On Strike. Or not striking. Colors, ya know?

[steiconi]

Just this week, I've started having no end of trouble with striking colors.
I'm on a hot head, and usually they just strike themselves.

But the last few days have been HECK!

It takes several reheats to get red and orange to strike. Then the red goes nearly opaque.

And rubino! nasty reduction all over the place. I've tried working farther out, which didn't help, so I tried bringing it in real close, which at least evened out the patches of pink/metallic to solid metallic. I even tried making rubino filligrana, casing stringers in clear. It reduced THROUGH the clear.

Is is something I said? I've been using the same tank of propane for several weeks; could I be getting down to something nasty at the bottom?

Just occurred to me; I haven't been draining my hose at night lately, could that cause rubino troubles? Might also affect the red opacity. Shouldn't cause problems with orange striking, though.

Thanks!
Lee

[steiconi]

I finally figured out much of the problem: I was using IVORY stringer under the transparents. It *looked* white with my diddies on, but sure doesn't work like white.

[KJohn]

Haha, only another lampworker would understand why that took so long...good one. At least nothing was wrong with the equipment.