This week I have made what I loosely call "opal" tab beads.
Opal, due to the gorgeous opalescent colours on the spots of these tabular shaped beads.
This lovely reaction is both easy and difficult to do!
It is easy to "bring it out" and difficult (for me) to make each dot a matching colour.
These gorgeous colours are a result of "reducing", which is changing the torch flame balance to one that is propane rich, instead of a flame that is an even balance of oxygen and propane.
Once the glass dots are briefly touched by the reducing flame to bring out a glimmer of colour, the reaction is then captured by covering each dot with a transparent clear glass (although other transparent colours can be used).
I used two different rods of silver-laden glass for the dots - called Triton and Psyche. Both are manufactured by Double Helix Glass.
Interesting patterns on the base bead can occur too. On dark ivory glass, crackling or "webbing" is a result of the silver-laden glass in the dots affecting the ivory base - as in the picture below.
The other wonderful reaction that happens in glass is that the base colour also can change the colour of what goes on top, ie the dots in this case, so the resultant dots can be purple instead of blue!
This is truly the magic of glass to me. Sometimes, what I think will come out of the kiln is not what eventually comes out. I think I have it (sort of) worked out and then it just surprises me with another extraordinary gift.
Cheers,
Jenni
Whatever you can do or dream you can, BEGIN IT.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Goethe.
2 comments:
Those dots changing from blue to purple was a wonderful happy accident! Those beads are gorgeous!
Hey grace, yes the silver laden glass can be very mercurial, jenni
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