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On the Road to Roanoke

November 12, 2009 in Lampworking & Glass, Miscellaneous by Julia | No comments

Observations:

Even after rush hour ends, Atlanta traffic, even in the off-direction, is no fun.
There’s a Carhartt outlet at Commerce. I wonder if they carry women’s stuff.
Bulldogs are loveably slobbery fun to pet.
Playing tug-of-war with a 40 pound bulldog is a good workout for your deltoids & such.
The guys at Mountain Glass Arts don’t see me very often, but they do seem to like it when I (and my credit card) stop by.
Burger King’s food hasn’t improved in recent years.
What goes up, up, up on I-26 must eventually come down, down, down into Tri-Cities.
Andes Mint ice cream sandwiches are rather tasty.
It gets dark early in east Tennessee.
I-81 still has its share of crazy drivers after dark.
Sometimes it’s just as well to have snacks in the room instead of going back out hunting down a real dinner.
Three-Buck-Chuck Merlot is just fine when that’s all you got handy.
CSI trilogies are intensely creepily good at revealing that some people in the world are real sickos.
Some people out there are even worse procrastinators than I am.
My husband is still good at putting one over on me, though I’m still good at finding out prematurely that he’s done so.

ALMOST Indestructable Mandrels">ALMOST Indestructable Mandrels

November 7, 2009 in Lampworking & Glass by Julia | 5 comments

I work mostlywith borosilicate glass (better known as Pyrex), which tends to make me a mandrel-killer. These mandrels are stainless steel TIG welding rods so are meant to handle heat…just not the kind of heat I need to make that glass MOVE where and how it’s supposed to move.

I burn through 3/32″ mandrels routinely when working on bigger/more complex beads or when trying to do two or three basics on a single rod. I can even burn through a 1/8″ mandrel without any real problem. I haven’t quite burned through a 5/32″ mandrel (the ones I use for Pandora/Troll type beads) but I’ve come unnervingly close.

Trying to make small beads with small holes for earrings and such calls for a 1/16″ mandrel. With ordinary mandrels they are an exercise in futility for me. Fifteen seconds in the flame and POOF! PLOP! There’s my molten glass on the tabletop with a mandrel bit sticking out each end, destined only for a watery grave.

Then AuraLens came out with their “Almost Indestructable Mandrels” in a variety of sizes, including that impossible 1/16″ size AND two even tinier sizes. Their website states “Imagine being able to make three or more borosilicate beads on a mandrel and not having the mandrel melt from excessive heat.”

“Suuuuure you can,” said my Inner Skeptic.

I asked Mike Aurelius if that claim was for real. He assured me it was, so I promptly ordered three dozen 1/16″ Almost Indestructible Mandrels. I don’t make tiny beads every session, so it’s taken me a while to really give them a workover.

The verdict from here? “Almost” is the operative word. I’ve destroyed several of them so far, but I’ve had to work at it harder, quite a bit harder, than with regular mandrels. If I use a little common sense and turn my flame down a bit (which I should do for the smaller beads anyway), I really can make three nicely shaped 9-10mm or so earring beads on one mandrel and not melt through it. For me, they are worth it. If you find yourself being a mandrel-killer, you may want to
check them out yourself.

Tags: beads, borosilicate, glass, glass beads, lampwork, lampworking, tools

Meh

November 4, 2009 in Lampworking & Glass, Miscellaneous by Julia | No comments

Here I am trying to blog every day for a month, four days in, and I have nothing to say. Do we call this “blogger’s block,” akin to writer’s block? Or is it just symptomatic of the entire day, when I couldn’t get moving this morning, was blah all through class, came home and fell asleep, and after dinner made a very few, very uninspired beads.

Since I was so uninspired, I thought I’d practice using my crystal press, which has been challenging me ever since I got it. It makes beautiful beads WHEN you can get it to work right. However, it is extremely sensitive to the amount of glass you use as well as how that glass is placed. That makes it hard to get both a nice shape around the middle, with well-defined edges and points, and nice ends that are even and smooth instead of lopsided and sharp. It’s even more of a challenge if you want encased crystals, since keeping the core from bleeding out the ends requires something I haven’t discovered yet.

At least tomorrow is Thursday — shorter class day (with an interesting topic for once), dance class in the evening, and a three-day weekend.

Tags: attitude, challenge, glass, glass beads, inspiration, lampwork

One World One Heart Giveaway Winner

February 12, 2009 in Lampworking & Glass, Miscellaneous by Julia | No comments

First, thank you to everyone who visited my blog to enter! I’m quite shocked to have received 415 comments on the One World One Heart Giveaway post.

The Random Number Generator has spoken, and the Random Number generated was…

324

Comment number 324 was left by Candie L.! Candie, look for an email in your inbox.

The Caramello Heart Pendant will be on the way to Candie as soon as I get her address.

Tags: borosilicate, giveaway, glass, one world-one heart

Another “Catch-Up” Best Blog Posts Post

January 27, 2009 in Best of the Week, Lampworking & Glass by Julia | No comments

Since we’re still not caught up with the backlog of blog posts, here’s another installment of the catchup series. Today, we’re featuring some “eye candy” posts!