Striking colors strike themselves?

Lyssa · #1 2013-03-30, 11:29pm

I don't know if this happens to anyone else or am I just "special". When I go to strike a striking color, say rubino or even just plain ol' red transparent, it seems to strike by itself. Here's what happens: I shape the bead and I pull it out of the flame to cool. Before I put the bead back in the flame to strike, the color starts coming in, like the bead is striking itself in its own ambient heat. I always put the bead back in the tip of the flame to see if it needs it, but once it's "self-struck" it doesn't change colors when I reheat it (unless I overheat it and burn out the color). This ever happen to anyone else?

KJohn · #2 2013-03-30, 11:49pm

Mostly with some E. reds, oranges, or rubino too, although I found clockwork and one of the other CIM's to need a little more attention. You could be special anyway, though.

mikala · #3 2013-03-31, 12:06am

Well I guess I must be special too.

I use a hothead, been using it for 13 years. I just go about my business and never think anything of it with striking colors like striking orange, yellow, red, rubino and DH Terra. But then again you can't overheat on a hothead torch.

allicat · #4 2013-03-31, 10:40am

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikala

Well I guess I must be special too.

I use a hothead, been using it for 13 years. I just go about my business and never think anything of it with striking colors like striking orange, yellow, red, rubino and DH Terra. But then again you can't overheat on a hothead torch.

Mwaaahahahaha yes you can! Ask me how I know

I'm also on a HH. I find the Effetre strikers usually go about their business without too much input from me, but the CIM strikers need a bit of attention.

Alli

Eileen · #5 2013-03-31, 10:52am

Depends on the amount of time I'm going to be working on the bead after applying that glass. If I'm going to be working on it I never have to think about it. If it is the last thing, sometimes I have to flash it a bit. Depends on the color too. One of the opaque pinks... powder maybe? I have had it go white, and had to work to get it to color up for me when I was making gnome for one of the You Pick games I remember.

Lisi · #6 2013-04-01, 12:07am

What torch are you using? Torches like the Minor and the Mini CC have a lot of radiant heat, so this glass is probably striking in that. But if this is happening several inches away from your flame, then I have no idea how it would be striking.

Lyssa · #7 2013-04-01, 12:24am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisi

What torch are you using? Torches like the Minor and the Mini CC have a lot of radiant heat, so this glass is probably striking in that. But if this is happening several inches away from your flame, then I have no idea how it would be striking.

I have a minor and I don't pull the bead very far away, maybe two inches. That must be it. Oh good, I was worried it was my infrared vision activating subconsciously.

Damn, if I really did have infrared vision imagine the beads I could make.

Lisi · #8 2013-04-01, 6:23am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyssa

I have a minor and I don't pull the bead very far away, maybe two inches. That must be it. Oh good, I was worried it was my infrared vision activating subconsciously.

Damn, if I really did have infrared vision imagine the beads I could make.

I have the Bobcat and it won't do that, so it's hard to strike, and many times I screw it up. I remember striking with the HH was easy and also I think when I had the Mini CC it was too. See these beads? I can't make them with the Bobcat. This is one of those beautiful Lauscha reds.

I'm looking to get a Minor soon because I want to cut back on the heat. Isn't that a twist! lol! Most people want MORE heat.

PixieFireBeads · #9 2013-04-01, 9:05am

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikala

Well I guess I must be special too.

I use a hothead, been using it for 13 years. I just go about my business and never think anything of it with striking colors like striking orange, yellow, red, rubino and DH Terra. But then again you can't overheat on a hothead torch.

I haven't used a Hot Head in years but I was able to burn lots of glass with it; it might be one of my special powers.

Lyssa · #10 2013-04-01, 10:17am

Quote:

Originally Posted by PixieFireBeads

I haven't used a Hot Head in years but I was able to burn lots of glass with it; it might be one of my special powers.

Yeah, I was good at ruining a lot of glass with my Hot Head too. Maybe we're the Wonder Twins! :^)

Lisi · #11 2013-04-01, 2:39pm

The HH with the right fuel will make it shine! Really! You can turn out beautiful beads with that torch. Striped cane and marbled colors stay that way, and don't disappoint you by smearing and bleeding all over.

I loved it when I used it with propylene, which is similar to MAPP.

glassmaker · #12 2013-04-01, 8:41pm

Depending on the particular glass, it is definitely possible for a color to strike on its own as it cools. Larger beads in particular will cool slower, and slow cooling can trigger striking by keeping the glass in the critical temperature zone longer. Keeping the bead near the flame while cooling can do the same thing. Some of this depends on the glass composition too, but a lot of striking glasses will start to strike before they are reheated.

Brad

vaverska · #13 2013-04-02, 4:31am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisi

The HH with the right fuel will make it shine! Really! You can turn out beautiful beads with that torch. Striped cane and marbled colors stay that way, and don't disappoint you by smearing and bleeding all over.

I loved it when I used it with propylene, which is similar to MAPP.

I also used Propylene with my Hothead ( back when...). I found it to work a bit hotter than MAPP. It was great for allowing me to work my Hothead a bit more like a dual fuel and get great results! It also seemed to be VERY clean burning. I don't think I even had issues with smutting of my beads using propylene, but I smoked a LOT with MAPP.

Lyssa · #14 2013-04-02, 8:47am

Quote:

Originally Posted by vaverska

I also used Propylene with my Hothead ( back when...). I found it to work a bit hotter than MAPP. It was great for allowing me to work my Hothead a bit more like a dual fuel and get great results! It also seemed to be VERY clean burning. I don't think I even had issues with smutting of my beads using propylene, but I smoked a LOT with MAPP.

I used the HotHead for about 7 years and during that time I had all the typical problems associated with using HotHeads: smutting, "cold" flame, too-loud noise. It just took FOREVER to make the smallest of beads. My torch frequently "spit" too. I think, in that case, part of the difference might be the quality of the fuel. I'm guessing we don't get great propane on Kauai. I used propane for a long time and, trying to improve the situation, I switched to propylene which is infinitely more expensive here on Kauai. After a month on that and no improvement I felt I just HAD to get a Minor. I'm glad the HotHead works for so many people, but sadly it didn't work for me.

glassmaker · #15 2013-05-16, 2:18pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyssa

I don't know if this happens to anyone else or am I just "special". When I go to strike a striking color, say rubino or even just plain ol' red transparent, it seems to strike by itself. Here's what happens: I shape the bead and I pull it out of the flame to cool. Before I put the bead back in the flame to strike, the color starts coming in, like the bead is striking itself in its own ambient heat. I always put the bead back in the tip of the flame to see if it needs it, but once it's "self-struck" it doesn't change colors when I reheat it (unless I overheat it and burn out the color). This ever happen to anyone else?

I know this is an older thread but I thought about this thread and the question of self-striking while pulling cane this afternoon, since the particular batch of glass I was pulling does it strongly. Below are some example photos of a couple of the moils that self struck while I was pulling cane. (The moil is the thick part left on the punty after pulling.) Each one was from a large single gather of glass that was marvered straight from the furnace without reheating, and then pulled into a 12 foot long cane. The striking of the glass is solely from the residual heat left in the gather as it cooled. There is no reheating involved. Each set of photos below shows a single moil photographed from three different angles to best show the colors that struck during cooling.

These are about 6-7 inches long and roughly 3 inches across at the thickest part.

LemonwoodStudio · #16 2013-05-16, 3:54pm

Ooooh those are pretty ...

FosterFire · #17 2013-05-16, 4:01pm

The colors strike after nuclei have formed in the glass. (the initial heating and shaping) Glass loses more heat on the outside but the inside stays hotter so the striking can occur because of uneven cooling. I hope I explained that so it made sense..

allicat · #18 2013-05-16, 5:46pm

What do you do with the moils Brad?

Alli

glassmaker · #19 2013-05-16, 6:54pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by FosterFire

The colors strike after nuclei have formed in the glass. (the initial heating and shaping) Glass loses more heat on the outside but the inside stays hotter so the striking can occur because of uneven cooling. I hope I explained that so it made sense..

I think that is a pretty good explanation.

In the case of me pulling cane, the inside of the thick moil end stays hot while the outside gets chilled when I marver it before pulling the cane. That temperature differential helps the color(s) develop.

Alli, after I pull each cane the moil on the end of the punty is plunged into water to crack it off so I can reuse that punty to pull another cane a few minutes later. I cycle through several punties while working so I don't have to wait between pulls. A few are always heating while the last one is sitting in the water bucket waiting for the glass to crack off it. I save the cracked off glass to remelt as cullet at a later date.

I wish I was set up to make some penholders out of this glass as I think it would be great for them, but unfortunately, I'm not. Here are some I made a few years ago out of glass that did something similar. These are all made from the same pot of glass and most of them struck without reheating. So, like the moils, the penholder glass was self-striking.

Brad

allicat · #20 2013-05-16, 9:38pm

Ok. I thought you did something like that (plunging the hot remains of the pull in water). But when I saw the photo of the intact moils I figured I was wrong! Btw, it's interesting to see how the difference in heat due to the gather size changes the striking colors, even when the moil hasn't been formally struck.

Omg, and those pencil holders are delicious!

glassmaker · #21 2013-05-17, 7:30am

I didn't realize it when I cropped the photos for posting, but it does look like those moils were saved individually. In reality, they are still attached to the punty, which extends inside from the bottom of each moil in the photos to where the thickest part of the moil starts to taper down again. (Does that make sense?) These were still very hot when I took the photos and got plunged into my water bucket to crack them off the punty right afterwards.

While I'm sure I could do essentially the same thing so that it could be cut off the punty and saved, it makes more economic sense to pull the glass into cane to sell since a solid gob of moil shaped glass would probably weigh around a pound. I do agree that they look pretty cool.

Brad

Pat · #22 2013-05-17, 9:18am

OMG they are so beautiful. I especially love the maroons and pinks at the top of those pulls.