Am I burning my glass???

[crystalgirl]

Just wonder if you could help me. I made my first beads last night-I think they are awful-but I'm so pleased I got glass on the mandrel etc. They were really stuck to the mandrels though, don't know if I overheated the mandrel-put on too much release or too little-I've got flame drying. And also the beads I tried to put decoration on have black marks-not the yellow ones I made first-does this mean I'm burning the glass, or is if the glass. I also found when I raked the glass it was leaving behind black marks, the same when I used my marver-it was leaving behind black marks. Here's a picture to show you. Please could someone help with this problem, as it is bugging me!

[SuzyQ]

I don't think so. The black streaks look like the petroleum reacting with the yellow. It can be a nice design element. Try just dots of yelllow on the green and you will see a nice black outline.

You may be having trouble getting the beads off because you are abusing the bead release. It is common when you first start to be yanking on the wound glass a bit more than when you learn better heat control. It will get better with practice.

[SuzyQ]

Colors that react are coppers versus sulfurs.

Blues and greens react with yellows, oranges and ivories (but of course this isn't a sure thing)

[scoutycat]

Those are great first beads! Make sure you 'cook' your bead release before you add the glass, especially if you are flame drying. It should all have been at a gentle red glow before you wrap your bead. The release will come off the mandrel much easier once it's cooled down. Oh, and start flame drying where you aren't going to put the bead - that way if you get a little pop from the water boiling off, it won't be where you put glass down.

[Starfield]

This is how I totally eliminate the popping off of bead release when flame drying.
Wave your mandrel in and out of the flame for a very short time just until you see steam. Take it out of the flame when you see steam rising off the mandrel and WAIT. It is still drying even out of the flame because it's hot. When the steam stops re-introduce the mandrel and wave in the flame again. Repeat.

Karen
Starfield Glass

[Emily]

Originally Posted by SuzyQ

Colors that react are coppers versus sulfurs.

Blues and greens react with yellows, oranges and ivories (but of course this isn't a sure thing)

No, really, it is a sure thing. If you put a copper color with a sulfur color, and don't put anything in between, you're going to get a dark line. It's more pronounced with some colors than with others. Not all blues are copper colors, though -- just the greenish ones, but sky blue counts as a greenish color because it's sort of turquoise.

The copper colors are greens (grass green, copper green, petroleum green a/k/a teal), turquoises, sky blue (light and dark). The sulfur colors are ivory (light and dark), coral, yellow, orange, red.

I don't think you're overcooking your glass. If you really overcook the greens, you tend to reduce it and bring out a brick red color, which is the copper. I know this because my first beads have it. It happens to any of the copper colors, such as the turquoises. I do see some darkness that isn't right where the yellow and green meet. That could either be from some yellow and green having flopped over into that area, or you could have gotten too close to the head of the torch and maybe gotten the glass a little dirty (sooty).

If you see a lot of tiny bubbles, you're boiling the glass. That's overcooking the glass. You're more likely to see that in transparents. Usually when that happens, you're working too close to the head of the torch and should move further out in the flame.

If all of your glass draws together in the center of the bead and leaves you with sharp pointy ends, you're overcooking the glass (probably). That can also happen when your footprint for the bead (the width of the glass on the mandrel) is too wide for the amount of glass you've applied.

Don't worry if some colors, particularly the darker greens, look stripy. They tend to separate and have darker and lighter areas. It's a characteristic of the colors and not something that you can really control.

You're doing fine. Don't worry!

[crystalgirl]

thanks all for your help, I have some new beads waiting in the blanket, so I will see if the different colours I have are still creating the same problem, I never imagined that there were colours you couldn't use together.

[Emily]

Oh, you can use them together. We like the dark line. Try green or turquoise with ivory! Or try making a twistie with turquoise and yellow -- three colors for the price of two.

Just don't try rubino (also called Gold Pink or Gold Ruby) with ivory. Those are colors you can't use together -- unless you're really into ugly.

Glass colors aren't like paint. They don't always act like you think they will. Mix them together, or even put them next to each other, and sometimes weird stuff happens.

[crystalgirl]

Just taken out my next beadies-this time I added some brown, and a similar thing is happening-although not with all beads-tends to be more with the ones I've added dots to and heated them in.

[Carolyn M]

What colours did you use it with?

[SuzyQ]

The reaction does get more pronunced with heat. But look at it as a design element and not a problem