Carmen Red question

[menty666]

I made a chili pepper last night out of Momka's Carmen Red, and it mostly came out nice. The problem is I did something to it and now it has this odd sheen to it. I think it might be devit? It looks like I took a very thin strip of mother of pearl or mica and laid onto it. Definitely not what I was going for.

Any thoughts what I screwed up? The pepper's hollow, so it took a bit of heat between melting in the color initially and then shaping.

[Cosmo]

Sounds like devitrification to me.

[menty666]

Thanks. I'm just bummed because it was the only two sticks I had on hand and it was a prototype for a hot sauce maker that wants to have some made to sell on his site.

On the upside, Vapor Glass has a sale going on Momka's right now :D

[Cosmo]

Personally, I wouldn't use Carmen Red for something like that anyways. It can lose color if it gets too hot. I'd probably use something like Red Crayon or Cherry. Make a tube pull with it and you have tons of prep all ready to go.

[menty666]

Really? Aside from the devit Carmen's the only red in that shade I've tried that didn't go all livery on me. I got a tiny bit of livering in it, but it actually gave it a more natural look.

[menty666]

I just called to split my order between carmen and cherry. Sounds like a fun date :)

I have the crayon red here but I've never been able to work it well.

[nagibeads]

the chilis sound cool! I wanna see :-)

sorry that the devit happened...sometimes you can rehit it and it will go away.
I have heard that if you see it when working a piece you can spray it with a borax solution and it will go away....I haven't tried this myself but I bought some to try....

good luck with the reds!

[menty666]

ah, unfortunately it's sealed, so no more flame for the chili. I'll try to snap a photo a little later.

[Mr. Smiley]

I'd love to see it. :D Did you try encasing it in clear? That should cut down on any devit issues.

[Mr. Smiley]

Oh and you might want to look at sand blasting it. You may not have wanted it to be matte, but it would look better than devit. :lol:

[Cosmo]

I just called to split my order between carmen and cherry. Sounds like a fun date :)

I have the crayon red here but I've never been able to work it well.

Encase it. Colors like Red Crayon (and especially Cherry) don't work well at all unless you encase them. But, they stay nice and red. Which is why I was talking about doing a tube pull. Then you end up with a nice red tube that stays red, but you can heat the heck out of it without worrying about it boiling.

[menty666]

I got laughing while taking the photos. I kept thinking "You're hot! Work it! Work it you spicy thing!" :)

The pepper's 5.5" from tip to tip

http://www.munkinarts.com/images/pepperBad/pepper1.jpg

http://www.munkinarts.com/images/pepperBad/pepper2.jpg

http://www.munkinarts.com/images/pepperBad/pepper3.jpg

http://www.munkinarts.com/images/pepperBad/pepper4.jpg

[nagibeads]

Cool! It's still pretty--pepper with battle damage.....

Thanks for the photo! LOL! what a spicy photo shoot :-D

could it be devit from stretching too?

[menty666]

possibly from stretching but it follows individual stripe lines so I kind of wonder if it was just overheating. I just wish I had saw it before it went into the kiln. Last night I made:

* The pepper (devit)
* hollow pumpkin (cracked)
* oil lamp (wick holder's too long, easy enough to fix)
* wine stopper (fine, yay!)

So overall it was one of those "kiln full of crap" nights.

[nagibeads]

WOW--sounds like you had fun though :-D
So many different things :-D

[parisgal]

Doesn't the toilet bowl cleaner trick work for devit on boro?

[menty666]

What's the toilet bowl cleaner trick? Soaking them? I don't think it does, but I can't say I've ever tried it either.

[earlbacher]

sand blast the sucker... if it doesnt turn out, you didnt really loose out on anything

[menty666]

True, except it really can't be used to show my client. He likes the shiny cayenne peppers :)

Though I could instead sell this one. Dilemma dilemma. Ooh, delimmonade!

[Mr. Smiley]

Sand blast it and then spray it with clear shiny stuff... :lol:

[kiko]

Tom, I was going to suggest using the encased carmen red that momka released, but then you would have lines on your pepper. Nobody wants that.... You could encase it after you laid down the C.R. too?

[menty666]

Tom, I was going to suggest using the encased carmen red that momka released, but then you would have lines on your pepper. Nobody wants that.... You could encase it after you laid down the C.R. too?

I considered the encased CR but I was worried about bubbles and the extra spacing lines.

I ordered 1/2 lb each of CR and NS Cherry to play around with. I think I'm going to have to suck it up and learn how to do stick stacks/tube pulls to make some nice encased color to draw from. I know the basic process, and I saw a great video VinE (of Vin Pin fame) did showing the steps, but I haven't actually done one myself. If I can get it right the crayon red should even be usable. That is, if I don't blow through what little 50mm I have on hand :D I'll need to get a smaller rod of graphite and start using the 40mm instead.
Funny story..I tried one a few weeks back with some BS white and I ended up with molten rubber band all over my bench. That stuff burns awfully easily!

Thanks for all the suggestions folks!

[Cosmo]

I wouldn't use anything as big as 50 right now. Start on something like 32 or 36. Lay down a bunch of color in 4-5 inch long lines, then take a 9 mm rod and encase the whole thing. Heat it up and pull it down. There you go.

It also depends on the torch you are working on.

[menty666]

I'm using a redmax.

Isn't laying down the lines where I'm causing problems with the color to begin with? I mean if I were able to melt the red in the flame correctly I wouldn't need to encase it, right? And I meant sleeving the color with the 50, not laying it down on the outside of it :)

[DFS]

Tom,
I think the pepper is really spicy hot and cool. Thanks for the pix. Sorry, as a boro newbie I have absolutely nothing to offer in the way of help.


Joyce

[menty666]

Tom,
I think the pepper is really spicy hot and cool. Thanks for the pix. Sorry, as a boro newbie I have absolutely nothing to offer in the way of help.


Joyce


Bah, couple of good burns and you'll be a veteran in no time :) Thanks!

[Coffeebean]

I considered the encased CR but I was worried about bubbles and the extra spacing lines.

I ordered 1/2 lb each of CR and NS Cherry to play around with. I think I'm going to have to suck it up and learn how to do stick stacks/tube pulls to make some nice encased color to draw from. I know the basic process, and I saw a great video VinE (of Vin Pin fame) did showing the steps, but I haven't actually done one myself. If I can get it right the crayon red should even be usable. That is, if I don't blow through what little 50mm I have on hand :D I'll need to get a smaller rod of graphite and start using the 40mm instead.
Funny story..I tried one a few weeks back with some BS white and I ended up with molten rubber band all over my bench. That stuff burns awfully easily!

Thanks for all the suggestions folks!

is that video available online or was it something you purchased?

[menty666]

Hi folks! I just wanted some closure to let you know I got the color right the second time. I suspect that I may have pulled the first one too cold.

Here's the pepper picture. The one on the right's the first attempt. The first 4 are a mix of real and glass; I was using the real ones to gauge the color.

http://munkinarts.com/images/glasspepper.jpg

[nagibeads]

WOW!! Eatable!!!
Yum Yum!
You did an awesome job!!8)

[Coffeebean]

wow nice color!!! you really worked it out - they look great!

[ginkgoglass]

Very nice job on those peppers, it took me a minute to notice which ones were the real ones!