The latest two torch sessions have yielded these beads. I've been working with Double Helix Kronos for a special order to replicate previous beads. The first time on the torch was last week after more than a week away. The second time was yesterday morning/afternoon.
As you can see, I sometimes make two beads per mandrel when using the same colors. After four years on the torch, I still have problems with kiss and dents on my beads when annealing at 940 degrees if they touch within the first hour of being placed in my kiln. I'm not sure why. I make sure the 'glow' is completely gone from the beads before placing them in the kiln. And 940 degrees is at the lower end of the annealing scale for soft glass. I don't have problems with my beads cracking or breaking after coming out of the kiln. But if they touch....ooooh, I just know they're going to be ruined and unwanted!
Since I was a child and read Cheaper By the Dozen, I've always been obsessed with efficiency and working smarter, not harder. Yes. I have always been a nerd. It even translates to how I decide to squeegee the water off my shower doors (vertically, rather than horizontally is faster for me. I'm not saying this is right for everyone). It's a sickness. I try not to impose it on others.
Anyway. Making more than one bead per mandrel helps me in several ways. I do not spend an extra minute heating up a mandrel for each mandrel. I do not spend an extra minute cooling down a mandrel before putting it in the kiln. It also allows me to eyeball more accurately the beads I make to get them more evenly sized. Sometimes. The beads are still handmade, people.
I'm not a production line. I'm not a Phillippino twelve year old in a factory without proper ventilation or eye protection churning out beads for ten hours a day, six/seven days a week. I have very limited time on the torch each week.....working full-time for the phone company and being a wife and mother of a five and seven year old does not leave much free time. So when I do get on the torch, I want the time to count.
Normally, I work for an hour making beads and filling up the kiln. Then I let it sit for 30-60 minutes before I fire up the torch again. At that point, I can move the mandrels around in my kiln so the beads may possibly come in contact with each other. They will certainly come in contact with the floor of the kiln (previously, they've been floating, held up in the air by the mandrels resting on a fiber blanket). But I can breathe easy that the beads will be safe from being marred by each other or any pressure from the floor. Which gives me a much higher success rate for every mandrel put into the kiln will come out without any problems.
6 comments:
They look amazing! And I love that you're a nerd :)
Hi, Kelley. I love hearing other people talk about how they work. I no so little about lamp work and fun to hear about how it's done. Oh, and I have the efficiency disease too. Always, always, thinking about how to make the most of time and resources. It drives my husband batty.
don't forget you have to have time to play scrabble too ;) the beads are gorgeous! i'd love to watch you work one day.
Very efficient!!! :) And that is a great photo!
I often make 2 beads on a mandrel also especially when I want them to the be same size - like you said sometimes it works. I am trying to figure out why your beads dent...once the glow is gone from the flame, I lay my directly onto the blanket next to each other an as the day goes on, on top of each other and I never have a denting problem. I do fire my kiln hotter - 978 and hold it for 10 hours; this gives me plenty of time to make as many beads as I want and then start the ramp-down sequence. Your beads are gorgeous though so whatever you are doing is working.
Sarah, I have hopelessly been a nerd since I was a child. I have given up trying to change that :)
LeAnn, I know how you feel. I get hooked on How-To shows, whether it's about making m&m's or installing 250' tall tv antenna towers. I want to know how everything works and how things are made. I LOVED it when one of my previous customers took me on a tour through their carpet factories. See above comment, I was the nerd asking questions and getting kicked in the shins by my coworkers to stop causing delays.
Tabitha, you've got an open invite to come watch and play anytime!
Thanks Cas! I always love pics of tons of beads lined up on all their mandrels fresh out of the kiln :)
Sassy- I'm glad to know I'm not the only one making more than one bead per mandrel. I've long gotten the feeling in the lampworking community that this practice is frowned upon. But I think it's more difficult because you have to be careful not to let one bead slump into another shape, as well as keeping them both warm. I also have it programmed to hold for 10+ hours before soaking them for an hour prior to ramping down. And I line mine up on a fiber blanket and let them float for at least an hour before moving them over to the floor or allowing them to touch. But they really want sixty minutes of separation, or I get kiss marks. Wish I had more days than 2 a month where I could be on/off the torch for that whole 10 hours!
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