total newbie trying to pull stringers

wfdebicki · #1 2008-09-19, 12:49pm

Hi Guys! I am so glad you are here! I've just started working with glass and am trying to pull stringers that are not 3 moleclues thick. Try as I might I can't seem to get a stringer any thicker than a hair...which of course I can't control when I try to work with them either! I am using a propane/oxy. concentrator nortel minor with bulleseye glass. HELP!!!!

MelanieG · #2 2008-09-19, 12:58pm

After you have your molten glob, take it out of the flame and wait until the glow fades a little before you pull it out... and pull slowly. If you pull too quickly, it will be too thin.

That's what I learned, anyway. I'm not an expert yet and I am sure that lots of people will post additional advice.

lenora · #3 2008-09-19, 2:16pm

Yes, wait a bit before pulling and then pull slooooooooooooowly. You can also use a larger diameter glass rod as a punty instead of using tweezers.

Cosmo · #4 2008-09-19, 2:24pm

The slower you pull, the thicker it will be. Worry more about how thick it is than how long it is. It doesn't matter if you can pull a 5 foot long stringer if it's hair-thin and burns up when you use it.

wfdebicki · #5 2008-09-19, 2:57pm

You guys are wonderful! I am going to go and give all of these suggestions a try right now! I let you know how I make out! THANK YOU!!!!! This stuff is incredibly addictive..........

Wendy

Bricklend · #6 2008-09-19, 3:09pm

I get a gather at the end, take it out of the flame, count to 3 and then pull slowly.

SunDoorBeads · #7 2008-09-19, 3:18pm

Try and use the single rod method. Take your rod and hold both end put the middle of the rod into the flame and "mush" the 2 ends towards the center. When you have a uniform blob that is about the size of a small grape take it out of the flame remember to rotate a little so it doesnt fall in your lap wait a few seconds and pull on the ends slowly this will create a stringer long enough to cut in the middle and you can use the thicker rods as handles to help you control the stringer you have just made or detach them from their parent rods and use them as normal stringers. This method always gave me a uniform stringer that was easy to manage! Have fun and try some twisties!!!

Elizabeth Beads · #8 2008-09-20, 9:32am

What are you using to pull your stringer? For thicker stringer, I cut a commercial (purchased) stringer into approx. 3 inch lengths, make my gather, warm the tip of the stringer, flatten it barely by touching it to my marver (to make a small "Maria") and then touch it to the gather. I pull it about a bare half inch, then wait for the skin to form, a couple of seconds, then I slowly pull it out, pulling increasingly faster as it cools. Pull straight from the rod and whichever side of the pull has the biggest blob of hot glass should be higher up so the warm glass moves down the pull using gravity. I learned this in a class with Corina, to give credit where it's due. Good luck! Liz

Lorraine Chandler · #9 2008-09-20, 6:15pm

Buy Corina's Stringer control DVD..It sure helps when you can see someone actually

doing it!!

Lorraine

Lisa · #10 2008-09-20, 8:01pm

I like to hold the glass in my left hand, get the tip glowing red, and using a spare mandrel in my right hand, which I've also got glowing red at the tip, I push the mandrel into the little ball of orangey red glass, when that little skin forms I slowly start pulling, and then flash the inch or so glass at the end of the rod in and out of the flame while my right hand keeps pulling the stringer out. Works for me.

DiamondLilGlass · #11 2008-09-20, 9:11pm

I agree with Lorainne on this one. I purchased Corina's DVD way before I made my first bead. It helped alot and I learned how to control the glass and play with it before trying to fight it. It is great to watch her do it right in front of you. She covers alot of the different ways of pulling stringers and applying them. I think Frantz had it onsale too. Have fun and if you have any newbie questions I am a newbie too so maby we can help each other out

, Lili

Jgiovacchini · #12 2008-09-21, 6:48am

I am pretty new and I had a whole pile of hair thin stringers before I got any usable ones. I make a blob of glass at the end and take a slightly hot mandrel and stick it in the hot glass. Since the mandrel is hot it sticks. I count four seconds and then I start to pull. I pull vertical that way the glass doesn't bend. This seemed to work for me.