Adventures with Gunmetal

Gunmetal is pretty special stuff, it can be tweaked in the flame to give a strong shimmering silver patina. You can catch a glimpse of this as you are melting down a rod in the flame but I find the best and easiest way to create a strong surface patina with this glass is to flash your finished bead through a very small oxygen rich flame just before putting your bead away in the kiln.

This is the paddle pic for Gunmetal from CiM




I find that Gunmetal is a super soft glass to work with, melting just as quickly and easily as a white opaque glass. It also seems to hold the heat and stay runny longer once out of the flame in the same way as light opaque colours do. I have found Gunmetal can "cannibalize" surface decoration if used as a base and worked too hot, I have lost some of my white latticino surface decoration in to the focal in my test mini set.



I also find that it is difficult to get dot work to stick if there is the slightest patina of silver on the surface of a Gunmetal base bead so building up your base in a very slightly reducing flame works best for me when I want to add further surface decoration.



As shards, Gunmetal looks a deep transparent purple before application. For the best results I use the same technique to apply as I do with premium Effetre hand pulled Dark Silver Plum (DSP). I turn the torch flame right down with the propane dial only, creating a very small oxygen rich flame. The results are instant when you add Gunmetal shards to the surface of your bead, glistening and shiny silver. Very lovely indeed, and at just a fraction of the price of DSP.


Gunmetal shards over CiM Sapphire



Gunmetal shards over Reichenbach Antique Clear

I tend to work hot preferring transaprents for their stiffness and for that reason find working with Gunmetal a challenge. I adore this glass as shards.

Jolene

Slytherin - Rockin' for twistie

Just spent a productive hour in my shed pulling twistie from Slytherin, one of the newest CoE 104 glass colours to hit the U.K from CiM.

This is the paddle pic for Slytherin from CiM - divine looking isn't it!



The intensity of this transparent colour makes the rods look virtually opaque not what I was expecting at all. It is a very stiff glass, but does not pit, spark or boil even in a very hot flame.

So I pulled a few variations of twistie in combination with CiM Peace (from right to left) encased striped twistie, striped twistie, tightly twisted ribbon cane with a thin partial encasement of Slytherin and lastly loose ribbon cane with a thick partial encasement of Slytherin.



The dense pigmentation in this glass lends itself well to creating encased striped twistie (far left below) - perfect for complex and subtle vine work on florals maybe. The striped twistie without encasement gave me a surprising result when I came to make my test beads - a thin reaction line on the Peace, midway between the main stripes of Slytherin (second from left below).





Of the ribbon cane twistie I much prefer the lightly encased version (above center) which again shows a reaction line on the Peace. The loosely twisted ribbon when used in my encased test beads shows again just how intense this colour is (abovefar left).



My conclusion......A little of this glass goes a very long way.

Jolene

Just how much Glass is too much Glass?

and the answer is.......are you mad? What kind of question is that? There is no such thing as too much glass!!



Something that nobody tells you about when starting up lampworking as a hobby is just how deeply you will fall in love with glass. This is my stash, Effetre on the left (in colour order - transparent and opaque’s on separate shelves of course!)CiM top middle, Reichenbach 104 bottom middle. Double Helix, Seeded glass, Odd Lots, Cool colours & hand pulled Effetre on the right......

Plus a weenie stash of Kugler and Gaffer CoE 96 tucked away at the bottom.

And no, you are wrong! I do need more glass!

Jo x

50 White Latticinos

Doesn't looking at these make your eyes go funny!



Just a sample of the kind of beadmakers glasswork that I make and sell at Kitzbitz Art Glass

Jolene

Welcome to my new glassy blog

Finally I have a place to jot my thoughts down and am looking forward sharing my passion for all things glassy.

Jolene xx