Goldstone out of Beads

jjwiskus · #1 2011-01-26, 2:45pm

OK I had to try this.....It works! I just order a string of goldstone beads from FM for one buck.....I thougt that I would post how I made my goldstone stringers. I have not done this before so bare with me!!!!

what the beads look like after I cut them off the string
Then I warm them up
puddy up to goldstone
melt the beads

jjwiskus · #2 2011-01-26, 2:50pm

then melt
pull the stringers out
then the end stringers
When I got the beads there was some darker goldstone-They were a little darker when I pulled them. Hope this helps
jeri

sansan239s · #3 2011-01-26, 2:58pm

OMG Jeri.... I've been doing that with my gold-stone beads since I started. I was just too dang cheap to buy the stringers or ribbon and it's ALOT cheaper than what the glass vendors are selling their goldstone for this purpose! Cheers for posting this!

jjwiskus · #4 2011-01-26, 10:35pm

thanks susan I did not know this so I hope that I have help some people out. I have been buying the pre-made ones for years.
jeri

chrisdd · #5 2011-01-27, 9:52am

And the beads are the perfect size for pulling. Thanks for posting this!

Carols Glass · #6 2011-01-27, 10:16am

That is so nice of you to share this. When I run out of goldstone that I have I know what to do!

rae · #7 2011-01-28, 3:48pm

Good to know, thanks!

intranced flame · #8 2011-01-29, 6:34pm

Hi Jeri, great job! will try this! thanks for letting us know. Love ya! Vicki

JEK3 · #9 2011-01-29, 10:57pm

Can you use the blue goldstone beads for the same purpose?

wendybritt · #10 2011-01-30, 12:19am

What [who] is FM?

edited: I figured it out - Fire Mountain Gems

jjwiskus · #11 2011-01-30, 5:27am

I'm not sure about the blue goldstone beads have not tired them yet. Will try and let you know. Thanks for all of the comments.
jeri

Yvon · #12 2011-01-30, 2:41pm

Jeri - It's always good to know the tricks of using something other than what we automatically think of using. In this case goldstone chunks out and goldstone beads in. . . repurposing and saving money. Thanks.

Yvonne

framerak · #13 2011-01-30, 8:56pm

You can use blue goldstone and get pretty blue stringers. They tend to be very brittle but they work.
Also, you can encase the goldstone with other colors like Rubino for a beautiful pinkish gold stringer.

sethshawn · #14 2011-02-01, 4:18am

Quote:

Originally Posted by sansan239s

OMG Jeri.... I've been doing that with my gold-stone beads since I started. I was just too dang cheap to buy the stringers or ribbon and it's ALOT cheaper than what the glass vendors are selling their goldstone for this purpose! Cheers for posting this!

Well said.

JEK3 · #15 2011-02-01, 2:11pm

So, what are they compatible with? 104 I assume.

I guess I'll have to steal some of my wife's beads...

nevadaglass · #16 2011-02-01, 2:22pm

I learned this very same technique from Kristen Orr in a bead class.

For some real interesting effects, take your goldstone and melt it into a purple, red , blue or emerald green transparent 104 COE rod then pull it into a stringer. You will end up with aventurine in various colors LOL!

I suspect this is exactly what you see in the blue and green and black aventurines and a similar process in the new aventurine sheet glasses they have been blending. Growing up , I always thought goldstone was a man made stone, then I found out its actually glass and copper flakes LOL

I havent tried red yet but I have pulled alot of emerald green ones with goldstone in it - reminds me of classic car hot rod metal flake green....

If you search around you can actually buy chunks of goldstone fairly cheaply and then take a hammer and break up the chunks into smaller pieces. Use the same technique JJ describes in pulling to stringers.....

Here's a site that sells chunks:
http://mamasminerals.com/products/Go...lag-Glass.html

Here's a good inexpensive place to get strands:
http://www.firemountaingems.com/deta...p?PN=H203193PB

Beatrix92 · #17 2011-02-01, 3:09pm

Thanks so much for posting this. I pulled some this weekend from a strand of chips I picked up at a craft show for .50
you are awesome

jjwiskus · #18 2011-02-02, 5:47pm

thank you for all of the comments.....hope this help someone save some$$$$$$$$$
jeri

JEK3 · #19 2011-02-20, 10:07am

My wife picked me up some blue goldstone chip beads on one of her trips to the bead store. I tried it out, and it seems to be compatible with 104 with no problems.

Great tip! Now I have a large quantity of blue goldstone that I have to figure out what to do with.

tammydownunder · #20 2011-02-20, 4:43pm

I've been doing this for a while now and I have found that you have to be careful with the bead hole and not to trap air in it. If you do this, you are likely to make a shocky stringer.

To combat this, using a 2.4 mandrel as my punty, add a glob of clear. Then apply the goldstone bead without heating it. Introduce it to the flame, and chances are good that it will thermal shock it right down the bead hole. From there, heat it high in the flame to melt it slightly and then encase as normal.

Mitosis Glass · #21 2011-02-20, 10:27pm

I'd heard you could do this but I wasn't sure how to go about it. Thank you for posting!

selma_belma · #22 2011-03-01, 10:06pm

Thanks for this tip! I'm excited to try it.

JEK3 · #23 2011-03-08, 7:43am

If you heat the snot out of it, the copper particles dissolve and you lose the goldstone effect. However, the blue goldstone will still be a nice shade of transparent blue that you can use for other things...

GinnyHampton · #24 2011-03-08, 7:58am

Quote:

Originally Posted by tammydownunder

I've been doing this for a while now and I have found that you have to be careful with the bead hole and not to trap air in it. If you do this, you are likely to make a shocky stringer.

To combat this, using a 2.4 mandrel as my punty, add a glob of clear. Then apply the goldstone bead without heating it. Introduce it to the flame, and chances are good that it will thermal shock it right down the bead hole. From there, heat it high in the flame to melt it slightly and then encase as normal.

Yes! This! I've been encasing goldstone beads for a couple of years and learned that the hard way. The beads I like the best now are sort of flat, square "pillow"-shaped beads and they shock in half very easily down the hole. I always stock up on goldstone beads when I do a show because I can pick out the strands with the most sparkle

misspiggy · #25 2011-03-11, 8:52pm

Wow. I had no idea. Whenever I saw those beads at the bead shops, I thought they were kinda ugly and never thought to buy them. I guess I better give those ugly ducklings a second chance in my creations(which could also be classified as ugly ducklings)..

So here are few questions;
1. How do you heat it up initially? Hold it up with pliers??
2. Can you smash them to make frit also??
3. Can I melt any kind of glass bead from the bead store in this manner?

Thanks, Christy

wimsey · #26 2011-03-11, 10:22pm

And here I thought they were stone!
Beth

jjwiskus · #27 2011-03-12, 10:09am

what I do is lay my goldstone on top of my graphit marval-this warms it up some. Then I melt my clear rod-sometimes it does break but I just pick it up with my clear rod.
I have not tried it as using it with frit-I will try it and let you know
glass bead you have to be careful with if it is compatible with the glass that you are working with.
hope this helps and if anyone else has more info let us know

GinnyHampton · #28 2011-03-12, 10:32am

I lay a bead or two ontop of my kiln to let it warm up a little.
I'll melt a bit of clear onto the end of a punty (large mandrel) and flatten into a maria.
Grab goldstone bead with tweezers and sllooowly put in the flame - - most of the time, this is what shocks it in half. I've also learned you have to be careful about where that other half flies off to

Then just punty up, encase, add punty to other side and pull!

misspiggy · #29 2011-03-12, 12:02pm

Wonderful!
I will have to give this a try this for sure!!!
Thank you
-Christy

tehale · #30 2011-04-09, 4:34pm

Try using black instead of clear or a colored transparent. If you get the black to goldstone ratio right, you'll get either sparkly dark purple (Effetre) or sparkly dark blue (Vetrofond.)