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-   -   Dragon Scale Beads How-To (http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24881)

*Naos* 2006-06-16 10:43am

Dragon Scale Beads How-To
 
I'm often asked for a tutorial for this style and I've posted it a few times, but it gets lost in the threads so I thought I'd post it here...

Examples of scale beads - Olive, then EDP scales and lastly, on Ivory and Copper Green as a base:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL248.../193474712.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL248.../193474829.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL248.../193475030.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL248.../193474965.jpg



What you need:

Vetrofond Dark Ivory, Vetrofond Ochre Green or Moretti Copper Green rods

Silver Leaf

Moretti Ivory stringer

Stringer in your choice of colors: Lauscha Olive (best), Lauscha Steel Blue (little harder to work with) or EDP (purple 254 - and just as hard to keep from devitting)

Tutorial (sorry, no pics):

PREP - make the Silvered Ivory stringer before you begin - The best way to make SIS for these beads is take a full-size, pre-manufactured Ivory stringer and wrap it in silver leaf then burnish it against the stringer to adhese. Make four or five of these as you will go through them quickly. Do not pull a stringer from a rod wrapped in silver leaf - it doesn't work. :)

1) Make a spacer (with your preferred base color - Vetrofond Dark Ivory, Vetrofond Ochre Green or Moretti Copper Green) with a raised ridge or line down the middle but do not round it out. The surface must be a little rough in shape before the next step.

2) Apply silvered Ivory dots. A row of 5 or 6 down the middle (yes on top of the middle ridge you created) then staggered on the sides.

3) On top of the SIS dots, place dots of colors you know spread or bleed: Lauscha Olive, Lauscha Steel Blue, EDP (Purple 254)...there are others as well...

4) Now melt in and let the glass droop a bit as you rotate. This is very important. The scales form by the glass moving around, getting really hot, and then the applied dots spreading into position. Be patient - the process can take some time...

5) When you see nicely formed scales (tight lines between dots - see pictures), you're done. Just round out the bead and anneal!

6) They look best etched!

Flamechick 2006-06-16 10:58am

These are very cool! Thank you for sharing with us! 5 stars, baby!

(from the other Amber :-D )

dla 2006-06-16 11:40am

Thanks Amber ! These are really cool beads ! Great tut !
Debbie A.

BeadMaven 2006-06-16 12:11pm

Who makes the pre made SIS for sale?

Very cool ~ thanks Amber :D

*Naos* 2006-06-16 12:16pm

Dona, ooops. I probably wasn't clear. Sorry!

You buy pre-made Ivory stringer THEN wrap it in silver leaf to make the SIS. The pre-made plain Ivory stringer can be purchased from just about every glass store we all deal with: Jo-Del, Frantz, Arrowsprings, Moretti & More, etc...

Hey Kimberly - we were posting at the same time...yeppers!

beading57 2006-06-16 1:15pm

Thanks Amber!

EXCELLENT TUTORIAL!!! Gave it 5 stars!!!

chameleon 2006-06-16 1:56pm

Amber, huge thanks for posting that :D love your beads and was looking at the HH thread wondering how on earth you do them cant wait till tomorrow when i can try it :)

EmtSue 2006-06-16 1:59pm

Amber, thanks SO much for sharing this! I can't wait to go out and try it for myself! 5 stars!

BeadMaven 2006-06-16 3:09pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Naos*
Dona, ooops. I probably wasn't clear. Sorry!

You buy pre-made Ivory stringer THEN wrap it in silver leaf to make the SIS. The pre-made plain Ivory stringer can be purchased from just about every glass store we all deal with: Jo-Del, Frantz, Arrowsprings, Moretti & More, etc...

Hey Kimberly - we were posting at the same time...yeppers!

Thank you both! lol

I was REALLY wondering how I would have missed that after perusing the glass sites over and over! ;)
Now I understand.
I did try the technique with out the ivory stringer and it worked but the silver was not as pronounced in between the green like it is in your beads.

Thanks SO much forthe tutorial - your beads are lovely :D

flamemoth 2006-06-16 3:21pm

great tutorial Amber! I'm going to give these a try tonight, if they're decent I'll post the results tomorrow. ;-)

*Naos* 2006-06-16 3:34pm

Dona, try using half a silver leaf sheet and wrap it so the long edge of the sheet is going down the stringer. You should have about 2.5-3" of silver on the stringer when you're done. If there wasn't a lot of silver in between the scales, it's because of the missing Ivory - Ivory spreads very well! As the "scales" form, the glass spreads the silver out to the edges of the scales.

Oh, I should also say I came up with this stringer technique as a cheaper way to get that Michael Barley window-effect so I wouldn't have to use a whole sheet of leaf per bead. :) More economical. :) It just so happens i tried it on opaques one day and got the scales. :)

x_phoenician 2006-06-16 8:13pm

Thanks for sharing Amber! I can't wait to try this. :D

flamemoth 2006-06-18 7:29pm

I'm really happy with how these turned out. I used my 2 favorite glasses, opal yellow and moretti purple. Opal yellow played nice for a change! It's possible the silver encourages the opal yellow to react the way its supposed to. At any rate, thanks for the tutorial Amber! :love:

*Naos* 2006-06-19 5:35am

Wow Deborah - those are awesome!!!!!! Glad it worked for you!!!

Laurie L 2006-06-19 12:37pm

Amber thanks for the tut....I have been to your site and often thought Dang I wish I knew how she did those. I seen a tut a long while ago for a similar effect and it never worked for me.

One question once you wrap the silver on the stringer do you pull it into a finer stringer or just melt the silver into the stringer and leave it at that.
Thanks

*Naos* 2006-06-19 5:16pm

Laurie, once the silver is wrapped around the stringer, you burnish it (meaning flash it in the flame to adhese) and then you just use it like you would a normal stringer and apply dots. What you're looking for is a heavily-silvered dot...so the silver can spread between the scales.

Like this:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL248.../189358548.jpg

jknappcampbell 2006-06-20 12:14pm

Thanks very much for this tutorial, can't wait to get to the torch

Laurie L 2006-06-22 1:12pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Naos*
Laurie, once the silver is wrapped around the stringer, you burnish it (meaning flash it in the flame to adhese) and then you just use it like you would a normal stringer and apply dots. What you're looking for is a heavily-silvered dot...so the silver can spread between the scales.

Like this:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL248.../158026231.jpg

Awsome - Thanks Amber.....
I always thought burnish ment to rub the silver foil/ leaf on the rod well with your marver or a tool, so this makes more sense now !!! YEAH. I have to go try these now....just trying to find some lauscha colors. hehe

DreamMuse 2006-06-22 1:23pm

Great tutorial, Amber!! Those are gorgeous!! Def 5 stars!

I do understand your description of burnishing, but I actually agree with Laurie. I think "burnishing" means to rub the silver on rod using a marver or tool. In silver work, burnishing would be done the same way - rubbing the silver with a special tool (called a burnisher), which polishes it. Or you burnish gold foil onto silver by rubbing it with a tool.

*Naos* 2006-06-22 1:37pm

Yes, actually I meant that, too - I flash the stringer with silver in the flame first then marver it to burnish it on...sorry about the confusion!

Passing Glass 2006-06-22 1:41pm

Nifty! Great tutorial Amber!

So, am I getting you right that you do NOT burn off the silver like you do when making normal SIS? You are dotting your bead with the silverleaf-wrapped stringer so the stringer is silver in color, not ivory because the silver has not been burned off. Is that right?

Have you tried this with foil instead of leaf? That would give you even more silver!

*Naos* 2006-06-22 3:31pm

Yes, stringer is silver in color and not burned off. :) Foil doesn't seem want to wrap around the stringer as well...

playswithfire104 2006-06-22 3:53pm

I've tried 3 times and got one good (relatively speaking) one. 1st time I misunderstood the directions so I know exactly what I did wrong. 2nd one using EDP for the spots came out nice. 3rd one I used opal yellow for the spots and it dosn't seem to like that. I don't have any Vetro or Latsha glass can anyone suggest a moretti - besides EDP that works?

*Naos* 2006-06-22 4:07pm

Let's see...whatever spreads on ivory really well...Try some of the darker yellows, especially if the rod feels a little rough - that glass will move... Try Light red brown and Petroleum Green might work... Are you using Ivory for the base color?

playswithfire104 2006-06-22 4:22pm

No. Actually I was using copper green. Isn't that what the directions say to use?

*Naos* 2006-06-22 4:30pm

Sure thing - you can use Ivory, Copper Green or Vetrofond Ochre... :)

Starrr 2006-06-22 8:41pm

If you're having trouble wrapping the foil or leaf, (I use foil), around the stringer, try wetting, (or licking! LOL), the stinger first and the foil will stick pretty easily.

Edie

*Naos* 2006-06-22 8:48pm

Edie - WOW! Hadn't tried that! LOL I usually just flash the stringer in the flame first then roll. :)

Kevan 2006-06-22 9:40pm

Oh, so you wrap the silver around the stringer, not pull stringer?

Well, no wonder they don't look like that.

Passing Glass 2006-06-23 7:18am

I tried this last night with a copper green base and Kronos on top of the SIS. The SIS made some very pretty SIS dots but that's about all that happened. I think the SIS overpowered the Kronos. It just had a little spec of Kronos in the middle.


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