stupid bloody bails

[Harry]

Good afternoon ladies and gents. This is gonna be a rant: I have gotten fairly good at making frit pendants and many of them now turn out to be presentable. In some I even managed to get a little implosion going. Yet all of them ended up in the trash. Why you ask? Because I can, for the life of me, not figure out how to make a descent bail. I have watched videos on youtube and Lance from Flametree in Atlanta showed me as well. Yet, when I try it all I end up with is a nice big useless and, above all ugly, blob on an otherwise nice pendant. I swear, this bail shit makes me want to cry sometimes. I've tried with the titanium reamer as well and all I do is get stuck and/or push the blob around. I'm starting to seriously hate 104 glass. And if I end up taking the time to mess with the bail I usually end up with fractures in the pendant because making the bail takes so long out of the torch that the glass shocks. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAArrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Sincerely

Harry

[Dragonharper]

Two Words, Peter's Tweezers. Best thing since sliced bread. (Handy Andy's are good too but way more $$$)

[glassymom]

have you tried the tutorial that jonibird made here on LE?
I could never make holes until I made one and its simple instructions and where to get the tool.

heres the link
The Boneyard Punch Tutorial: Learn how to make a simple tool that will easily put a hole in hot glass! It really works! See my Etsy!
My Etsy: www.boneyardbobs.etsy.com Thank you! Joni

[Toni Lutman]

How about trying it another way, while you learn to make them on the pendant directly.

Make your pendant and punty to the end of it.
Tuck it in your kiln to keep warm.
Make a small bead on a mandrel.
Remove your pendant from the kiln and attach it to the bead.
Remove the punty and fire polish.

[theglasszone]

I feel your pain, Harry...but never give up - never surrender!

I, too, had the bail blues I work on a Hot Head, and making bails was almost a guarantee for the demise of an otherwise nice pendant bead! So here's what I do:

1) I start with making a bail - a simple small "donut" (usually in clear) on a 3/16" mandrel, and park it (garaging, that is) inside my pre-heated kiln. I usually pre-heat the kiln to about 960, and hold it there. I have a bead door on my Paragon SC2BD, so this was pretty easy to do, making sure I leave enough of the mandrel sticking out to keep it handle-able and cool...

2) Then I make my pendant (frit type using a maria, implosion, etc.) OFF MANDREL. For these purposes I keep it on the rod or punty it with a clear rod that will be easy to flame cut.

3) Once I'm happy with the off-mandrel pendant creation, I keep the pendant heated in the back of the flame with one hand (still on the final rod or punty), and reach over and take the pre-made bail out of the kiln. I slowly re-warm the pre-made bail in the back of the flame, and get it back to a nice glow. All the while, I keep the pendant warm as well - it's a bit of a hand-over-hand magic act, but once you get the hang of it, not difficult at all.

4) Then I choose a spot on both the pendant and the mandreled donut bail, get the connection spots on both to a nice little glow and connect them. Hold them together to fuse, then move the pendant into the flame where I will then flame cut the rod or punty. Flame polish the spot where you cut the rod or removed the punty.

5) Once you have your pendant off the rod and onto the bail and flame polished, give your piece a nice heat bath to get the heat even, being careful not to overheat the connection spot or it might droop. It takes a little practice but you'll get the hang of it quickly I'm sure!

6) Once the piece is nicely warmed, pop it into the kiln and anneal.

Here's some example pieces using this technique - just to show this can be done even on a Hot Head:

SpongeBob's Pineapple House - which I did added little implosion to before garaging the bail:




Mario Bros. Little Wind-up Bomb:





Angry Birds Egg:




An Easter Basket:




Muppets and Oscar in a Trash Can:




A Thanksgiving Turkey:




As you can see, I use this technique a LOT! Maybe this will solve your problems...


De

[Leslie Dana]

That is Brilliant De!!!!

[allicat]

Oh thanx De My 7 yr old saw your beads and is now demanding Minecraft and Pucca beads. Oi!

On the rare occasion I need a bail, I use a type of towel clamp; that's what the Peter's Tweezers actually are. The Peter's Tweezers are pretty cheap, but you can prob find them even cheaper as towel clamps.

HTH
Alli

[theglasszone]

Originally Posted by allicat

Oh thanx De My 7 yr old saw your beads and is now demanding Minecraft and Pucca beads. Oi!

On the rare occasion I need a bail, I use a type of towel clamp; that's what the Peter's Tweezers actually are. The Peter's Tweezers are pretty cheap, but you can prob find them even cheaper as towel clamps.

HTH
Alli

I'm thinking you're speaking of a medical "clamp", right? I've seen others promote and recommend those too...

And on the Minecraft and Pucca murrini - now, come on...YOU CAN DO IT! I think the "block" type icon for Minecraft can be done fairly easily using the method I recommend in this thread to help someone make a checkerboard type murrini - changing up the order and block sizes, of course: http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=197827

On the Pucca, I would put a little "spin" on the method of building my Skull Murrini using flattened upslanted black lines for the eyes instead, and maybe Reich Raspberry Opal for the cheek dots. You should give it a go! I'm half thinking I might try it myself!

But I digress...sorry about that!

[BeadedChic]

Thank you for the excellent explanation of your bail technique DeAnne...I would never have thought to do the bail first! Can't wait to try!

[iloveglass]

I had to smile when I saw your offerings today DeAnne... thanks for brightening my day and thanks for the tip also.

[menty666]

Best advice I was given? Practice on a plain clear pendant you don't care about or a quickie bead. Just practice putting bails on it until it's some sort of freaky mutant.

[essiemessy]

I have trouble with this also.
I wish there was a like button. Apart from De's, I think I'd 'like' Tom's too