Zoozii's texture plate heart tutorial with notes on highlight mica (pixie dust)

I have recently brought a Zoozii's texture tool press. It's a pretty versatile piece of kit with a good range of shape plates and texture plates to choose from and to mix and match. This tutorial uses the Texture Tool base in conjunction with the Heart Shape Plate medium+ and Spiral Texture Plates. The screws supplied with the texture tool are long enough so that you can select a texture plate and shape plate and layer them up over your base and handle and secure them to create your own custom press.

In this tutorial there is also some some tips on how to use highlight mica (pixie dust) for surface decoration. Above are a few examples of what violet highlight mica looks like over some of my favourite transparent CiM glass colours. Pale transparent glass looks particularly effective with highlight mica. Adding a little mica as partial surface decoration to textured beads is a simple and pretty way to add a little sparkle and pick out a little detail whilst being an efficient use of mica if you have just a little sampler or baggie.

Step1 wrap your mandrel with several small wrap of your s=chosen glass and roll it out on a graphite paddle to a length just short of your heart cavity.

Step 2 measure your base bead against the press to check length. Heat and marver further is your bead is too short.

Step 3 add more glass to your base bead to form a conical shape.

Step 4 heat and press your cone into the heart cavity

Step 5 heat again an press the other side of your bead into the heart cavity.

Step 6 add 1 large dot of glass to each side of your bead to begin to form the lobes.

Step 7 heat and press both sides into your heart cavity and look to see how much more glass your need to add to the top and sides.

Step 8 swipe a small amount on the sides and top of your bead where required.

Step 9 heat and press both sides into your heart cavity and look again to see if any more glass is needed.

Step10 add small amounts of glass where needed, remember it is easier to add more glass than take away excess glass when working with a press. Adding small amounts at a time yields the best results.

Step 11 heat and press both sides into your heart cavity and look again to see if any more glass is needed. If so repeat steps 10 and 11 until you are happy with the fit.

Step 12 add a trio of small dots top to both flat sides. Place one dot on each lobe and one near the base of the heart. It will be this extra glass that fills the texture plate cavity when you come to press your bead. Heat your bead thoroughly and then press. Immediately after pressing waft your bead through the flame to put back some of the heat lost to the brass when the bead was pressed. If you are not adding further decoration place your bead directly into your warm kiln.

Step13 To add some sparkle heat your bead further until it is glowing but not yet hot enough to loose detail. The mica will only adhere to molten glass so you will need to work quickly. Dab one side of your bead onto a small amount of highlight mica which you have placed on a heat proof surface. Turn the bead and dab the other side. Return the bead to the top of the flame only and flame anneal thoroughly before placing your pressed bead in the kiln.







Using this kind of powdered surface decoration can be a little bit of a juggling act with pressed beads as your bead needs to be warmed thorough before garaging to avoid thermal cracking along the mandrel but also highlight mica is easy to burn off and looks really quite ugly when this happens. Working at the very top on the flame will stop the highlight mica form being burnt while you flame anneal your bead.

Please remember to use common sense and exercise caution when working with mica - wear a dust mask as you would when working with frit and enamels and work in an adequately ventilated space.
Have fun! Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

La Patisserie Press mini tutorials part I

I have wanted a La Patisserie press by Kati was here! from the very first moment I saw it back in 2010. It was tool lust at first sight, I resisted temptation because I am rubbish with presses! Quite quite poor at judging the amount of glass needed and too impatient to try over and over to get the knack of it. Just recently I made some citrus slice murrini for the Mini Mo' Club and they have been whispering to me about how much they want to be decorating chocolate beads and so I gave in......and I'm really glad I did, it is really quite a forgiving press when it comes to glass quantities and I've never enjoyed a press so much before.

It arrived this morning and I have been playing about with the different shapes and trying to figure out the best way to add glass the make them work for me. Here is a quick how to guide of what I have come up with so far, Cookie Cutter, Square and Heart, part 2 to follow soon.

Cookie Cutter

This is what the cookie cutter cavity looks like, you can see the waves of the texture plate at the bottom of this press (the base is reversible, the bottom of your beads can be plain too if you like).

Step 1 Wrap your mandrel and roll out the glass on a graphite paddle to just short of the width of the cavity

Step 2 Wrap a second layer of glass over your barrel and then press gently in to the top part of the press (the part with the handle) then flip it over and press again, repeat until the press is filled except for the frills

Step 3 Put a large dot of your glass in top and bottom and heat well

Step 4 heat your bead through and place your bead in the base and press between both halves of the press. This will fill the frills and press glass down onto the texture plate

 Step 5 gently flame kiss out the chill marks from the non textured side of your choc bead

Step 6 I am going to decorate this choc bead with pixie dust (mica). The colour I am using is Bright Gold Sparkle.

First a few notes on working with mica, wear a dust mask when handling and using mica in the same way you would when working with enamels and frits. Never use a shaker to apply the mica to your beads as this will cause the fine particles to become air born and never dip a hot bead in to a plastic container. A little mica goes a long way so pick up just a very small amount on a tea spoon to apply it.

Warm up your bead until it is glowing but not molten and dip the hot surface of your bead on to a small amount of mica then flash the bead back and fourth in the top of flame to get the pixie dust to stick.

Step 7 Sparkle Pixie dust can take quite a bit of heat without being burnt off so it is possible to add further decoration on top of the mica. I have decorated this chocolate with twistie cane leaves and an encased stringer rose.







Square

This is what the square cavity looks like, in this pic you can also see the twistie cane that I used in the previous bead to make the leaves.

Step 1 Wrap your mandrel and roll out the glass on a graphite paddle to just short of the width of the cavity (I find it easier to do this against the handle part rather than the base part)

Step 2 Wrap a second layer of glass over your barrel

Step 3 Press gently in to the top part of the press (the part with the handle) then flip your bead over and press again to flatten out

Step 4 add generous dots to the four corners of your bead to pad out the empty spaces in the cavity

Step 5 heat the dots in and press in the square cavity again, flip the bead over and press again

Step 6 add four small dots on the corners on both sides and melt in thoroughly to bulk out the top and bottom

Step 7 place your bead in the base and press between both halves of the press. This will fill the corners properly and press glass down onto the texture plate

Step 8 gently flame kiss out the chill marks from the non textured side of your choc bead

Step 9 decorate your bead, this one has twistie cane leaves and Gorgeous Grapefruit murrini









Heart

This is what the heart cavity looks like with the wave texture plate underneath

Step 1 Wrap your mandrel and roll out the glass on a graphite paddle to just short of the width of the cavity

Step 2 wrap more glass on one side of the barrel only. Next gently press into the top part of the press (the part with the handle) then flip your bead over and press again to flatten out the other side too

Step 3 place generous dots of glass on your bead where the "lobes" will be

Step 4 melt in well then press each gently in the heart cavity in the handle

Step 5 place small dots of glass to bulk out the lobes further

Step 6 melt in well then press each side gently in the heart cavity in the handle part of the press

Step 7 swipe on extra glass top and bottom in a V shape to bulk out the depth of your bead

Step 8 place your bead in the base cavity and press between both halves of the press. This will fill the whole cavity fully and push glass down onto the texture plate to give you chocolate bead wavy lines on the bottom

Step 9 gently flame kiss out the chill marks from the non textured side of your choc bead ready to decorate

Step 10 I have decided to add texture to the top on this bead with another texture plate, this one is a grid from the Zoozie texture tool. Heat you bead til glowing but not molten and press on to the texture plate gently

I'm going to decorate the grid textured surface with fine silver leaf which is fairly commonly found in books as loose sheets

Step 11 pick up a small amount of silver leaf with tweezers and burnish on

Step 12 burn off excess silver to partially reveal the textured surface.

I hope you have enjoyed these mini tuts on how I have been using my new press today and the fun ideas for chocolate decorations!



Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads