After 4-5 tries, I did manage to get this (front and back of the same bead.)
That's not too shabby. That's over a base of Effetre black.
The info I got on working it is:
deep heat, cool and strike very hot. Anneal Hot.
I tried it first over CiM Hades (an intense black) and that didn't work particularly well. By the time I had finished deep heating and hot striking the Fire Lotus, it had sunk into the softer Hades and all but disappeared.
These two spacers, Fire Lotus thinly encased over clear, show some promise.
This was a thin core of Fire Lotus and deeply encased. You can see (red arrow) the beginnings of a crack - which has spread to the entire length of the bead now. Whether that was the result of uneven heating from repeatedly striking, or not annealing hot enough, I can't say at this point. In other words, it might be my fault, not the glass's fault. ;-)
I will point out that it went into the kiln looking more sagey-blue-green than lavendar-topaz.
This rather dark and broody bead is a base of Hades, with trails of Fire Lotus and Ivory.
This is a base of Effetre black with Fire Lotus, the new Moody Blue and Purplescent. More on those in a bit.
Hi Dwyn!
ReplyDeleteThis is probably my favorite glass... I work it the same way i did with tibet! White hot so it cools clear on the mandrel... cool then heat - first strike is blues then purples, then reds then you get a greeny yellow - and if you screw it up then just make it white / hot / clear again and start over... Best results are when you use it on its own and don't have to many heat cycles which sometimes happen when encasing etc.
Love the blog!
Julie
Try it over transparent red or orange.. it's magic! Many of the silver colours look great over these two. It'll strike more magenta in the kiln too.
ReplyDeleteI do it the same as Julie, clear hot, then let cool, then strike. Perhaps more of a layer on your base? The beads I have made are all FL. It is lovely.
ReplyDelete