Off Mandrel Zuni Bear Tutorial (working version)

[ltsexpressions]

To make a Zuni bear off mandrel pendant (Stacy's way)

1. melt a glob o glass on end of rod
2. (optional) stripe and/or case with transparent color
3. melt glob into ball and SMASH flat like a lollipop!
4. get some insurance heat (and hot heat on the end of the lolly) and then CUT with scissors at the end (these will be the legs)
5. heat to fire polish and using a spare mandrel round out the INSIDE of the cut area so it's more like a U than the V that happened when you cut
6. then figure out which side is the head and add a couple of swipes of color to form the head almost like a < shape attached to the R or L side of the lolly.
7. shape the top of this < to round into the rod side of the lolly
8. put a 45 degree angle onto the bottom side of the < towards the leg side of the lolly
9. add eyes if you wish
10. get good insurance heat to keep from breaking pendant when making loop
11. working QUICKLY in the last steps: hold onto leg side with either a punty or flat mashers and melt rod off about 1/2 inch or so from top of bear
12. round out top bumpie and cut in half with scissors!
13. again U out with spare mandrel like the leg cut
14. heat, nudge, and bring together the tops of the (now) 2 bumpie/nubbies into a loop
15. hold loop with either a mandrel or tweezers, and get good insurance heat over all piece...
16. kiln that baby and wait til morning!!!

hope this makes some kind of sense. I'll post my 1st try at this when it comes out of the kiln and I can get to a camera... may not be until Wed b/c I work late on Tue....

hugs and bears,

stac

(who is hoping these will sell REALLY well at PowWows!!!!)

[starlia]

I hope it sells well at the PowWows too. Have you had a booth at any of them yet? I haven't even asked about the upcoming PowWows yet.

[ltsexpressions]

have one more to set up at weekend of Sept 9-11th in Cahokia Mounds (just the other side of St. Louis) and then I think I'll focus on internet sales and building my website stock....

thx for the words of hope. did you think the tut read ok?

[krista michael]

This may sound dumb but.........what's a zuni bear?

[Jennifer Geldard]

Here's a picture of zuni bear.

And here's a link that gives a little bit more info
http://www.zuniart.com/whatis.html

[krista michael]

Thank you!

[ltsexpressions]

Originally Posted by krista bilger

Thank you!

Krista,

sorry I hadn't put a pic up yet for reference... the beadie was still in the kiln!!!

here's the pic of the one I made just before I wrote this tut....



Stacy

[Raven]

Hi Stacy,
Did you do this with soft glass? I've not yet tried an off mandrel creation but I do know that Bullseye has a bit more time than Moretti and I do have both. I would love to be able to do this one so I will give it a go as tomorrow. Nothing like a new challenge Thanks for posting this one.
Soft Winds,
Raven

[MaryBeth]

Thanks, Stac!

I love Zuni bears and this is a great tutorial. I think this shape offers a great canvas for a lot of varied decoration.

Your bear is really nice!

[MaryBeth]

I just noticed this is from August 2005. I miss a lot of really great stuff around here sometimes