Quote:
Originally Posted by LadyGlass108
I seem to be able to pop the air bubble okay, but eventually get left with the air streak after I close the hole. Am I rushing on closing the lense hole, or not aiming my flame in the right spot, or ???
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If you're using the method from Mr. Smiley's video (posted above), you're probably not heating the glass enough where the tube ends at the front of the pendant. If you're not using the method shown in the video, I reccomend that you try it. I do it a little differently - I heat the tube where it meets the implosion and blow while pulling. The goal is to get it as thin as possible without having a blow out and filling the air with glass "cellophane". This flares the tube away from the edge of your work, and then you can flame-cut the tube off close to the edge of your art.
Once you get to this stage, it's pretty much as shown in the video - some suggestions though: Once you've separated the piece and have a rim around the implosion, you can heat up any excess glass and use a scrap rod to tear it away. Then the "rim" around your piece should melt in with judicious application of heat and gravity. If you still end up with too much rim, you can heat it and spin it rapidly once it heats up and centrifugal force will help you to avoid having it trap air.
Practice helps a lot, and I suggest working a bit smaller until you master it, as you need rather a lot of heat (and time) to properly melt in a larger piece.