Mandrel Wound Implosion Beads Tutorial

Moth · #1 2005-09-19, 7:49am

1- Form a thin (2-3mm) disk of clear glass that measures a diameter of approximately 2 inches.

TIP: The thicker sized mandrel you use, the easier it is to control this disk. When you try your first few, use 3/32" mandrels.

2- When your disk is round and uniform, put a ring of dots very near the mandrel.

TIP: The closer to the mandrel you get this first ring of dots, the nicer your finished product will look.

3- Continue rings of dots in a bullseye pattern, or even random still looks nice. Bring your decoration clear to the rim of your disk. Carefully melt these dots in flat. Do this very slowly. Remember, you do not want your disk to get soft yet. Only melt the dots.

TIP: The more dots, the better. Try using rainbow colored rings, or start with black (or cobalt) in the center, then dark red, light red, ,orange then yellow. Very cool flame implosion!

4- Once your dots are melted in, tip your mandrel so that the point is down, then aim your flame at the rim of the disk. This will start to condense the disk and you will begin to see implosions forming.

TIP: Do not try to do this too quickly. You can always ADD heat, but you can't take it back out fast enough to save a rush job. The most important thing to remember in this step is to do it uniformly. All sides of the disk the same temp at all times, or you will get a runny side and a globby side.

5- As you melt down the disk with the mandrel tip down, your disk will form into a cone. I personally like them best this way, but there is no reason for you not to try other shapes. You can keep imploding this as long as you like. It will crawl down the mandrel. Keep in mind, the further you stretch it, the skinner the implosion bands will be. You CAN go too far.

TIP: You will end up where at the thin end of the cone, the implosion will start 2-3mm into the bead. The implosions on the fat end will go clear to the hole. If you prefer not to have the implosions go clear to the hole on the fat end of the cone, then put a wrap of clear around the mandrel where you want the bead to stop. This will halt the implosion. You can use clear for this, but try a solid color or twistie as well. Experiment with what you like.

6- Spend some time on that thin end of the cone, use heat and gravity,to produce a nicely dimpled hole. You can gently marver to help, but beware, your implosions will distort if you are too aggressive.

TIP: Decorate with flowers or other surface decoration at the thin end of the cone to allow the implosions to be the star of the bottom half.

I don't usually encase these further, as there is already a lot going on with these beads, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't, or couldn't do it. An added layer of encasing will not shift the implosions deep within the core.

There you have it!
Hope you have fun.
~~Mary

Gail Joseph · #2 2005-09-19, 7:54am

WOWWWWW!!!! Thank you SO much! I've been failing at the off-mandrel version, mainly due to my lack of puntying skills, but this give me hope!--Gail (p.s., LOVE your diagrams and bead!!!)

DawnT · #3 2005-09-19, 7:59am

Oh Mary thank you so much! I have admired your implosion beads for soooo long!

Curly Irish Girl · #4 2005-09-19, 8:32am

You make it look/sound so simple.....I'm gonna give it a try today! Thanks

Rebekah · #5 2005-09-19, 9:27am

That is so cool! Can't wait to try it.
Thanks for sharing such a great tut.
Rebekah

Orchid40 · #6 2005-09-19, 9:39am

Woo hoo!! Another tutorial to tack to my wall. Thanks so much Mary! You're an excellent teacher and I'm addicted to the off-hand leaves you taught.

Char

firegrl · #7 2005-09-19, 9:41am

YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lbjvg · #8 2005-09-19, 10:04am

Brilliant!

Kalera · #9 2005-09-19, 10:06am

That is a fantastic tutorial, and I've never seen anything like that technique anywhere else... thank you for sharing it!

DreamMuse · #10 2005-09-19, 11:01am

This is unbelievably cool!!! Thanks so much for sharing, Moth!!

Sam_W · #11 2005-09-19, 12:28pm

Awesome tutorial, Mary, really great stuff. Thank you so much for sharing.

Toozygoot · #12 2005-09-19, 12:28pm

That is one jawdropping awesome bead! And the tutorial is so well done! I'm not saying I'll be trying it yet, but thanks so much for sharing this!

pat

PattyK · #13 2005-09-19, 3:40pm

What a cool tutorial!! Thanks so much for taking the time to put this together!

dogsrlove · #14 2005-09-19, 8:15pm

A+!

Thanks for sharing!
Vanessa

CorriDawn · #15 2005-09-19, 8:44pm

I just saw beads like this the other day and was wondering how it was done. thanks!

Moth · #16 2005-09-20, 8:05pm

You're welcome guys. I just hope you have fun playing with these. There are so many variations to bring into them. You could decorate the disk with stripes instead of dots to see what happens, or you could twist it after it is imploded. I haven't tried either of those two things yet.

It would be really fun to see pictures of what you all come up with as beginning attempts. It is so much easier than it looks in the tutorial.

The hardest part is forming the initial disk, and even that isn't very hard.

I'm having a good time making these tutorials. The ones I have tried to do with photographs sucked, but the diagrams seem to be working out pretty well and it doesn't matter that my camera's battery was dead. LOL

~~Mary

ReeBird · #17 2005-09-20, 11:08pm

We appreciate your generous time giving Tutorials. Thank You!

Slaterville · #18 2005-09-21, 4:13am

Move Over Mr. Smiley................moth Has Entered The Room!!!!! Great Tut! Maybe Some Of Us Who Are "implosion Impaired", Can Make Something Descent With This Tut. Big Thumbs Up!

Anne Ricketts · #19 2005-09-21, 4:55am

3 cheers for Mary!!! You've done it again!!! Thanks so much!

Moth · #20 2005-09-21, 6:10am

Actually guys, this isn't any different than doing an offhand one. Your only modification is that you are using a mandrel as a handle instead of a rod of glass.

I have done offhand implosions and these and these are trickier for me. Other than the loop for offhand. If that is the part you have troubles with, then this will let you play with implosions until you get your loops figured out.

The reasons I find the offhand ones easier is that you are working with a much thicker 'disk' of glass, so it is easier to keep stable. Plus I love to watch the color suck up into the clear rod. I don't get that satisfaction with these.

But I love that there is a hole down the center of the finished piece and can be strung as a bead.

I started making these because I wanted to make hollow inside out beads and couldn't work the tubing very well. So I figured, you start out with a disk to make a hollow mandrel wound bead, so why can't I just decorate the insides of two disks, fuse them together and viola. Hollow implosion/inside out bead ON A MANDREL.

Only problem was that you end up with a seam down the center, no matter how closely I tried to get it. OR, the hollow would collapse and then it just looked BAD.

So I thought I would just decorate ONE disk and then let if flop over onto a point of the mandrel about a half inch a way...that proved almost impossible to do consistently. One of the flops happened when I was swatting at a bug and lost the disk down onto the mandrel too early and the mandrel wound implosion bead (for me) was born. I can't be the first person to have done it, but I did run into it on my own.

Most of the stuff I figure out happens this way. I am flailing about trying to accomplish one thing and stumble over something different. LOL

~~Mary

Toni Lutman · #21 2005-09-21, 6:24am

Thanks Mary,

That bead is beautiful! I can't try this today, but tomorrow...watch out! This really gives me some great ideas!

Thank you so much for sharing it!

Toni

Orchid40 · #22 2005-09-21, 7:55am

Thank that bug!!

Char

PaulaD · #23 2005-09-21, 8:46am

Awesome...Paula

Rhapsody Fire Beads · #24 2005-09-21, 9:25am

Mary Mary Mary! I have to give you a big thank you! You have challenged me, and I am grateful you shared this with us!! UNLIKE my other off mandrel wonkie implosion pendant in another thread, here is one I kinda like. Thank you Mary!!!!

Moth · #25 2005-09-21, 9:50am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhapsody Fire Beads

Mary Mary Mary! I have to give you a big thank you! You have challenged me, and I am grateful you shared this with us!! UNLIKE my other off mandrel wonkie implosion pendant in another thread, here is one I kinda like. Thank you Mary!!!!

That is awewome! What color did you make your dots, if you don't mind telling?

~~Mary

Rhapsody Fire Beads · #26 2005-09-21, 10:00am

Thank you Mary! I pulled some raku stringer out of chunks!
~me~

fyrsmith · #27 2005-09-21, 10:16am

It looks like Mary's bead (and Suzy's) are soft glass. Gotta try this in boro!

-Don-

Moth · #28 2005-09-21, 10:56am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhapsody Fire Beads

Thank you Mary! I pulled some raku stringer out of chunks!
~me~

Mine is raku too...isn't that unbelievable how different we can all make it look?

Rhapsody Fire Beads · #29 2005-09-21, 11:03am

Raku gets so much more color from my crappy old National torch, than my barracuda. Weird huh?
I like your color better!
~me~

Tutti-frutti · #30 2005-09-21, 4:11pm

Thank you ever so much. I still cant make a round bead to save my life, but i sure did the implosion thing.
I love finding new tut's here, thank you thank you thank you

Will try tio get a picture before it's too dark outside.
Katja

How do you clean them out I seem to have some hollow spots inside?