work a lil bit better ... thanks .. Scrappy

Anne Ricketts · #8 2010-01-01, 7:55pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scraphappy

wow...I will try this tonight...I took a class a couple of years ago and the teacher thier showed us you lick (yuk) you ivory rod then wrap the silver,barnish then heat it and pull the stringer

And the silver actually stuck to the rod after you burninshed it in, before you heated the rod? I'm not about to lick a glass rod for anything!

Scraphappy · #9 2010-01-03, 12:20am

Yup...the teacher licked the ivory rod ...in my head I was like yeah right...I just dipped my finger in the water and got the rod wet...yeah..but her silver actually stuck she said the silver will even stick better...hers did ..and her bead was lovely...anyways... went into my studio and tried your way Glass Cat...I love it...it worked ...thank you mucho...