Offhand leaf / leaves picture tutorial

Moth · #1 2005-09-07, 2:12pm

1-Make a flat lollipop of glass with your mashers.

2-Spot heat this lollipop and use the scissors to cut into it along the gray lines in the picture. Your goal is to deeply impress the blades into the glass without cutting all the way through.

3-Spot heat and repeat the above step for the next set of gray lines in the picture.

4-Gently soften the entire leaf enough to make it pliable, but not soupy hot. Give a little extra heat to the tip, grab it with the scissors and as you cut into the tip of the lollipop, pull away from the body of the leaf. This will taper it out and bring it to a point.

5-Attach a clear punty to the tip of the leaf and heat the full sized rod of glass where it is attached to the leaf. Indicated by the red circle.

6-Pull the full sized rod down into a thick stringer. Burn off the rod where the blue flame is pointing in the picture.

Keep flashing your punty connection and the body of the leaf in and out of the flame to keep it from shocking the whole time you are working.

7-I like to switch hands at this stage. Gently heat the area of the 'stringer' you just pulled until it starts to droop down, heat it in the area indicated by the orange circle in the picture. Once it is at a right angle to the body of the leaf, let it set and slightly cool to where it is no longer moving.

Now gently heat the area indicated by the yellow circle in the picture to make the loop start to connect to the backside of the leaf.

8-Thoroughly join the tip of the stringer where it meets the back of the leaf. I like to mash this down a bit with my steel poker or a paddle to make sure it is really attached well.

Heat a pair of tweezers briefly in the flame. You want them hot enough not to shock the glass, but cool enough not to stick. Grab the loop of the leaf with the heated tweezers and burn or snap off the punty. Flame polish the spot where the punty was attached. Evenly heat the leaf, paying close attention to the loop and the tip. Pop it in the kiln and make some more!

Here are a few examples of leaves I have made with this method.

Rhapsody Fire Beads · #2 2005-09-07, 2:46pm

Thanks Mary! Nice tutorial! Beautiful leaves!

~Suzy~

weegems · #3 2005-09-07, 2:47pm

Thank you! I have been told how to do the leaves before, but seeing the steps really helps. I can't wait to try this!

DawnT · #4 2005-09-07, 6:13pm

Thanks Mary those are gorgeous! And I love the froggie too.

rosiescreations · #5 2005-09-07, 6:41pm

Thank You Mary. Thank You Mary. Thank You Mary. Thank You Mary. Thank You Mary. Thank You Mary.

Very nice Tutorial
Great pictures. Really easy to understand.

Curly Irish Girl · #6 2005-09-07, 8:09pm

Wonderful tutorial graciously shared! Thanks.

Anne Ricketts · #7 2005-09-08, 5:39am

Thank you Mary!! I'll have to try these since I don't like my leaf mashers that great!

DreamMuse · #8 2005-09-08, 6:42am

What a great tutorial! I've been dying to make leaves!

And I didn't see the frog until someone mentioned him. I was too busy staring at leaves. Boy is he cute!

hummingbird3172 · #9 2005-09-08, 10:21am

Excellent tutorial!

Your leaves are breathtaking! I can't wait to try! Thanks!

PattyK · #10 2005-09-08, 11:43am

EXCELLENT tutorial - thanks so much for posting it!

bonlyn · #11 2005-09-08, 1:21pm

This is great! Thanks for sharing it!

Bonnie.

Orchid40 · #12 2005-09-08, 3:04pm

I was wondering how that was done. Thank you!!

Charlotte

JCHerrellGlass · #13 2005-09-08, 6:50pm

Nice! Very nice!!! Well done, Mary!

JC

Moth · #14 2005-09-11, 8:16pm

Thanks you guys! I hope it helps someone with their offhand work. Sometimes it can be a very unfamiliar territory. We beadmakers like having a handle darn it! LOL

Please post pictures in this thread if you make some leaves you want to share. I'd love to see them.

~~Mary

Anne Ricketts · #15 2005-09-11, 8:28pm

Here's some I made from your tutorial with a little twist to them. Thanks again for the tutorial! I'm rating it!

Moth · #16 2005-09-11, 8:45pm

Those are gorgeous Anne! I love them.

Aren't they a blast to do?? Such fun to make and you really nailed the loops. Very graceful and natural.

High fives.
~~Mary

Veda's Beads · #17 2005-09-11, 9:06pm

Those are soooo pretty! Can I do off mandrel work with soft glass? I've been afraid to try it.

Anne Ricketts · #18 2005-09-12, 5:05am

Thanks Mary and Veda! Yes they are fun to do till I get to the loop! I have to add glass to it just to get them thick enough because when I go to pull it around it thins out too much. Veda those I made are moretti with iris gold and raku frits. Try it out!!

dla · #19 2005-09-12, 5:42am

Great tutorial Mary ! I will have to try these ! The loops scare me a bit but will "try" !

Anne - Your leaves are so gorgeous ! Love 'em !
Debbie A.

Orchid40 · #20 2005-09-12, 7:02am

Beautiful leaves Anne. I made some yesterday, what fun!! Thanks again Mary! I will post some pictures as soon as I can.

Charlotte

rosemarie23 · #21 2005-09-12, 9:34am

Mary, thanks! These were so fun, I had a pile of them before I knew it. They are a great way to practice the loops since the leaf part is so quick.

I did get a little aggressive with the scissors on one of the leaves (orange one), but I kind of liked it.

Orchid40 · #22 2005-09-16, 1:36pm

Boy you guys have done some really cool leaves. I want to add mine to the bunch. Mary, I had to try the frog too. That is too much fun!!

TGIF
Char

yellowbird · #23 2006-05-28, 9:18pm

What a great lesson. thanks

NLC Beads · #24 2007-03-31, 3:08pm

I didn't see this one before, now I want to go try it.

Thanks, Mary! I'm afraid of off-mandrel work, we'll see how it goes...

ruffje · #25 2009-01-02, 8:13pm

I'm brand new to playing with fire, I was working with stained glass--we just cut ourselves, not burn holes. lolol I've taken 2 classes using boro; however, I'm working with soft right now. The classes I took were glass sculpture. When I got home, I started making these little leaves because they were so easy and I'm a believer in instant gratification. If I can make them in soft glass and I've just started, anyone can. My "studio" is in the garage and right now it's too cold for me to work. Soft glass is shocky enough, working it in a cold environment just isn't working for me. ;~>

I just stumbled on this site tonight and WOW what a great place to be. Lots of accomplished and talented people and very suportive.

Thanks for trfining what I learned and as soon as it warms up some, I'm back in the garage playing with fire....

J

Moth · #26 2009-01-03, 6:13pm

Wow, this thread hasn't been bumped in a while!

Hope you guys all had a good time playing with it. I don't know how I missed all those older posts, I'm usually pretty good about it. Sorry!

Have fun, J! Your enthusiasm is contagious.

~~Mary

Athalour · #27 2009-01-04, 7:58am

Wonderfully clear instructions... and what stunning leaves! Thank you so much for sharing. Can't wait to try it out.