Today is Studio Saturday over on Art Bead Scene. I'm the featured beadmaker and I always have waaayyyyyy tooo much to say! So I'm going to have a two parter - the general beadmaking insights over on ABS and the glass insights over here.
My tips on the glass color today won't be as detailed as Color Addiction, sorry no swatches (maybe add later) but a few tips for working with the glass in the Rainbow Spiral. Making the spiral shape wasn't going to be a problem, my concern was the transparent yellow. Yes, I've talked about loving the opaque yellow on my blog but the transparent yellow is another story! It's very finicky and if you get it too hot, it will go all cloudy on you.
Transparent yellow in the rod form is faintly yellow because it's a striking color, i.e., you bring out the yellow color in the flame. Therein lies the rub - if you strike it too hot, it goes cloudy. It will still be yellow, but it won't be transparent. Here are a few tips to keep it transparent:
Never heat the glass to a white hot. Heat it to an orange-red glow.
Avoid reheating as much as possible.
Encase the yellow in clear transparent as quickly as possible.
Once encased, you can re-heat and re-shape without cloudiness.
Transparent yellow is a great color as long as you treat it well. Just remember to "keep it cool" baby!
2 comments:
what a cool post!!
Thanks, Kandice!
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