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Boro Room -- For Boro-related tips, techniques, and questions.

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  #1  
Old 2021-10-11, 2:51am
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aommaster aommaster is offline
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Default Boro Fuming Help

Hello everyone

My apologies for the wall of text, but I figured it'd help people figure out what I'm doing wrong. I've currently hit a roadblock with fuming and I was hoping if someone could have a look at my technique and let me know how to improve. I've seen a number of folks on here get yellows and violets out of Silver fume and nice purples out of gold.

My setup:
Bethlehem Champion using LPG as my fuel source and oxygen cylinders as my oxygen source. Oxygen at 14psi, LPG at 2.5psi. Using 24K gold leaf to fume gold, and 999 fine silver to fume silver.

I did a bunch of fuming tests, here's what I have. Note that all of these have a black backing on them:

  1. Normal Silver fume on Schott (doesn't look as blue in-person)
  2. Heavy Silver fume (I get some really ugly yellows)
  3. Normal Silver fume on Simax (some very nice electric blues)
  4. Gold fume on Simax (very ugly color with no pinks in sight)

My process for fuming is:
  1. Apply the fume by placing a Quartz rod with metal inside candles (reducing flame for silver, strong oxidizing for gold)
  2. Fuming exhibits itself as a caramel color for Silver, and Pink/Purple for gold
  3. Use transparent stringers to cover fume in pattern
  4. Continue working the piece as normal with fume encased

What I've Tried:
  1. Increasing my regulator oxygen to 16psi, and dropping my fuel to 1psi
  2. Turning on my outer oxygen
  3. Giving a lighter fume, but this just seems to reduce the visibility of the fume
  4. Using a lower velocity flame, I turn down the knobs until the candles are really small
  5. I can get pinks from gold fume, but it needs to have a white backing. With a black backing, I get this golden-brown color which isn't very appealing

I've read through the topic in TalkGlass's Higher Learning section and the articles by Freddy Faerron in The Flow. I believe it's an oxygen issue, but I can't see why.

Could someone provide advice on what to do to improve the colors I get on my fume? I'm trying to get my fume to look like the purples and yellows that appear near the Cobalt at the bottom of this piece:
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  #2  
Old 2021-10-27, 7:46am
LarryC LarryC is offline
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Ive posted my fumed work in the galaxy marble post here. Based on this post I honestly dont know what your shooting for so I cant really give guidance. Let me know if there is something specific your looking to work on.
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  #3  
Old 2021-10-27, 8:09am
rcktscientist rcktscientist is offline
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Just a guess, but sounds like you're fuming the silver too heavy. Try for a light "piss yellow' silver fume and then bake it into the glass using a reducing flame before working. Then back worked piece using a dark color. See if that helps. Caramel color sounds like it is too heavy...
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  #4  
Old 2021-10-27, 8:12am
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aommaster aommaster is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LarryC View Post
Ive posted my fumed work in the galaxy marble post here. Based on this post I honestly dont know what your shooting for so I cant really give guidance. Let me know if there is something specific your looking to work on.
Hi! I saw your posts, that's some really nice fuming patterns! I was hoping to get the purples and yellows that were shown in the last picture I posted. So far, I've only been able to get the electric blues.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rcktscientist View Post
Just a guess, but sounds like you're fuming the silver too heavy. Try for a light "piss yellow' silver fume and then bake it into the glass using a reducing flame before working. Then back worked piece using a dark color. See if that helps. Caramel color sounds like it is too heavy...
Noted, thank you! I've read around some people suggesting I use an oxidizing flame, and others recommending a reducing flame. I've only been using an oxidizing flame so far. Also, I like how we're resorting to colors like "caramel yellow" and "piss yellow"
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  #5  
Old 2021-10-27, 12:01pm
rcktscientist rcktscientist is offline
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I use the same flame for both. Small neutral flame, about 6 inches long but fairly sharp. Warm tube with bushy flame then turn down to fume while tube is still hot. Silver gets fumed from a point about 1.5" in front of the candles. Gold is fumed from a point at the tip of the center candle. Silver first, then gold to stick better if you're having issues with that. Also, silver is often fumed lighter than gold otherwise you get all the cream colors, not rainbow colors.

Knowing all this helps but practice is what really gets you there. Best of luck!
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  #6  
Old 2021-10-28, 10:56am
LarryC LarryC is offline
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I think you will find my methods to be counter to the popular wisdom. I use highly reducing flames for both gold and silver with the metals introduced right at the tips or even into the candles. Neutral or oxidizing and I find the fume to be too heavy which leads to more opaque and less saturated colors. I also subscribe to the method of "less is more". I use Simax clear exclusively but I really dont think the choice of glass makes a lot of difference really. I use it because it tends to be better quality and my local supplier has it. Since everyones setup is different, you will have to experiment with yours and find the sweet spot that produces what you want. One last comment on the piece your using as an example....Dont believe everything you see on social media.
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  #7  
Old 2021-10-29, 12:22am
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aommaster aommaster is offline
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Thanks so much! I'll experiment a bit with different flame types to see what works for me.
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  #8  
Old 2021-10-30, 9:29am
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PennyLane PennyLane is offline
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Thanks Larry for the info.
__________________
Be Creative!

"All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness."
Eckhart Tolle

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  #9  
Old 2021-10-31, 7:57am
LarryC LarryC is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PennyLane View Post
Thanks Larry for the info.
Anytime!
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  #10  
Old 2021-11-27, 10:21pm
lacwang lacwang is offline
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just wondering how do you get the purple color by fuming? Is the purple color come form gold?
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  #11  
Old 2021-11-28, 12:04pm
LarryC LarryC is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lacwang View Post
just wondering how do you get the purple color by fuming? Is the purple color come form gold?
In my case, the deep indiglo blue or purple is a result of very very light silver and or gold reduced. Mix it up and just experiment.
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