Jelly Fish - Page 6

dlando1 · #**151** 2013-07-25, 1:31pm

Hey Mary,
The striking info is here in the boro room thread named, Boro in review. Glass Line has some pics of Maui G's work. He makes some really fine glass. I will say that the Jellyfish tut in the magazine is really good Thanks for the tech info on your jellies. I just got some aqua glow sticks today. Torch time! Be good to you!
Dave

dlando1 · #**152** 2013-07-28, 10:29am

I put backs on a couple of these. And One with Elvis orange. Thanks for taking a look.
Dave

Mary K · #**153** 2013-07-28, 8:38pm

Elvis Orange, eh? Why are you doing this to me? I dont have that color!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh well, I am running low on Jet and always need something, so now I will have
to make a glass order. I just got home from a 2 day show, and this year I had
my best total yet there, and I know it was from Jelly fish. I sold almost everyone I brought, even the one I put a really high price on cause I wanted to keep it. Sold it.
guess I will have to keep trying to make another like it. Jellyfish rock!!!!
I love how you got those bubbles on that one too, really cool. Good work.

PhatPat · #**154** 2013-07-31, 9:09am

Here's a lil jelly i did with gold and silver fume.

Mary K · #**155** 2013-08-01, 6:43am

Nice Pat!

dlando1 · #**156** 2013-08-02, 10:35am

Some jellies with many bubbles

fourpawsglass · #**157** 2013-08-02, 11:24am

I have always wanted to make jellyfish pendants. I followed Mary K's tutorial (thank you!) - it did take me a few tries to get the cap to flow right. I needed to drop the clear glass on top of the cap more vertically and pull off that way, rather than twisting off which stretched out the cap. Here is my third attempt:

Next I want to try dlando1's way of putting the cap and tentacles together. Thank you again for a very fun (and addictive) tutorial.

Sweetsoap · #**158** 2013-08-02, 5:28pm

I LUV the color and the way the tentacles go all the way down towards the bottom of ur piece. Still working up the courage to give it a try!

Quote:

Originally Posted by fourpawsglass

I have always wanted to make jellyfish pendants. I followed Mary K's tutorial (thank you!) - it did take me a few tries to get the cap to flow right. I needed to drop the clear glass on top of the cap more vertically and pull off that way, rather than twisting off which stretched out the cap. Here is my third attempt:

Next I want to try dlando1's way of putting the cap and tentacles together. Thank you again for a very fun (and addictive) tutorial.

Mary K · #**159** 2013-08-02, 9:19pm

After the tentacles are built, I just leave mine hanging straight. I add the cap of the fish, and I like to leave it higher than I really want it, cause it's gonna push down when you add the clear top. I keep this spinning with one hand just behind the flame and I keep the cap farthest away, I want it to be a little cooler, so it will be stiffer. make sense? I get the gather for the top about the size of my original gather that I used on the base. Sometimes I give it a small push to spread it a bit, but I make sure the face of this gather is hotter than the base. Where you focus your heat, or have your heat base, makes a difference on how the cap will shape up. I keep the whole thing spinning, my two rods horizontal, and when I join them I don't rush. I spin and push, keep the flame on the hip of the top glass, till I get what I think will be enough. then I spin a bit letting it sort of cool, maybe 30 seconds or so then heat the rod I want to remove and remove it. the cap will not stretch because the heat base has been transfered to above it at where you are melting it off. Once the top is off, then focus your heat on the part you want to move down around your jellyfish cap. Lately I have been pushing it down with a graphite shaper, metal tools left marks, and making sure the cap is covered all the way.
Fourpaws your jellyfish is very nice, I love your bail too. It's nice to see a well finished piece, and doing a nice bail is an art in itself. Only thing I would suggest to you is slow down a bit, think about where your piece is the hottest and use that to your advantage.

fourpawsglass · #**160** 2013-08-03, 5:32am

Thanks Mary! I'm off to AGI tomorrow in Pennsylvania for a week. I have your latest directions in my notes - I will definitely give them a try. Bails have been my nemesis for a long time but they finally come easy to me. Look for pictures after I get back.

Kalorlo · #**161** 2013-08-07, 8:05am

I'm going to lower the quality here

This is my first go at boro on my own torch and this got much bigger than I should have been attempting for the amount of heat I have! The colour is NS blue exotic. The cap is way overreduced and a general mess (it got too big to begin with), but the colour of it is actually better than I was expecting: it has a pink iridescent flash. I'd tried putting clear dots on it before encasing. I like the blue wispy skirt under the cap and the green in the tentacles.

I need to keep the size much smaller than this - I started off thinking ok, the glass is melting well enough... but then it took an hour at the end to get the clear into the vague semblance of smoothness we have here!

This has just gone through a soft glass annealing cycle at the moment - I'll do a proper boro one once I've got a few pieces to do.

For even more hilarity, I went on to make soft glass test spacers straight after doing this, and I was melting the glass all over the place for the first couple! It was an amusing night, all told

Mary K · #**162** 2013-08-07, 2:56pm

Heather I say Bravo! Well done, much less for a first try! You may see a color change once you run it thru a boro anealing cycle. If you had added just a dot of clear on the smaller side of the bail, and heated just that spot to settle it in your bail would be perfect. I really think a well done bail is important, a sloppy bail, ( which yours is nothing even near sloppy, it's fab) will detract from the nicest pendant.
Lose that soft glass and lets see some more boro! much more fun to melt, IMHO.

Kalorlo · #**163** 2013-08-07, 3:05pm

Thanks Mary! I went back and read the thread again and did a much better (and smaller!) one tonight.

LOL, I won't be leaving soft glass behind, but I like being able to do everything

I don't see myself doing many beads in boro for example because that just sounds less fun.

Kalorlo · #**164** 2013-08-08, 4:53am

Jelly 2. This is using Mary's instructions. This one's 3cm including loop so would fit in the cap of the first one! NS blue exotic again. I should have kept a little more clear at the top - I let it move down the sides instead.

I see what you mean about the bails - it can be hard to notice that when you're actually making it.

mandoziller · #**165** 2013-08-08, 8:21am

Well done^

angelique_redhead · #**166** 2013-08-08, 11:54am

I like it, Heather. This is exactly how they look sitting just below the surface of of the water at times.

Angelique

Mary K · #**167** 2013-08-08, 9:22pm

Hi Angelique!
To even out a bail, heat the part that is too wide slightly, just soften it a bit, not getting it too hot, then just give small tugs with the end of your reamer, then even out the heat in the whole bail and let it settle using gravity to even it out. When you tug on the bail glass, you are making the bail more stable on the piece as well. I have sometimes put a piece back in the kiln when I turn it on, heat it up and fix only the bail if I'm not %100 happy with it.
Your jelly fish are so nice, and it 's hard to stop making them.
I had to stop though. My kiln switch had a melt down, and I mean melt.
A big thank you to Craig at Arrow Springs for talking us thru fixing it on the phone,
This is a pretty old kiln, and I love it. So I sent my kiln controller in to be tuned up, while I take a trip to Oregon. Hope I don't get too shakey, getting withdrawl symptoms already. My whole house is cleaned up and all the laundry is done. Would rather melt glass any day than house work. lol

PhatPat · #**168** 2013-08-10, 9:20am

Here is one i did last nite i did it with GA double passion! Nice color!

dlando1 · #**169** 2013-08-10, 9:25am

Nice jelly Pat. Your'e right, nice color.

Kalorlo · #**170** 2013-08-10, 2:12pm

The colour change from top to bottom is rather cool, Pat.

Jelly 3, same again. This one has been through a proper boro annealing cycle (so have the others now - no change in colour). I have another two in the kiln today where I had a go with different colours. I think I'll gradually work through the few colours I have before deciding what else to buy!

Mary K · #**171** 2013-08-10, 7:39pm

Pat that is really beautiful! Heather when you decide to buy more glass,
you just need to check this thread for ideas on colors, some really great ones
on here, I have learned a lot, and gotten so many great ideas from you all!

Kalorlo · #**172** 2013-08-11, 4:37am

Mary: Yup, I have a little notebook that I'm putting colour notes in

Jelly 4 is NS rust and some blue exotic, though I think I should have gone with caramel for the little tentacles instead. Jelly 5 is NS caramel with a flat back and twistie of blue exotic and clear.

MagpieGlass · #**173** 2013-08-11, 5:11am

Heather ... I love the pinkish tentacles of Jelly #4. I'll have to keep that color in mind whenever I get back to playing with Jellies. I'm in Fall show mode right now. No jellies for me for a while ...

Mary K · #**174** 2013-08-11, 3:47pm

Heather, on your next jelly,try making the dots for the tentacles really tiny, and then give them a poke with a really really sharp tungsten pic. I sharpen my pic every time I sit down to work, and I have the really small one from ABR. You will be surprised at how that will change your tentacles.

Kalorlo · #**175** 2013-08-12, 3:41am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mary K

Heather, on your next jelly,try making the dots for the tentacles really tiny, and then give them a poke with a really really sharp tungsten pic. I sharpen my pic every time I sit down to work, and I have the really small one from ABR. You will be surprised at how that will change your tentacles.

I have been doing that on and off (bottom tentacles of the rust one, for example). Think the caramel one is the only one with no poking at all. My pick's a medium size and not extra sharp though - also if I keep it red hot and drill in and out again, it's pulling some glass out with it. Should it be doing that?

I've got a thinner tungsten pick that was sold as a soldering pick, might have a go with that. I tried it once with glass a long time ago, melted the tip and haven't looked at it again!

Mary K · #**176** 2013-08-12, 7:18pm

If you melted the tip, maybe it's not tungsten. If you are getting your pic red hot and the glass is sticking to it, keep it twisting it should not stick that way, also just a red faint red glow is enough, not brite red glow. you can sharpen the pic you have to an extent, but I really love my tiny pic, I use it a lot.
size of the dots try to make them as small as the head of a pin, I mean small. If you lay them on and they are too big, use a small rod of clear to pull glass off until they are really tiny. Just heat the dot on the surface and touch a 4mm clear rod to them that is warm, not hot and lift it off. If your 4mm is too cool it will not stick and pull the glass off.
Here is my pick, and go ahead and order the replacement tungsten along with it, it gets brittle with a lot of use, and then you need to keep sharpening it.
http://www.dichroicimagery.com/produ...oducts_id=2800
Oh and keep your pick clean. Surfur will build up on it, kind of looks yellow on the metal, that will cause sticking too. I have a big flat rubberized nail file that lays on my bench, I can clean the pick if I need to as I am working by just rubbing the pick on it. Or in between pendants I scrape the pick carefully, remember it's brittle, to get all the buildup off of it.

Dragonharper · #**177** 2013-08-13, 5:00am

If your pick is for soldering, it may be aluminum, as solder doesn't stick and it is easier on circuit boards.

Kalorlo · #**178** 2013-08-13, 12:23pm

Ahaha, I'm a muppet. The small one was a jeweller's pick = titanium. Right, I won't be hunting that one out...

I'll check what our glass suppliers over here have for picks - I'm pretty sure there are some smaller ones than the one I have. (My pick is a 3/32").

This is from Sunday: Jelly 6, with the big pick. GA persimmon strike with dots of unobtainium on the back surface. Too many unintentional bubbles here and I think I should have covered the whole back surface since the dots are distracting. Didn't have a great day then, I have a bad marble to add to the flower thread too.

Mary K · #**179** 2013-08-16, 10:12pm

Heather do you have a welding supply store? I have gotten some tools there, I think they might have tungsten there, if you can get the rod, you can get a pin vice at a craft store or tool store to hold it. If you have a good grinder, even a grinding tool on a dremel type tool you can grind the tungsten pick you have into a pretty pointy edge. But much easier with the 3/16th rod.

Kalorlo · #**180** 2013-08-17, 9:59am

I'm going to have a go grinding mine, and I can also get tungsten rods on eBay. (No welding supply store nearby).

I was on holiday last week and am back at work now, so I won't be posting things quite as often!