A new listing on Etsy!

Ok, first I have to say that it has NOT been almost two weeks since my last post.  I went through a time warp, I swear!  :\  I'll have to get to making beads and posting pictures from my last palette tomorrow.  Right now, though, I wanted to announce that I've listed a new item, a cute little pair of beads you can use for earrings, in my Etsy shop!  Yay for finally getting something accomplished! :)

Experimenting with Reduction Glass

A local friend of mine was kind enough to give me some reduction glass and frit (reduction and regular) for my birthday last month and I finally got the nerve up to play with it.  I've read so many Lampwork Etc. threads about how to use reduction glass so I thought it would be intuitive, but I was.  I tried the frits first, including 3 of the reduction frits, setting the propane way up high and just bathing the beads in the main portion of the flame, but the reduction frit beads all turned grey.  Happily, all the other frits turned out really nice, though.

Seeing as how those three beads aren't *really* what I was hoping for, I broke down and did a Google search and found these instructions on the Arrow Springs website on how to use reduction glass.  Since I had a whole rod of reduction glass from my friend (Reichenbach Iris Orange, R-108), I decided to just make bead after bead after bead until I got it right.  This is how the next batch of beads came out. Aren't they pretty?

Just so you know, I used the "second method" as described in the fourth paragraph of Arrow Springs' instructions.  When you're done reducing your bead, remember when you turn your oxygen back up that you have to do it really slowly, because the build up of oxygen in the line with cause a loud *pop* as it mixes with the propane and possibly blow out your propane flame.  It might be better just to turn the propane all the way off and then turn your torch back on using the POOP method (propane on, oxygen on; oxygen off, propane off).  That *pop* scared the bejeebers out of me even when I knew to expect it! :^)

I don't see myself buying any Reichenbach for myself in the near future, and I only have an inch or two left, so I'm thinking of turning the rest of the R-108 into stringer to stretch out that awesome oil-slick effect over several more beads.  I'll be sure to post some pictures of those experiments when I get around to making those beads.

And on the seventh day, she rested... or not.

So excited, yesterday I got my Zoozii's lentil shaper that I bought in the Lampwork Etc. garage sale, and tried it today for the first time.  Obviously, pics or it didn't happen, so pics will be forthcoming when they come out of the annealer tomorrow.  I made 4 valentine's big-hole-beads for my office-mate to give to his fiance, and a few regular beads for me.

Here's the aforementioned lentil shaper. The advert said they were small lentils, and they weren't kidding! That seller is lucky I prefer things smaller to things larger. *evil grin*

You can probably see the frit in the back, I got that as a freebie in one of the shipments I received recently.  Aren't glass people nice!

So, that's all for today, except for the burn I got on my finger.  Yup, I actually stuck the tip of my right index finger straight into the flame.  It was all white and kinda scary looking, but it didn't hurt, and I didn't do anything to triage it. I was in the middle of a bead so I just kept on going!  I'm sure lots of beadmakers have similar stories.  Oddly, I don't have any pics to show because by the time I was done making beads, the burn had disappeared and now the tip of my finger looks just as it did before.

TTFN!