Happy Birthday to ME...I got boro presents!
 

Now the question is ... what to do?!?!!

I have the following waiting to be melted:

Northstar Turquesa
Northstar Double Amber Purple
Northstar Butterscotch
Northstar Blue Moon
Northstar Blackberry
Northstar Lava
Northstar Sublime
Northstar Onyx
Northstar Multi
Northstar Red Exotic
Northstar Star White
Northstar Caramel
Northstar Green Amber Purple
Glass Alchemy Silver Strike-3
Glass Alchemy Amazon Night
Kimble Clear 12mm & 7mm Rod

Can anyone suggest some good starter projects/color combos that will yield instant success?? I'm working on a minor burner with 2 5LPM concentrators, so hopefully that's enough oomph for melting the goods.

Some plain DAP spacers encased, practice striking with those. Also play with making small spacer beads, putting some dots and squigglies with a clear stringer, then encasing with clear. Then play with striking till your heart's content! ;) You've got a bunch of great colors there! Try each one alone (with clear) first so you can get a feel for them. I promise the beads will be pretty, even though it seems simple!! :love: Have fun!!!! :D

Here are my suggestions:

Northstar Turquesa - A nice blue with silver in it. Looks good on the surface or encased.

Northstar Double Amber Purple - Work it hot and let it go clear, then strike it.

Northstar Butterscotch - One of my favorite colors. Will fume other colors around it if used in a reducing flame. Can yield dark browns, tans, and purples.

Northstar Blue Moon - Like Turquesa, but darker. Gets blues and greens.

Northstar Blackberry - Good luck. Should be called "crackberry". I've never used it without it cracking.

Northstar Lava - Encase first or it will boil very easily much like real lava.
Northstar Sublime - A nice transparent green. You need to use a lot of it to get a green. Works good as a tint over other colors.

Northstar Onyx - Will boil if not careful. Can reduce as well. Work it slow and you should be okay.

Northstar Multi - Can get anything from green to gray to red, depending on flame atmosphere.

Northstar Red Exotic - Boils easily. Need to use a heavy oxidizing flame to get reds.

Northstar Star White - Work it slow. Goes clear if heated too hot, and doesn't turn back white.

Northstar Caramel - A darker version of Butterscotch.

Northstar Green Amber Purple - Doesn't strike much. Basically a green with a little silver in it.

Glass Alchemy Silver Strike-3 - Virtually identical to Butterscotch.

Glass Alchemy Amazon Night - A black with silver in it. Looks okay on the surface. Works okay encased as well. Use oxygen to burn off the haze if you want it black.

Kimble Clear 12mm & 7mm Rod - You should know what to do with these...

Awesome. Thanks for the responses... I can't wait to try this stuff but I discovered one problem... No eye protection. I'm going try and find some clip ons (shade 3 should be ok IIRC?) For now all I have are my Didymium shades. Lookin' at life through rose colored glasses ;)

SO I spent the evening playing with soft glass, with the boro staring at me... begging to be melted.

Sigh

you can have a go and it shouldn't hurt you just once with your didys to melt boro especially if you are mostly working with clear. Go for it just try not to look at it when there is super bright flare. get yourself some shade 5 clip on's.
hope you have fun! I'm jealous!
Leanne

Hey there MANFLOWER! I knew what you were getting before you did. Your wife is so sweet. :D

I've got a few things to send you as well. Just play around with the colors and encase them in clear. You've got some good stuff there. If you're working small, you'll be fine with the glasses you have for a little while. I've been working boro in didies for about 7 years. Steve Selchow is going on 35 years with didies. ;)

Call me if you need any help over the phone. :D Happy birthday!!!

I hope you see anakinsglasseye marbles when you say "Manflower" :p I know I do.

So I was trying to hook up the second oxy con and I broke the nipple off... I'm gonna try and fix it... mcguyver style for now, if a real fix isn't easily achieved.

Dude, your wife's nipple isn't even involved in trying to hook up a second concentrator. I have no idea how you would go about using a womans nipple as a tool, but I am sorry you broke it off. May I suggest a doctor instead of duct tape!?! :lol:

No no no! The problem is the "ho's barb" :p

#-o My bad! :lol:

So where are the pictures of your boro stuff already?? Trying to make us beg? :twisted:

My oxycon dun did broked, Ms. Pipyr, else you'd see my wonkies I swears! Please don't beat me Ms. Pipyr I swears I'll have me some boro for you to look at soon! I SWEARS!

Of course then you'll all be giggling at my ineptitude. Which just means I will come visit you and force you to teach me your tricks!

If you don't slap some GOOP on that thing and have it fixed soon, I'm sending the boys to take your membership card away and you'll have to surrender your nuts. GLUE IT LIKE A MAN! :lol:

Ah already tried me some duck tape, bubble gum and sheer intense staring. You want me to wuss out and admit I need glue? It's not MY man card that needs pulling here! ;)

Besides I had to order a 'tee' fitting from OxygenPlus so I went ahead and got the hose barb fitting as well, I'll be up & running as soon as that comes in.

In the meantime I'll goof off and see how I do on one oxycon.

Yeah, ok...get on it then! :twisted: I expect pics tonight! And once you are sucked into the boro world (and be sure to get Kara sucked into it too), You guys will have to take a road trip and visit me up here in Maine so we can all play! ;)

Dear Ms. Pipyr:

In my exploration of melting borosilicate glass with my one working oxycon, I inadvertently made a discovery that led to great dismay on my part. It appears that it is distressingly easy to burn through a 3/16" mandrel while melting-in the encasement on these boro beads. I'm extremely concerned in regards to future beads, particularly considering the fact that I will soon be running my setup on not just one but TWO oxygen concentrators. What am I to do???

Very Truly Yours,

Molten Mandrelflower

Dear Molten Mandrelflower:

Please be careful to heat the GLASS part of the bead. If you are to send the heat directly at the center of the bead, you will melt you mandrel and not only will your bead be "out of round", but it will also be without a hole, which is not much use. :lol:

The easy way to make a small boro bead (for me): Make 2 wraps around the mandrel with a color ( I've even done beads with only a single wrap of color, so try that too) Melt down so that it is balanced by holding the mandrel just below (or just above, whichever is more natural to you) the flame, allowing the glass to round out into an acceptable bead shape. Take a clear stringer and make dots, squiggles, lines...whatever you feel like on the bead. Melt those in (make sure the mandrel is not directly in the flame). Wrap 2 rounds of clear over this decorated base bead. Let the clear wrap out like you are making a disk bead...don't try to encase it by going up and down the bead with the clear, like you do in soft glass, ya know? Start melting the clear by starting at the edges of the "disk" and allow those edges to get thick. Work your way closer to the mandrel (but don't put the mandrel directly in the flame!! :lol: ) and round it out. If there is little or no color in your bead, let it cool down after you have rounded it out so there is NO red glow left (check by holding it under the table to make sure there is no glow left). Then bring it into the BACK of the flame and let it build up a dull red glow, always spinning it. Watch the colors appear!! :D

I hope I have helped you, sir! :twisted:

Thank you for your prompt response! Here are my pictures, as requested:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-3/15236/stacked.jpg
The top bead was my very first, Encased Dbl Amber Purple. It cracked and I re-melted it but it still has an internal crack. Oh well the sentimental value demanded that I save it.

Not pictured is the second bead I made, which is missing due to a a slight burn through the mandrel issue. The hazardous bouncing hot glass was promptly subjected to water annealling to protect my workbench and my hide!

The big bead on the bottom is my third bead. What a pain it was to melt it down to where it is... I need more heat! I used Northstar Multi, dotted with clear and encased after the clear was melted in. Next time I will try your suggested method Pipyr. I'm sure it will work better than what I did :| This one is a little uneven.

The center bead was my last bead. Transparent base, dots of Multi & DAP, then dotted with transparent and melted in. Very subtle. I'm good at subtle. It's my specialty. You should see some of my subtle stuff. It's so subtle, only I know there's anything there... It's like my middle name is subtle. Ask Kara. I'm sure she'll tell you alllll about it.

more pix, different angles:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-3/15236/sides.jpg http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-3/15236/zigs.jpg

WONDERFUL!!! More!!!! :D

They look pretty darn good to me too! I really like the colors you got with the Multi.

beginner's luck, I'm sure :D I like it! Now if only my second oxycon was up and running!

More later, the evil woman took over the torch and I'm tired anyhow.

See ya!

beautiful !:grin:

Are you using the man-mandrels or the girlie ones? If there's not a 316L on the 3' piece (real men cut their own), it's a girlie mandrel and your card is once again in jeopardy! :lol:

Those look really nice man. I'm sure you're the envy of soft glass ladies all over the place. See, girls want to melt boro, but it's man-glass ( don't let Kara play with your stash). We make a few exceptions, but there's a panel of manly men overseeing the whole application process. Pipyr was approved right away. She totally kicks arse. ;)

Have you been hanging around that lady from the woodshed too much? :hide: I am getting clear of all heavy objects now! :lol:

:lol: Is there room back there for me???? 8-[

:twisted: Thanks, Brenty!! :flirt: :love:

Uh huh you better hide cause I'm sure *I* have plenty of wonkies to throw at you....O:)

I welcome wonkies! Let 'em rip. :D

I am thinking those are pretty nice, also....