Silvered Ivory Stringer Revealed – Part 2 – Plugging Along

Continuing the tutorial, here is another of my “secrets”.  I use a clear core in my stringers.  It gives me a little more control when applying the stringer (clear is more stiff than the ivory) and I think that it makes the ivory bubble more when finishing the bead.  Besides, clears are notorious for having bad batches and it is a good way to use it up!

I should mention that if you are not used to pulling a large gather of glass that you should definitely wear a leather apron at the very least to protect yourself.  I also will mention that it is your responsibility to take other normal studio safety precautions, including adequate ventilation.  This process involves burning fine silver.

Notice that I use a thicker rod of clear – approx 6 mm.  Sometimes I use smaller, but I like this size.  Starting about3/4 inch (1.5 cm) from the end of the clear,  I start wrapping the ivory around.  The wrap thickness itself is pretty thick.

Wrap Ivory Glass onto Clear

This is what it looks like immediately after finishing the ivory wrap.

Finished Ivory Wrap

Now I want to smooth the bumps.  I heat the ivory wrap and use my mashers to smooth it out into an even plug (my term).  I use a very light touch here, because I don’t want the plug to get longer and thinner; I want it to stay nice and thick.  I usually heat and mash several times.  I also rotate the clear rod around so that the plug gets pretty smooth.  Using the mashers instead of rolling it on a marver assures that both ends of the plug are the same size and it keeps the glass up near where I can see it better.

Ivory Glass "Plug"

I use the mashers to flatten the end of the plug too.  It’s not necessary, but I like to keep it tidy (the glass – not my workbench, as you can plainly see).  One tip here: compare the length of the ivory plug to the width of the silver strip.  They should be close, with the foil being maybe just a little wider.

Tidying the Ivory Plug

Next up – “Getting it On!”… the silver of course!

All material contained within this Tutorial is protected by Copyright, “Spawn of Flame” Rosemarie Hanus, 2009; all rights reserved.

Rosemarie Hanus makes beads in her home studio. Almost all of them use Silvered Ivory Stringer – Look at these beads at Etsy,  Art Fire, or her Spawn of Flame website.

Silvered Ivory Stringer Revealed (A Tutorial) – Part 1

This is a tutorial, not an expose!  To say that I use a lot of Silvered Ivory Stringer (SIS) is a huge understatement, and I thought that I would show how I make my version of the stringer.  It would give non lampworkers a look at one of our techniques, and it would give away my trade secrets to allow me to share with my fellow lampworkers.

What is SIS?  I’m quoting Lori Greenberg as explained at Glass Arts on Craft Gossip:

It’s ivory glass, rolled in fine silver foil and then pulled into long glass strings (stringer). These stringer are used as an artist would use a pencil or paintbrush…to melt on fine designs.  The reaction of the silver and ivory form a webbing and curdling effect that is both organic and mesmerizing.

Hidden Glade - Bead using Silvered Ivory Stringer

Items used:

• Ivory Glass ( my go-to glass is Effetre Dark Ivory) – 1 rod
• Clear Glass (Vetrofond clear) – 2 rods
• Fine Silver Foil (this is important – Foil, not Leaf)
• Sharp Knife (such as Exacto brand)
• Graphite Marver
• Water
• Mashers
• Torch & flame!

The short version:

• Prepare the foil
• Make an ivory plug
• Apply the silver leaf to the ivory
• Burnish the silver
• Heat
• Pull

These are the same steps that many lampworkers would use (I would say all lampworkers, but I’m an engineer too, so I just can’t bring myself to make that strong of a statement…), however, I do some things in my own specific way, so that I have a repeatable and reliable result.

This tutorial also quite long, so I’m splitting it into several posts.  For a teaser, here is how I prepare the silver foil.

First of all, notice that I use fine silver foil.  It seems to give a better result, and it is easier to work with than fine silver leaf.  I get one piece of foil and place it in the front of the foil booklet.  I then cut it into 8 mostly equal pieces with my razor knife.  I slice it in half, then I slice one side into halves and finally each of those quarters in half. I hold the foil with my other hand so that it does not bunch up.   I just estimate where the cuts should be – that is close enough.  With practice, it is easy to tell how much pressure to use to make a nice cut.

Silver Foil cut by Razor Knife

Next, I place a tiny amount of water onto my marver, with the water concentrated on the side away from me.  The water holds the foil down so that it does not blow away or fold onto itself.

Graphite Marver with Drop of Water

Finally, I put one piece of the foil onto the marver.  I try to make sure that the edge of the foil closest to me is not on the water;  I want that edge loose so that it will stick to the glass easier.  If the edge is on the water, as it is in the photo, it just makes it a little harder to pick up the foil.  Even more important, there needs to some room on the marver on the edge closest to me.

Graphite Marver with Fine Silver Foil

So now the foil is prepared.  Next up? Plugging Along! (Making the ivory plug.)

All material contained within this Tutorial is protected by Copyright, “Spawn of Flame” Rosemarie Hanus, 2009; all rights reserved.

Rosemarie Hanus makes beads in her home studio. Almost all of them use Silvered Ivory Stringer – Look at these beads at Etsy,  Art Fire, or her Spawn of Flame website.

My Mac is Up and Running Again

Well, after the Leopard upgrade debacle, I have my beloved Mac working again. I have bright, shiny new versions of the software that I use. I do not know for a fact that this was the only way to fix my problems, but truthfully? I was in a panic.

I have just a small, snarky observation. I dearly love my Mac, and we’ve had our problems… but if Microsoft released an operation system that was so terribly incompatible with software that was only a couple of years old, you would never hear the end of it! There. I said it.

Growling at the Leopard

While the actual install of the OS 10.5 or OSX Leopard went without a hitch, I am now having problems with some of my applications.  Unfortunately, they are two of the applications that I really use the most – Adobe’s Photoshop and Parallels Desktop.

I use Photoshop to edit (color balance and crop) my photos for my bead business.  It will not even start – I get this error: “An unexpected and unrecoverable problem has occurred because of a program error.  Photoshop will now exit”.  I am using an older version of Photoshop (7.0),  I wonder if this is a problem.  I have not researched this yet, so  hopefully it is something simple.

I use Parallels to run Intuit’s Windows version of Quicken.  When I first got my Mac, I bought the Mac version, but there were many features missing that I had used, so I went back to using the Windows version.  Parallels and Quicken run, but the colors for the whole Windows desktop are all wrong and the screen does not clear.  It looks as though I have the wrong screen settings, but I don’t know what the right ones could possibly be.  And when I say that the colors are wrong, I don’t mean that it is a little unattractive – it is totally unusable.  Very psychodelic.  Very not good.

So, now I can’t fix the pictures that I need for the bead business and I don’t know when to pay the bills or how much money I have left.   That went well.  not.

Update: It seems as though older versions of Photoshop are not supported on Leopard.  From Adobe’s website:   versions Photoshop CS2 and older are “Likely to encounter issues for which there is no resolution.” Bummer.

Riveting Tool – Removing Stuck Beads

Tired of bent mandrels, stuck beads, or worse yet, chipped beads?  Do I have the solution for you – a riveting tool.  This was not my idea, and when I first heard it, I had no idea what a riveting tool was, nor did I know how to use it.

Riveting Tool

Here is a very inexpensive tool that I bought at Harbor Freight.  It is actually called a Hand Riveter set; it came with different size nosepieces as well as a variety of rivets also.  I have never changed the nosepiece to a different size.

To use the tool, I first remove as much of the bead release as possible.  Then I insert the mandrel into the hole in the nosepiece.  Sometimes I use a tiny o-ring to cushion the bead (if the bead is really stuck!)

Riveting Tool With Bead

I then squeeze – gently.  Very, very gently!  The riveting tool holds the mandrel in place and pushes the bead forward.

Riveting Tool - Moving the Bead

Usually this is enough to loosen the bead enough to pull it off.  If not, I just pull the mandrel to move the bead against the nosepiece again and repeat.

This method sure is easier then holding the mandrel with a bench vise and twisting the bead.  I have had limited success with that method anyway.

Rosemarie Hanus makes beads in her home studio. Look at some more of these beads (already removed from the mandrel) at Etsy,  Art Fire, or my Spawn of Flame website.

Making Dirty Laundry

My dog Spike tries to pretend that my cat Opel does not exist.  Despite that, the cat adores the dog.  What they have in common is this: they share an intense love for clean laundry.  Here they repose on some laundry that was clean before they found it, but is now dirty laundry.

Cat - Dog on Newly Dirty Laundry

Finding Your Voice Workshop – Week 7 – From Shapes

I needed a helper this week for my workshop (Finding Your Voice -Sylvie Lansdowne on Facebook) assignment, so I enlisted my daughter.  My helper had the task to make 5 shapes from Play-Doh; I had to choose 2 of these shapes and combine them into one bead.

She had a great time playing with the Play-Doh, and here are her shapes:

Random Inspirational Play-Doh Shapes

I used the purple pointy one and the green shape to the right.  Here is the bead:

Shapely Bead

Interested?  Read more in this series about the Finding Your Voice Workshop.

• 01 – Bead Experiments
• 02 – Inspired By a Painting
• 03 – A Personal Bead
• 03a- A Personal Bead – the Backstory
• 04 – Finding Your Own Inspiration
• 05 – From a Song
• 06 – From a Children’s Book

Rosemarie Hanus makes beads in her home studio. Look at some more of these beads at Etsy,  Art Fire, or my Spawn of Flame website.

Falling from the Sky

Look what was just falling out of the sky just now – hail…

Hail in Ohio

Leopard

I think I am going to finally upgrade my Mac to the OS 10.5 – Leopard operating system this weekend.  I know, I know – Snow Leopard might be out in the next few months, but who needs to on the cutting edge of technology? (Rhetorical – don’t answer!)

I am nervous.

I backed everything up last week and I need to get the newer material backed up.  I am hoping the the Leopard backup utility will make this task less onerous.

I’ve looked at a couple of online articles on what to do to prepare… does anybody have any words of wisdom?

Which Ivory is Best for Silvered Ivory Stringer?

Ha!  There is no way that I am going to answer that question!  It just depends on the look that you are trying to achieve. I did make a bead to show what the different looks are though.

For my test bead, I used a base of Effetre Light Sky Blue, and added large dots of Effetre Transparent Dark Aqua.  On the “left” side of the bead, I marked it by making the end totally transparent.  Then I added four stripes of  Silvered Ivory Stringer, each using a different Ivory below the fine silver foil.  The Ivories were: Effetre Dark Ivory, Effetre, Light Ivory, Vetrofond Dark Ivory, and Vetrofond Light Ivory.  I placed them in alphabetical order from left to right, well, just because.

Silvered Ivory Stringers

Notice that there are subtle (and not so subtle) differences between each of the stringers.  Of course, these never look exactly the same, but this bead is typical.  The most webbing is seen with the Effetre Dark Ivory and the least is with the Vetrofond Light Ivory.

Is this typical of what you other flameworkers see?  How about jewelry makers – what is your favorite?

Rosemarie Hanus makes beads in her home studio. Almost all of them use Silvered Ivory Stringer – Look at these beads at Etsy,  Art Fire, or her Spawn of Flame website.