Momkas Blue Flambe
 

I have some blue flambe frit - any ideas what to put it over please... Im getting zilch or brown poo... :)

You need to work this one with a lot of oxy, burn off the haze, and encase quickly or you will have poo. I didn't have much luck with the flambe colors in general.

Thanks Eric, at least Im not alone in producing poo coloured beads from it :)

On July 11, 2010 I went to Momka's website and found 7 pages of tips on colors, including the Flambe' colors - 'Some of My Favorite Color Combos and Working Tips by Pipyr'. The exact address was www.momkasglass.com/work-with-colors.htm I hope this link still works, and I hope it helps.

Yep. I just checked it - It Works!! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha

Go on there and read for some reason the Flambe' colors are the colors we sell a lot of so someone out there knows how to use them.and get those beautiful colors from the rods..
People been asking these boys to make some green Flambe' tubing.. They are thinking about it now to go with all these other colors of tubing they've made.. Cloud is a Momka color they used plus TAG RED ELVIS + A Dragon's Blood Red Elvis Over Smokey Point OG Moss.

Thanks for the Momka link! I will have to try the Flambe's again. I do like a lot of Momka colors, and I am glad to know that the the Flambes can produce such great effects. Kudo's to Ms. Piypr!!!

I'm brand new and all my glass is Momka shorts. I was wondering why the beads often turned out poo-colored! I assumed I fried them. They are unmarked shorts, so maybe they're Flambe. Thanks for sharing the link, I will check it out.

mignonette,
A lot of the boro colors are heavy with metals (silver) and have a 'haze' that must be burned off to get the best colors to come out and they often need to be worked 'hot'. When you heat the rod look closely at the edge where the flame and rod meet. You will see a haze that will recede as you heat the glass. This is the haze that you need to burn off. Momka does not show the rod on her color charts so her colors are a bit hard to identify by seeing the splotch on the poster. Most boro colors are like that...the finished color bears no resemblance to the rod color.

I love Flambe, Silver, Blue, Green...yum!!!

Debbie, do you use those colors in beads? I saw Pipyr's work and the colors were GORGEOUS. But I find encased in beads not so much. Anyone else?

Thank you Cheng- I will try to see that "haze" later today. I wear shade 3 glasses, I assume you can see the haze with those on? I try to heat the glass until there's a nice translucent gather without letting it boil. Do I also need to strike these colors? And what is that exactly? From what I've read, it's an oxygen rich flame? Thanks again!

Striking is a process where the glass is allowed to grow micro crystals that make the various colors depending on the size of the crystals and other factors. Physically it is allowing the object to cool, often to the point of no glow, and then reheating the object to the striking temperature. The reheating can be done in the flame or in the kiln. Flame striking is usually done by introducing the object into the far reaches of the flame briefly and sometimes repeatedly until the desired color develops. Kiln striking is done by raising the objects temperature to the striking temp in the kiln for various lengths of time (develops different colors over different times). The striking temp is usually in the 1080 - 1100 degF range plus or minus. you might have to experiment to see what temps produces the effect(s) you like. Some colors strike very easily and some require lots of manipulation to get good effects

Thanks Cheng! That is great information! So, to see the color after striking, you have to wait until the glow is completely gone and if the color isn't right, do it again? I imagine that's why my colors are muddy, not because I burnt them but because there was haze left in the glass …

You got it.
After the initial cool down and flame strike it is often just necessary to back out of the flame a few seconds to check the color and if it is not as you want go right back in the outer flame. Once striking is started, the object should never get back up to melting temp and only just get a bit of glow....almost. If that makes sense. A lot of boro color rods will 'show' you the darker degree of strike possible if you observe the dark color line near the tip after using a portion of the rod. That little band of color often represents the darker shades possible thru striking.
PJH