Fume Quest

[dlando1]

My new resolution to make 50 of everything continues. Actually I think I made about 70 Jellies. Now, on to fuming. It would be great to see other folks creations. Here's my first set. Thanks for looking, can't wait to see your postings.
Dave

[PhatPat]

Nice Dave ! I'm definitely doin some fuming later when it cools down.

[MagpieGlass]

I'll join in once I exchange my oxy tank ... well and two weeks of eeewwwing and aahhhing beads at MAGMA and BeadFest Philly.

[marcel]

Looks great Dave here is one i made a couple of days ago with fume from a goldnugget from the Yukon plus there is some argillite dust in the pendant

[Cosmo]

Most everything I do is fumed. In fact, I think maybe only one or two things on here aren't fumed.

http://cosmoglassworks.com/gallery.php

[dlando1]

This weeks fuming. Thanks for taking a look,
Dave

[PhatPat]

Nice Dave ! Haha I've been in a slump with my fuming not doin what I want it to. We will see what comes out tomorrow.

[MagpieGlass]

Originally Posted by dlando1

This weeks fuming. Thanks for taking a look,
Dave

They are all great but really loving the texture in the middle one in the top row!!

[redemer123]

Must learn to do this

[Mary K]

Those are stunning Dave. I know nothing about fuming. How do you fume?
I have heard that one should wear a respirator when fuming? I think that has
kind of scared me. Is fuming dangerous more that just melting colored and clear?
I have good ventilation, but don't know if it changes things fuming.
Your fumed pendants are wonderful, I would love to know if they are fumed
with silver or gold. Beautiful.
And Marcel wonderful work as always.

[dlando1]

Hi Mary
There are a lot of threads on fuming. I have learned most of what I know about fuming from them. Here is what I do. Ventilation is key. It sounds like you have good venting so it should not be a problem. I do wear a respirator in the first stage of fuming. I bought a good and relatively inexpensive one ($15.00 ) at Amazon. You can fume on tubes and rod of glass. I guess the first thing you need is the silver and gold. I get mine from ABR in IN.. There is an ABR in Az, but I would guess that whoever you deal with will have them. As of 8-20, ABR lists gold at $89.00 a gram. You WILL be disappointed at what a gram looks like. Never fear, you can make hundreds of pendants with a gram. Same with the silver. I also bought a quartz rod to hold the metals. You have to heat the hell out of the quartz to make an indentation. A lot of people think that a boro rod works just as well, but I like the quartz because it will never melt over the metal. To each his own. After you make an indentation, heat the rod and place a small piece of gold in the indention and carefully put it just under the flame. The gold will ball up. Keep the rod in an upright position or the gold ball just might roll off the rod and then you will have a very expensive gold splash right in front of your torch.
I then turn over the rod and repeat the process with the silver.

Now that you have your gold/ silver rod prepped, you can get started.

Easy start: Make a maria, and indent it with a frog or a vin pin (I think I saw that you have one).

Put on your respirator. To fume gold use an oxidizing flame. Hold the Maria in one hand and position it near the end of your flame angled inward. Bring the gold up under your flame about 3" from the base of your torch. As you heat the gold, make sure it does not angle down. if you angle it down, you may watch it roll right off the rod(Splash!@#$%^%$).

As the gold heats it will begin to throw off the fume. Rotate your maria to pick up the gold on the glass. How much you fume is up to you. For me it is a trial and many error process. When you are satisfied with the amount of gold on your maria, pull the gold rod out of the flame, keeping it upright until it cools down (about 10'). Now you can start filling in the indents from the frog with clear glass. Reduce your flame to neutral and add dots of clear over the indent holes. At that point, work the maria like any pendant. The gold that is not covered by clear will burn off. When the gold is only on your indent points, it's OK to take your respirator off. Work the pendant and put a back and bale on it. For most of my pendants, I use a black back, but Cobalt looks nice too.

To fume silver, use a reducing flame.

You can fume both on the same pendant. I usually start with gold, and switch to silver last.
Fuming with gold only will give a strong gold color.

Fuming with silver will give a white look.

Fuming with both gives a wide range of colors greens, blues, golds, whites.

Adding white to gold fumed maria's will look pink.

Here are some examples:
1st gold only,
2nd silver (mostly)
3rd a mix of gold and silver (this is my favorite pendant)

If you have questions about my directions, or if anyone else has suggestions, please add them.
Dave

[Onekura]

Hi Dave. I couldn't have said it better - and wonderful pendants!
Mary K: Imagine fuming like using a spray can. As long as you draw the fumes away from the air you breath you should be good. Almost all my work is fumed and it always turns out different. Fuming has it's own magic.

[GlassAlias]

@Dave - The second pic down in post #6 is very cool.

Just wanted to add that another good color to use to get pink with the gold fume is TAG's slyme. It tends to go whitish when its inside clear(well, it does when i use it) but it still retains a slight green tint which create a slightly different pink than plain white would yield. Its also easier to not boil.

[deb tarry]

Gold fume with tag slime sounds like a great combo.

[dlando1]

I have a customer that wants a heart pendant. Why not a fumed heart. I ordered a few rods of Slyme. I should get it tomorrow.
Dave

[dlando1]

A few more fumes for the week.
Dave

[Will.T]

Really beautiful stuff! Thanks for sharing. Such cool effects with this technique. They don't allow fuming at the studio I go to so can't try this. Wish I could, it looks so cool.

[Jackson River Glass]

ok I have to jump on this fume train. I've wanted to try forever. I do have a question - just wrapping my brain around the process. So for the ones with bubbles, you are using the frog, but the others, you are fuming the maria and then laying dots on the flat maria right? And the one where the fumed bumps are seemingly making a "bowl" shape of sorts, are you just using a marble mold in lieu of making a flat back pendant? Did that make any sense?

[Onekura]

mixed fume - first one is gold fume backed with AP - second is gold and silver mixed - third is gold fume with a little dichroic and the last one is silver fume backed with a blue

[PhatPat]

Wow! Really nice work Onekura. I really like the blues in the last one.

[dlando1]

Onekura, you have been my inspiration for fuming, but that blue fume in frame #19 is just incredible!!!!! I start my vacation (stay cation) tomorrow, and I have at least 6 days where I can torch!

Susan, is the "bowl" effect you are talking about in frame #16, the first one? If so, it is a tube implosion. Tuber implosions have that inward look to them. If not tell me which one you are referring to.

[Jackson River Glass]

Post 16, first pic but also the blue one you were commenting on. Hadn't thought of tubing. Dang, fuming and tubing might be enough to send me running back to my studio to hide!

[Onekura]

Thank you guys - any help I can give - just ask
PS: Phatpat - the blue in the last one is a color rod (dont know which one) - the fuming is the white stuff - that is heavy silver - if you use a lot of silver you get white - but that looks good on a blue background. To get the blues just use very little silver . . .

[Mary K]

Thanks Dave for detailed instructions. I will try to fume when it cools down a bit, I will need to get some things to try to fume though. Who sells a quartz rod that is already indented? What size do I need? Also I have some old jewelry that is gold and silver. Can I just scrape or nip some gold off of an old ring that is gold? Same with silver? I probably need the respirator now, I am just a few miles from the big Rim Fire in california and it is quite smokey here, the fire is very near my house and studio.

[dlando1]

I'm sorry to hear that the fire is so close to you. I hope that the firefighters can get it under control soon!
ABR has a shop in Phoenix Az. They sell gold and silver. If you have gold rings I guess that you can use them. Cosmo says he likes 22 ct better than 24 ct. gold for fuming. ABR also sells quarts rods. I have one that is 9 mm. The indent is up to you. Heat the rod like hell and push w/ a tungsten pick. It took me a few tries to get it deep enough. You can use boro glass, but it will melt as you heat the metals. The metal can more on the boro, but it will work.

Good luck with the fire, stay safe.
Dave

[dlando1]

I got some Elvis Slyme and fumed a couple w/ that, just to test it. The first is a simple dot implosion with just gold and slyme. I got a pink, but it reminds me of the soap in a truck stop bathroom. Kind of kills it for me. The second is a frog implosion that I was hoping to see a little green behind it. Maybe just a touch. The third is Blue lighting on silver and gold. Onekura, can you remember what color blue you were using to get the effect in your last posting?
thanks for taking a look.
Dave

[Onekura]

Hi Dave - I am not sure - could have been Blue brilliant - the rod had no label on it, so I can't be sure

[PaPiGlass]

Nice works, Dave, Onekura!!
Here is just a test piece trying to get many colors from fuming.

[dlando1]

Papi, that is one beautiful pendant! You got a great range of colors! Can't wait to see your next offering(s).
Dave

[PhatPat]

Wow. Nice Papi! Dave the third one down is very nice.