I need help, plunged bubbles please

[Tutti-frutti]

I can not get a decent large floating bubble in my beads. I love plunged dots but they are soooo small it looks like a flaw in the glass sometimes, other times I get a mirror reflection. I use a Tungsten pick and then if I think the hole is not big enough I use the graphite rod to enlargen, but I never have a real official bubbble .Oh yes and I had a class on that already so I guess it's me :-({|=
Please help me I have a pict sort of .......

Katja

[squid]

I have found the way to make the bubble appear larger is to make sure you have a layer of transparent glass behind the bubble. Put down an opaque layer, then a transparent one (or clear is good too), plunge then dot with trans or clear before heating the spot you plunged. It moves the bubble out into the middle of the glass better.

[Beadlady57]

I have found that putting clear over the opaque glass has worked for me, too! I don't know why - but I do it every time and it works perfectly!

Nancy

[Tutti-frutti]

thank you , I will give it a try today.

Katja

[Moth]

Plunge deeper and with a bigger stick. I've never tried the putting a clear dot first thing, but I think it makes sense. More light would pass through into the bubble and make it look bigger.

I use a pretty thick steel rake, or even a clean mandrel to plunge holes for bubbles. I aim for the core of the bead and go as deep as it will go.

~~Mary

[GinnyHampton]

I use a 1/16" pin punch I got at Home Depot for like $1 and it works great . . . .it pushes in a much bigger hole than a pointed poker like what Mary describes.

I've never tried the clear thing either . . . that sounds interesting!!

[squid]

The clear or transparent "suspends" the bubble better than plunging directly into the opaque color. I love the look.

[Tink]

Make sure that when you put the glass over the plunged hole that you don't fill the hole with glass. Kind of swipe the glass over the top to trap more air. Also, you need to get the glass hot enough afterwards to heat up that trapped air, allowing it to expand. That will make your bubble bigger, too.

[jrandrup]

When I make my trapped bubbles, I let the bead cool (no glow) and concentrate the flame on the spot that I'm going to poke. When there's a glow, I pull it out of the flame and count to 3 slowly. This allows the heat to penentrate to the center of the bead. Then I concentrate the flame in the same spot, let the skin develop, then plunge the cool poker. Then I put the bead just behind the flame, making sure to rotate so it doesn't crack. This also lets the glow go away. I heat the end of my transparent rod at the same time. When the glow is gone from the bead, I quickly plunge the hot rod over top the hole. Don't put it on at an angle, but straight on, thus trapping the air bubble. Like Tink said, get the whole thing hot to expand the air bubble.

Personally I like the mirror effect on certain beads. I also love the look of trapped air in the center of an encased flower.

[Tutti-frutti]

thanks again for the tips.
Katja , who just had a really dumm experience with my kiln. trust me I'm sure my mom dropped me a couple of times......

See ya

[Vicki B.]

I like this thread, because I too have had trouble - esp when casing round and round with stringer ( I miss getting the entire hole in one pass sometimes and the air escapes - usually on one flower in each bead - AAARGH!)

When I was ATTEMPTING some florals with Moth's advice, I started doing more spot encasement of petals, and then the center and hardly ever have a prob with these centers. The other thing is that since the petals are already encased, there is not an obvious clear shadow in the center.

I'm on a hothead and have had to use those methods of spot encasement or round and round because I can't heat up as much clear in one swope. I never thought to deliberately put clear under the dot otherwise though - bet that works well!!

I still can't get as heavy a layer of clear as I see on others' beads, but I think it is just difficult on the HH.

[barbbbeads]

I do mine pretty much the same as Joy does. And I love the mirror effect. Opaque dot, transparent cover, plunge, clear dot to encase the plunge. Don't shove your final clear dot into the plunge. Let your clear rod get hot enough so you just need to touch the surface of the plunge and pull it away. Melt in slowly...just letting the clear dot on top of the plunge to get hot enough to melt to your desired height. Just PPP, and good luck.

[LaurieBSmith]

Try flattening the end of your rod, (make a maria) and go straight onto the bubble. This traps the hot air every time, very much like capping a well. and everything should be hot.

[Jacinthe]

Try flattening the end of your rod, (make a maria) and go straight onto the bubble. This traps the hot air every time, very much like capping a well. and everything should be hot.
I like the idea of this when encasing smaller layered flowers... think I will give it a try...

[ellyloo]

forgive me, but what is the "mirror effect"?

[jrandrup]

When you poke a hole in opaque, and put a dot of clear over it, the light refracts and it looks like a mirror under the transparent dot. Very cool!

[Carolyn M]

For those of you that have Nyx, try making some beads with dots of reduced Nyx and plunged bubbles - awesome!

[jrandrup]

Thanks, Carolyn. I'll have to try it!