Everyone's talking about hearts...

Lyssa · #1 2012-12-10, 1:17pm

Hi all, I've been trying to get the below melted-in heart design just right, but having a lot of trouble. Raking is NOT my strong suit, so I practice it almost every time I'm at the torch.

Does anyone have any tips or a link to a tutorial out there I can try? I'd really love to see this in a video, videos help me a lot!

(So sorry about the quality of the picture, I took this on my phone during my lunch break.)

caliente · #2 2012-12-10, 3:41pm

Here's my tip on raking: Do what I did. Swear off of it and promise to never attempt it again. Ever. Grr.

Lyssa · #3 2012-12-10, 4:03pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by caliente

Here's my tip on raking: Do what I did. Swear off of it and promise to never attempt it again. Ever. Grr.

AVTrout · #4 2012-12-10, 4:09pm

Those hearts actually aren't bad at all. You have a good start! Try making the dots a little bigger and not raking quite so hard. That might work.

Denielle · #5 2012-12-10, 4:31pm

I used to have a hard time with it when I used a rake but when I started using a stringer things magically got better. Do you use a tool or stringer?

ElizabethCreations · #6 2012-12-10, 4:46pm

What I do is slightly heating the dot, let it cool a bit, take my tungsten pick And rake the top of the dot. I reheat And let it cool a bit, then rake the bottom of the dot to create the heart.

I hope this makes sense!!

ElizabethCreations · #7 2012-12-10, 4:49pm

I will try to make a little video tomorrow to show how I make them!

houptdavid · #8 2012-12-10, 6:24pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by caliente

Here's my tip on raking: Do what I did. Swear off of it and promise to never attempt it again. Ever. Grr.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Pickledkitty · #9 2012-12-10, 7:18pm

You can try pulling the glass with your rake, such as for the top of the heart, place rake inside the dot near the edge and pull it toward the center. The opposite would go for the bottom point, put the rake near the side of the dot that you want a point on, and pull away from the dot. You would not be pulling through the edge of the dot with either of these techniques. Hope it helps;p

jonibird · #10 2012-12-10, 8:02pm

I think that's not bad at all! I think letting the dot cool a little helped me and also I was trying to rake with a mandrel, it was too fat, so the pick does work well!

jonibird · #11 2012-12-10, 8:04pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElizabethCreations

What I do is slightly heating the dot, let it cool a bit, take my tungsten pick And rake the top of the dot. I reheat And let it cool a bit, then rake the bottom of the dot to create the heart.

I hope this makes sense!!

Your beads are beautiful!!!!

pjBeads · #12 2012-12-10, 8:09pm

Try making 2 dots side by side and heat between them to pull them into each other, then pull only the bottom with a very thin stringer.

ElizabethCreations · #13 2012-12-10, 8:35pm

Thanks Joni!

MistyCherie · #14 2012-12-11, 1:50pm

This may or may not help, but I watched this video somewhat recently and found placement of where you pull from/to and the temp of the glass on the surface seem to be very key in getting the sharper points. Perhaps it may help in your heart formation. I see others have some good tips, but sometimes visual seems to click. She doesn't make hearts in this, but.. maybe it will help?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlAU3FQmel4

Lyssa · #15 2012-12-11, 2:27pm

I love that video. In that case, she is trying to form this bulbous distortion at the end of the line she's raking. I just don't know how it doesn't go all wonky when she melts it flat.

I'll have to watch the whole thing all the way through again to make sure I'm doing it right.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MistyCherie

This may or may not help, but I watched this video somewhat recently and found placement of where you pull from/to and the temp of the glass on the surface seem to be very key in getting the sharper points. Perhaps it may help in your heart formation. I see others have some good tips, but sometimes visual seems to click. She doesn't make hearts in this, but.. maybe it will help?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlAU3FQmel4

chrissij · #16 2012-12-12, 7:05am

I think hearts have to start as two dots. Did yours? As far as raking goes, Lydia does a lot of raking in her tutorials. What I learned that helped the most, and I don't recall where I heard it, is heat what you want to move, and heat where you want to move it to.

Anne Londez · #17 2012-12-13, 5:12am

What do you rake with ? My favorite tool is a glass rod, pulled to a thin point. I use dark transparent colors because they are stiffer and use the tip to catch the glass I want to rake on the surface and pull gently. Contrary to what is done with a metal rake, I dont' plunge it into the hot glass but try to just get it to stick. You get much better control and can pull finer points in your raked designs as you don't have the dot that comes from plunging a tool into the glass if that makes any sense. Maybe I should do a tutorial on this and other basic techniques ?

Angie09 · #18 2012-12-13, 5:26am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anne Londez

Maybe I should do a tutorial on this and other basic techniques ?

PLEASSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Lyssa · #19 2012-12-13, 9:56am

1) I rake with the point of a stringer 'cause I have also found that a metal rake plunges too far into the glass and creates a bump. Watching Katrina Logan (YouTube videos) just scrape the surface of her bead with a metal rake and not create a big bump, I don't have any idea how she does that.

2)OMG yes! If you could do a tutorial with close-up shots of raking I would be so appreciative. There's 1 video that I've found, and it's a good video, but she makes it look too easy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anne Londez

What do you rake with ? My favorite tool is a glass rod, pulled to a thin point. I use dark transparent colors because they are stiffer and use the tip to catch the glass I want to rake on the surface and pull gently. Contrary to what is done with a metal rake, I dont' plunge it into the hot glass but try to just get it to stick. You get much better control and can pull finer points in your raked designs as you don't have the dot that comes from plunging a tool into the glass if that makes any sense. Maybe I should do a tutorial on this and other basic techniques ?

MelanieG · #20 2012-12-13, 1:51pm

The other thing that is challenging you in this bead is that it looks like you've used two colours that bleed into each other, which is nice if it's the effect you're going for, but not if it isn't.

Is that Ivory and Purple Red?

I'm not really sure what colour combination to recommend, but initially, when you're trying to get the hang of raking it might be easier to see your progress if you're using colours that have a crisper edge relationship to one another.

A good practice combination would be a transparent (e.g. Ink Blue, Black, Medium Amethyst, Dark Grass Green, Striking Red) with either White or Ivory hearts on top.

Lyssa · #21 2012-12-13, 9:50pm

Thanks, I'll try that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MelanieG

The other thing that is challenging you in this bead is that it looks like you've used two colours that bleed into each other, which is nice if it's the effect you're going for, but not if it isn't.

Is that Ivory and Purple Red?

I'm not really sure what colour combination to recommend, but initially, when you're trying to get the hang of raking it might be easier to see your progress if you're using colours that have a crisper edge relationship to one another.

A good practice combination would be a transparent (e.g. Ink Blue, Black, Medium Amethyst, Dark Grass Green, Striking Red) with either White or Ivory hearts on top.