gaia HELP

karrina · #1 2009-04-12, 7:41pm

okay, so what's the deal not being able to NOT encase Gaia??? all others you can encase~ is there a chemistry issue?

thanks!

lenora · #2 2009-04-12, 7:45pm

Gaia doesn't like to be encased. I don't know why, but it loses the reduction.

Kristen · #3 2009-04-13, 5:41am

I bought some gaia a while back and I'm sure it was me, but I didn't get anything but a green bead...any hints out there? pictures? reactions with other colors? it was too expensive to make just green beads..oh I did wave it thru a reducing flame too.

Carolyn M · #4 2009-04-13, 7:07am

Gaia loses it's reduction when encased. To reduce it roll it repeatedly in a reduction flame, taking it out to check on the colour after a few seconds.

Glass Allure · #5 2009-04-13, 7:27am

Waving it through the reduction flame isn't enough. I have to hold it in there, cool it down and put it back in a few times.

flyingcorgi · #6 2009-04-13, 7:50am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glass Allure

Waving it through the reduction flame isn't enough. I have to hold it in there, cool it down and put it back in a few times.

What Michelle said. I find Gaia to be truly dependable, and not fussy at all, but light reduction just flashing through a fuel-rich flame is often not enough. It will start with a deep navy/purple luster which is not very strong. For me, Gaia needs heat as well as reduction to get its opaque blue/green and strong iridescence, so I reduce it several times but also allow some surface heating. I don't know if you would technically call this 'striking', but it seems like a similar process to me. I think of Gaia as a striking/reducing glass. Michelle's description was spot-on.

For extra fun, play with oxidizing/reducing cycles. You can get some amazing reduction colors from Gaia that are positively electric.

I was able to (once) capture some Gaia reduction under encasement, but it's not worth the effort. There are other silver glasses so much more suited to that technique.

Here Gaia is the two middle bands in the center of the bead (the ends are Triton)(please excuse the wonky shaping):

Hope this helps,
- Becky in MN

Olimpia · #7 2009-04-13, 7:53am

Yes, Gaia is easy to me, several heavy reduction and cooling steps but it gets a nice opaly look. Encase it and it goes away! This set is clear base encased in Gaia, that works just fine and it's cheaper!

GlassyEyedGirl · #8 2009-04-13, 8:02am

It is a horrible picture, but this bead with encased Gaia is one of my favorites to wear. I did it during a class, and I tend to over-reduce things, so that may be why it stuck under the encasing.

karrina · #9 2009-04-13, 1:42pm

Michelle & Becky, beautiful beads~ yep it looked gorgeous then when i encased a nice green~ looks great in twistys with Miro but i don't encase it.... just slowly melt it in.

i find taxco a bitch to strike but then reading threads on it, it looks best on a black background~ urgh. i had this great idea to use taxco as a tiny base, encase it and then design on it, well most of it turn transp blue, got some tiny colors~ will take a picture and post it.

Michelle are your beads frit? it looks like one cracked~ wahhh

thanks for the tips guys

simvet02 · #10 2009-04-13, 5:27pm

I think it's the heat of getting the encasing all smoothed out. I've found that there are quite a few reduction glasses that don't do well under encasement. Triton and Psyche are the two that work very well under encasement.

flyingcorgi · #11 2009-04-13, 5:30pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by simvet02

Triton and Psyche are the two that work very well under encasement.

Reichenbach 104 Silver Brown also works nicely for this.

- Beck.

simvet02 · #12 2009-04-13, 6:16pm

Ooooh, I LOVE Silver Brown, I have gotten some of the most amazing purples from it. Elusive as it is, when I get it I love it.

Glass Allure · #13 2009-04-14, 6:04am

Quote:

Originally Posted by karrina

.

Michelle are your beads frit? it looks like one cracked~ wahhh

They were done with frit but no cracks. They all survived.

deirdreschaneman · #14 2009-04-15, 9:20am

Gaia also makes a very interesting base for aion decoration on top. I don't have any photos, but it's really a fun combination!

2kids&atorch · #15 2009-04-17, 9:21am

Love my gaia! Doesn't give me much trouble at all as long as I don't try to encase it. It prefers almost no oxygen in the flame in order to get a reduction, though.

Elizabeth Beads · #16 2009-04-17, 10:15am

If you are looking for a well-behaved green silver glass, try Miro aka Rembrandt. It may be my favorite silver glass (this week).

leia · #17 2009-04-29, 3:08pm

so, how would this work on a HH?

Hayley · #18 2009-04-29, 3:13pm

Leia - most reducing silver glass works great on a HH. You do need to rig up something so that when it's time to reduce your bead, you need to be able to cover the air ports on your HH. Some people use heavy-duty welding gloves, others make a collar out of aluminum foil with a handle that you can move up the throat of the torch.

Let me know if this doesn't make sense and I will see if I can find some pix of people's set ups for you.

tracidawn78 · #19 2009-04-29, 3:23pm

Leia, I used one of these on my HH to reduce (without the little suction cup thingie)
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/prod...=-1&SKU=116730
It worked great, and was much less of a hassle than the foil collar imo. It does get hot after holding it there for a long time, but you have to be reducing the snot out of something for it to get too hot to hold.

Mitosis Glass · #20 2009-09-25, 8:41am

I'm bringing up this older thread because I found it while searching "Gaia reducing".

My question is, how do you know when you've over-done it? Is there a point where you've worked the Gaia to death and it'll never be anything but green? I ask because I've buggered around with it a fair bit and still gotten nothing, no reduction at all.

AKDesigns · #21 2009-09-25, 10:29am

Gaia is probably the hardest glass for me to get reduced. I stick it right in the freakin' cones and hold it there.

I can top reduced Gaia dots with clear and keep the reduction but you have to melt the clear very slowly. Heat it up too much and the reduction is gone. The clear dot you are applying can't be really molten either or it burns the reduction off as you apply it.

NLC Beads · #22 2009-09-25, 11:33am

Reduction on a HH - crank up the propane and put the bead lower in the flame - you don't need to cover air ports that way.

Firebrand Beads · #23 2009-09-25, 4:10pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by karrina

i find taxco a bitch to strike...

Taxco is a reducer, btw... it won't change color with repeated heating/cooling cycles (aka striking.) And like someone said about the Gaia liking to be warmer when it takes the reduction -- the Taxco does too. If you reduce Taxco while it is still *just barely* glowing orange, you will get a more durable mylar finish than you will when the bead is cool and looks turquoise again.

Just sayin'...

~J

Mitosis Glass · #24 2009-09-26, 6:48pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by flyingcorgi

<snip>

For extra fun, play with oxidizing/reducing cycles. You can get some amazing reduction colors from Gaia that are positively electric.

<snip>

Here Gaia is the two middle bands in the center of the bead (the ends are Triton)(please excuse the wonky shaping):

Hope this helps,
- Becky in MN

This was great advice -- thanks Becky! I tried an oxidizing flame after trying to reduce it and had great luck.