Making a simple two colour twistie cane

A quick guide to how I make a simple two tone twistie using a mandrel and 104 glass punty to pull the twistie cane out. First heat up an uncoated mandrel directly in your torch flame.

Next wrap 1 to 2 cm of your bare mandrel with small wraps of your base colour - in this case I am using CiM Peace which I find much stiffer in relation to Effetre white and it is my go to white for twistie making.

Wrap a second layer of glass over your foundation layer. Some people build their twistie gather extending out from the last few mm of an uncoated mandrel and have the majority of the gather off mandrel but I prefer to use the mandrel for stability through the entire core of my gather.

Keep on building up the layers until you have a gather size that you are comfortable with. Start small and build larger gathers as you confidence grows.

Next marver your gather smooth which will make it easier to judge where to add your stripes of accent glass and will make the gather pull out evenly.

Keep your gather warm behind the flame and swipe on generous lines of your top stripe colour. In this tutorial I am using Reichenbach Dense Black which tends to stay crisp and dense in tone when stretched diluted. Avoid Reichenbach Dense Black if you are looking for organic spreading and webbing from your twistie - use fine lines (added with stringer rather than a full rod) of CiM Hades or Effetre intense black instead.

I like to add 4 or 5 stripes of the accent glass over my base colour to give the illusion of a really tight twist.

Keep you gather warm behind the flame and prepare a chunky maria of CoE 104 clear glass for your punty. It wasn't possible to get a photo of this part of the process as I had both hands full!

Some people like to use a second mandrel, aluminium chopsticks or even a rod of boro glass as their punty - all of these work well and the choice what kind of handle to use to help you pull down your gather is entirely up to you. I use 104 clear as I use all of the tail ends of my twistie canes to make Amoeba beads for Beads of Courage UK (tutorial for that tomorrow).

Attach your CoE 104 maria (second mandrel/chopsticks/boro rod) to your gather and heat until the stripes are well melted in and the whole mass is fluid and glowing to the core.

Edit to add: aim all of the heat at at the gather and not the maria, especially on the bushy flame of a HH torch. If you heat the soft punty rod that will pull out instead of the gather which is why lot's of people would go for chopsticks or a mandrel to punty up.

Remove the whole gather from the flame and begin to slowly twist both gather mandrel and punty whist pulling the two further apart very slowly. As you pull your cane you will see and feel the twisted cane "set". At this point you can stop twisting the punty and twist the mandrel only, twisting it faster and pulling harder to get a long length of even straight twistie cane.

Place the twistie on a heat proof surface to cool and cut the mandrel and punty from your twistie with rod nippers. Leave the maria ends to cool and dunk the mandrel in a water jar to cool it. You can always repunty the remainder of a gather and go for a second pull if your gather is too large for your arm span once reduced.



Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

The very first Beadathon, Ustream testing & Beads of Courage

I had this mad idea last January, literally dreamt it up I think because I woke up one morning with problem solving the logistics already on my mind and the idea already firmly rooted. What I was thinking of was special 24 hours of continuous bead making by a hardcore group of glass loving bead makers to create a really special collection of Act of Courage Beads for Beads of Courage UK.

I mulled it over for a while before finally floating the idea with John and Sarah Drummond of BCCA who gave me the go ahead to set the idea in motion. I was thrilled to bits that they loved the idea and when discussing the project with other bead makers for the first time it was suggested to make this event a sponsored project also and the Beadathon concept was born.

Several months of planning down the line I am thrilled to bits to be announcing the first ever Beadathon will be taking place here in my studio in Middlesex on October 13th and 14th 2012. I will be joined by several fabulous lampworkers including Laney Mead, Vanessa Hearn, Sue Reynolds, Michelle Ross, Sarah Thompson and Heather Kelly. Georgie Bristow and Samantha Capeling will be joining in from their home studios via the web. For full details of the event please visit our just giving page by clicking the Just Giving button.

We are planning to broadcast the whole event live on the web so you guys can see what we are all making and come by, say hi and leave a message of support on the chat box for us. I have spent 10 hours broadcasting live over the last three days, making sure that my WiFi can handle the distance from source to shed and things are looking good. The video below is a short clip from my last live broadcast and shows me making a little orange bead for BoC.

Live video for mobile from Ustream

There are a few things left to address, cleaning/better positioning of the diddy specs that the camera is wearing and the feedback loop on the sound recording are issues, but these are things that can be dealt with in time. Here is a snap of all of the beads that I made live on the web over the last 3 days, each one will eventually find it's way on to a string of beads of a child or teen enrolled on the BoC program here.

Lastly I want to leave you with BCCA-BoC official video so that you can see why this project has struck such a chord with me and how it makes so much positive difference to Beads of Courage families.


If you are a lampwork bead maker and have any beads that you would like to donate to BoC for Act of Courage beads please Click Here for more information. If you have any questions for me about the Beadathon project please feel free to email me at Jolene@craftpimp.co.uk

Thank You Jo xx

Messy Testing - Lemon Drop and Tandoori

Yum! Check out the colour of these beads! CiM has introduced some new colours this month including CiM Lemon Drop ltd Run. This glass looks very odd in rod form, something like a filligriano with a core of pale yellow transparent running down the inside. The test bead here on the left shows that the colour strikes out evenly to become this very beautiful pale transparent lemon colour which I am liking a lot. on a slightly different note you will begin to see more and more of these words-on-em test beads on my blog as I am putting together an alphabetised CiM Colour Chart

The bracelet beads on the right have been made with a core of Lemon Drop ltd run burnished with fine silver leaf and encased with Effetre 006 clear. The left most bead was encased without the silver leaf being reintroduced to the flame and there are areas within this bead that still have whole pieces of silver. In other places the silver leaf has broken up into beautiful fine droplets under the encasing layer. On the right the silver leaf on the bead core has been burnt off before encasing and swirling which gives this organic cloud effect. I am not sure if the glass looks so much darker, like scrumptious caramelised sugar, as the result of being encasing or of fuming by the silver leaf or both.

The second glass I am looking at today is CiM Tandoori ltd run. In rod form Tandoori puts me in mind of good old fashioned fizzy Tizer, a bright but seemingly not very saturated transparent orangey red. The bead here on the left is made entirely with CiM Tandoori which looks considerably darker in bead than rod form and is a gorgeous vibrant dark orange transparent.

My next two beads have been made with a core of Tandoori ltd run burnished with fine silver leaf and then encased with clear. The first bead was encased without being reintroduced to the flame first. You can clearly see that there has been a reaction between the Tandoori and Silver which gives the whole silvered area a bluish cast. I burnt off the burnished silver before encasing my second bead, the cloud effect here is much stronger than that with the Lemon Drop and it also has faintly bluish cast which I have not managed to capture very well in my photography. Encasing this glass with silver and clear does not seem to change the appearance of the base glass in the same dramatic way it has with the Lemon Drop.

For more information about CiM glass and to find out what other testers have discovered please visit the Messy Color Website.

Jolene x
Craft Cafe

June photos...switching off auto!

I've taken to carrying my camera about with me since the start of June as I am determined to get to know my camera better.....mostly I'm simply snapping colour inspiration pictures on the walk to and from school or in the garden, such is the life of a stay at home, self employed, creative Mummy, but also a few from this months vist to our favourite city farm.

Since I took off my training wheels and switched off Auto on my compact, I am really pleased with a few of the images that I've managed to capture. Some are pretty, some that make me smile amd so I thought I would share a few of them here on my blog.......

 

Ta for stopping by
Jolene

CiM, Zim and silver....part III

This is the third instalment of my CiM/Zim series of posts and this trio of glassy combinations all involve Messy Color ltd runs.

The beads on the left are made with Zimmermann Z921 Aquamarine frit and fine silver foil over CiM Obsidian ltd run. I have flashed three of these beads through a propane rich reduction flame. The focal was flashed quickly through a light reduction flame and it has taken on a kind of Peacock-ish sheen. The smallest pair have been wafted quickly through a heavy reduction flame. As you can see the organic effects of the fine silver are dramatically stronger and the Aquamarine frit has been has been reduced to a rich terracotta.

This next set is made with CiM Pimento ltd run - a stunning vibrant orangey red that makes me think of ladybugs every time I see it. Two of these beads have a core of Pimento, a touch of silver foil burnished on and burnt off which has then been encased with Effetre 006 clear glass. The other three are solid Pimento, fine silver foil and then have been rolled in a touch of Zimmermann Z7911 Orange Yellowish frit. The colour of this scrummy frit puts me in mind of tinned peaches.

The third set I have to show today is CiM Ruby Slippers ltd run with Z701 Emerald Green Blueish. This set has 3 beads with a core of Ruby Slippers which has been rolled in silver foil and then encased in Effetre 006 Clear. and Ruby slippers strikes very easily and has a lovely strong reaction with the fine silver foil.  To finish this set I have made two beads which are Ruby Slippers burnished silver foil and then rolled in Z701 Emerald Green Blueish frit which looks super dense over rich dark red base glass.

Jolene x
Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

My first crack at fusing........

I took a trip to Devon last summer with my family and sneaked a day away to have my first fusing taster day with expert tuition from Samantha Capeling of Venus Art Glass.

This is my first ever dish design created using some innovative techniques which Sam fired and then slumped for me. There was time in the day for me to make a second piece too. A sweet little coaster for my daughter Ruby.











I am a huge fan of Sam's work and own several pieces. Her Etsy shop is loaded full of beautiful one of a kind glass work including this gorgeous dish.





Jolene xx

Tutorial - Raked reactive bead

I was mucking about with a few ends of glass rods that I had on my desk at the close of my bead making session yesterday and made this round bead.

 
It's a very simple but colourful bead that makes use of the well known reaction between Effetre Petrol Green 218 and Effetre Purple 272. I thought it would make a nice tutorial to share on my blog so when I fired up my torch today I made another one similar and took some pics.

To start with you will need a rod of each of these colours and something to rake your glass with. You could use a tungsten pick or some sort of stainless steel dental tool. I like to use a very thin stringer of glass to move the hot surface of my bead about. I have also used a graphite bead roller for shaping my bead - a bead roller is not necessary to make a beautifully proportioned bead but I do like my one a great deal - especially for making sets. The one I have is from CGbeads.

First you need to pre-warm your mandrel which has been dipped in bead release to make sure your molten glass will stick to it then place a single wrap of your petrol green glass on the mandrel.

Place a second wrap next to the first and roll out the glass on the back of your graphite roller paddle to a length just short of your bead roller cavity.

Next wrap a second layer of petrol green over your first  layer to build up the bulk of  the bead core then roll the bead in your roller cavity to start to round off the corners.

Next use your rod of 272 purple to wrap one thick continuous wrap around your bead core at either end just where the base glass starts to taper towards the bead holes.

Melt all of the glass down until it is smooth and get it roughly in to shape with your bead roller. You will be able to see multiple stripes of colour where the purple and green glass have reacted together.

The next job is to heat a small section across the surface of your bead. Aim the flame at just a small area of your bead then take it out of the flame when it starts to glow and the use your glass stringer or dragging tool to rake the surface of the bead. Here you can see that I am distorting the soft glass by dragging a very thin clear stringer gently across the surface of it in a straight line.

Repeat the spot heating and raking process several times, working your way around the surface of your bead and raking in opposite directions. Finally heat your bead through one last time and smooth off the surface of your glass in the bead roller cavity.

You can now add further decoration, dots, spots, lines, spot heat and twist to distort the surface more - anything you like really.

Have fun!

Jolene xx Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Hanging out in dictionary corner

A cheeky gallery of some of my latest makes - I've been on a "cool" 5 syllable words hunt and have collected together some corkers! I've a few more on my want to make wish list including congratulations, inspirational and monosyllabic :-D Jo x

Jolene xx
Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Buzzword bead comp prizes gallery

I have just finished and photographed the custom made prizes for the 8 lucky winners selected from last weeks Buzzword bead comp on my blog. I thought it would be wonderful to show all of them together in this little gallery type post. This first set is for Linda, a trio that reads Bead-a-holic. This deep plummy striated purple glass is a absolute favourite of mine and I hope that Linda likes it too.


 
The next set I have to show in the prize gallery is a fabulous phrase suggested by Vic. It reads "You are never too old to storm a bouncy castle". Vic wanted a her prize beads made in blues and greens and so I raided my special stash Effetre opalino colours which look delicious!






The third set reads "Don't follow the crowd, lead it", a truly wonderful suggestion put forward by Lucy. It's a wonderful piece of uplifting advice. Lucy told me that she loves bright colour so I have selected this vibrant orange and lime colours for her.






This teeny tiny 15mm round bead reads "It's only impossible if you think about it" which is a bit of a quote from the film The Pirates Band Of Misfits. I couldn't resist the temptation to fit it all on the one bead just to see if it could be done. This one is winging it's way off to Sam in the post.











This next uplifting phrase "Dare to dream" seemed just right to become a Buzzword focal.  This wonderful phrase was put forward as a suggestion by Tina who wanted a purple bead to go with her hair.











 Next a trio mini set that I have made especially for Tish and reads "Diabetic Insulin Dependant" in gloriously red CiM Maraschino glass.










Kathleen wanted purple too for her winning slogan "what comes round goes round". This one was handpicked as a winner because I so wanted to write that on a bead.












You only get a teaser of a glimpse of this last set because my blog is U rated and these beads are...well they are just not! KJ got her name picked out of that hat for a string of her favourite swear words and that lady sure does know how to curse. For those of you who know KJ, it just had to be rainbows innit :-D I just love these beads, they were born to be cheeky and bad!





My What's the buzz.... customise your own buzzword bead set option is now live in Etsy. Thank you once again to everyone who left and entry in my competition, it has been a lot of fun. I think I'll have another buzzword blog comp around Christmas time/

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Buzzword bead comp and the winners are

It's that time - time to announce the winners of my Buzzword Beads Competition.  I have put every phrase along with the name of the person who put the suggestion forward on it's own slip of paper and have decided to pick out 4 random entries to have their words made up as Buzzword beads.
So here goes.......

• winner no 1 -  "Dare to dream" from Tina
• winner no 2 - " Don't follow the crowd, lead it" from Lucy (Miss Pixie)
• winner no 3 - Favourite swear words from KJ (don't blame me guv, my OH picked the winners from the hat (casserole dish)) innit.
• winner no 4 -  Bead-a-holic form Linda (Spexy)

Congratulations everyone, please get in touch with me at Jolene at craftpimp dot co dot uk and let me know where to send your beads when they are made.

In addition to these 4 I have also hand picked some extra winners too, I am also going to be making a few specific beads from ideas that have been shared here on my blog because something about each of them is utterly appealing to me in some way. I wish I could have made them all because there were so many great suggestions.

First I'm going to make Vic a set that says "You are never to old to storm a bouncy castle" because that phrase just makes me smile and then smile more. Next, one I've already made (because the temptation to do so was just toooooo irresistible) is a focal for Sam that says "It's only impossible if you think about it" (up there in red and black /\). Third up is a set for Tish that says diabetic insulin dependent in red on white because it'll look great and be useful too and last of my handpicked winners will be Nuttybeader from FHF with "what goes round comes round", such a cool phrase to pop on a bead!

My What's the buzz.... customise your own buzzword bead set option is now live in Etsy. Thank you very much to everyone who cane by and left a comment, my blog has never been so busy before!

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads