Jellyfish tutorial?

hummingbird3172 · #1 2005-10-28, 10:38am

I have seen several versions of these beads....they usually have several jellyfish floating around with their tentacles behind them....I am thinking that the tentacles may be like a stamen cane, but I was wondering if anyone would mind sharing how this is done?

Islandgirl · #2 2005-10-28, 12:10pm

I think that you need a clear rod and a rod of white encased with clear...(the commercial effretti) You stripe about an inch of the white encased rods onto the clear rod parallell to the rod go all the way round you'll need 6 to 8 swips of the encased rod add a clear punty onto the open end heat up the bundle without twisting and pull straight out to whatever thickness you want..

I think that's how it's done not sure if your suppose to twist when you're pulling though?

Lynne

www.fireballbeeds.com

hummingbird3172 · #3 2005-10-28, 12:20pm

Thanks Lynne! That was what I had in mind for the tentacles...I guess for the body you just make a big blob and stick the tentacle cane into it?..then encase? I can't wait to try this!

Islandgirl · #4 2005-10-28, 12:51pm

Actually Leah used clear dichro for the body, dichro side down, heat the none dichro side of the glass then put the dichro side onto the bead, I had a hard time with that concept I wanted to put the hot side onto the hot glass!

Lynne

Have fun and good luck post pictures!!!

www.fireballbeeds.com

Moth · #5 2005-10-29, 7:08am

tentacle cane post at WC

That is a link to a post about jellyfish beads that I had made a while back.

You have to scroll down a ways, but I do show pictures of how I construct the canes.

I demonstrated these at the Bead Invitational this year.

I love them!

~~Mary

Here are some of my latest:

sadiesmom · #6 2005-10-29, 5:28pm

Mary, Is that middle one for sale anywhere??

Moth · #7 2005-10-30, 12:52pm

Hi Denise!

Not anymore, but thanks for asking!!

It was my favorite one I had made.

~~Mary

hummingbird3172 · #8 2005-10-30, 9:17pm

LOL

Mary, Thank you so much! Actually....your beads were the ones I was thinking of mainly when I asked the question. I saw some similar ones in 1000 glass beads....wondered how it was done. We live fairly near the ocean and I have lots of ocean lovers in the family....they would love these!

Thank you!!!

I experimented today..I am not sure how you do the body, Mary, but I am pretty pleased with my results for first attempts. I will post some pictures when the beads are done annealing.

x_phoenician · #9 2005-10-31, 10:07am

I looked at this website last month and they make some beautiful jellyfish. I'm thinking if you make your jellyfish "bell" then a clear bead next to it and put enamel on the end of the clear bed and poke it in - you'll get tendrils. I haven't tried it as a bead cuz I don't use enamels

But sounded good.
Here is the link- they show step by step how they make their big sculptures/paperweights.
http://www.northshoreglass.com/infor....php?info_id=7

hummingbird3172 · #10 2005-10-31, 12:55pm

Wow, those paperweights are gorgeous!

Well, here is my first attempt:

I used my scanner and it kind of left a glare on the jellyfish....I am really pleased with how they came out. I was so focused on the jellyfish that my bead shape sucks...once I saw how the jellyfish came out I wished I had made more of an effort!

Here is another picture:

x_phoenician · #11 2005-11-01, 9:53am

Nice dainty little tendrils!

Islandgirl · #12 2005-11-01, 12:53pm

Not sure if you want to try this but you can fix your bead shape if you want, if you have a kiln!

clean bead release out of bead stick the bead back onto a mandrel with dry bead release, stick bead in kiln and bring up to 980 or whatever, leave it there soaking for 10 or 15 minutes, pull the mandrel out of the kiln wet down the mandrel to cool it while you are trying to keep the bead warm in the top of the flameI'm about 14 inches from the torch, warm the bead thoroughly and you should be able to reshape, add glass do anything you want. The hardest part is getting the mandrel cool without burning your fingers. (I have a jar of water and grap the mandrel right below the bead with flat tweezers and diip the mandrel quickly into the water)

Lynne

hummingbird3172 · #13 2005-11-01, 3:51pm

Thank you!

I do have a kiln...I hadn't thought about reshaping the bead like that....I think I will give it a try...thank you!

Islandgirl · #14 2005-11-01, 4:38pm

I really need a speeelll checker on this site! I just reread my last post!

You might have to try a couple of mandrels to get the bead back on without wrecking the bead release, and you will be getting the bead hot enough that it matters! Actually if you use a dremel overclean the hole! I try to leave a couple of inches of mandrel hanging out of the kiln so I can finger grab the end and then grab close to the bead with 3/4 inch mashers or a pair of stamp tweezers, a really wet cloth swiped down the rod works to cool it.....

Lynne

www/fireballbeeds.com

PS my preferred method doesn't have me taking the bead off of the mandrel in the first place, but I have glued a number back onto mandrels succesfully!

hummingbird3172 · #15 2005-11-02, 6:25am

I get so impatient sometimes and then I get to where I can't stand trying to shape the bead. I made another jellyfish bead last night.....it was kind of breezy so my flame wasn't great....I have another bead to reshape:

hulagirl · #16 2005-11-08, 3:01pm

Nice bead, Anna....I'm too ashamed to show my try at a jellyfish! I got nice looking tentacles, but when it came to the body....I couldn't quite figure out how to go about it. Oh, the humanity of it all!

Moth · #17 2005-11-08, 3:05pm

Actually hulagirl, the body goes on first.

hummingbird3172 · #18 2005-11-08, 4:18pm

Hulagirl, try making a dot of white and then topping it with a striped cane of opaque white and a darker color (dark amethyst is nice).....then melt it in and poke your tentacle cane into the dot (near the bottom, or to one side)....allow the tentacle cane to trail a bit onto the bead and then melt it all in and encase. This is what I have been doing and it looks pretty good (I hope)....this is what my jellyfish have evolved into. Don't know if it is the right way, but I like how it works for me.

This is how I did these two:

Sorry the picture isn't better...this is a scan...still waiting to develop my GOOD pictures. I was trying to go for a turbulent surf look....the bubbles are a deliberate act, ha ha.

hulagirl · #19 2005-11-08, 6:05pm

Thanks....You're a doll. I MIGHT get to try some tomorrow when my kiddies go down for their nap! (Crossing my fingers)

hulagirl · #20 2005-11-08, 6:09pm

Mary....I see you are from NE Ohio. Are you anywhere near Cleveland? Do you teach?

hummingbird3172 · #21 2005-11-08, 6:42pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by hulagirl

Thanks....You're a doll. I MIGHT get to try some tomorrow when my kiddies go down for their nap! (Crossing my fingers)

LOL, that's what I do too! Thank heavens for naptime!
You're welcome!

I am just so excited about this jellyfish bead...I couldn't even wait to get it off the mandrel!

Islandgirl · #22 2005-11-13, 5:10am

That last one looks great! I like the 'yellow' one from the previous set too, and the last bunch have nice bead ends, dimples, whatever you wanna call them! I need to try some. If you roll the bottom 1/4 inch or so of the bead 'sea floor' in Goldstone frit/chips it gives a really nice effect too!

Lynne

Did you every try to reshape any of the early ones?

hummingbird3172 · #23 2005-11-13, 3:12pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Islandgirl

That last one looks great! I like the 'yellow' one from the previous set too, and the last bunch have nice bead ends, dimples, whatever you wanna call them! I need to try some. If you roll the bottom 1/4 inch or so of the bead 'sea floor' in Goldstone frit/chips it gives a really nice effect too!

Lynne

Did you every try to reshape any of the early ones?

Thank you!
Actually I did try on one...but by the time I was ready to do it, I wasn't happy with the jellyfish any more--so I didn't bother. As I improve I am getting very critical of my work...lol.

The above picture actually has some reduction frit on the bottom...it isn't very obvious in the picture...today I tried some more with goldstone...can't wait to see how those came out. Here is another that I did...with the reduction frit:

Lynne, thank you for all of your great advice!!!!

Islandgirl · #24 2005-11-13, 3:35pm

Your beads are getting really pretty and the shape on that last one is great, I'm trying to do beads for bead pens, given up on making them the perfect length and bought a bunch of silver to fill in gaps!

I much prefer being useful on the tut sites than gripping about the world, or reading the daily soap updates on some of the other threads, yea I do get caught up in them sometimes....

I started fusing in 88 and flamework in 94, so even though I have lots of bad habits, I have picked up a fair amount of useful info!

Your. very welcome

Lynne

www.fireballbeeds.com

hummingbird3172 · #25 2005-11-16, 8:21pm

Thank you! I appreciate all of your info..it has been a great help. I need to get some more aquamarine....I have been going through it like crazy....I had a certain idea in my mind what I wanted to do with my jellyfish...I think I am on the right track. I visualize certain things, but it is hard to get them just the way I want them!

CSBeads · #26 2005-12-23, 8:42am

Hello everybody,

I read this threat with a lot of interest and tried to do a jellyfish-bead several times. But what I don't know is, how to do the body IN THE BEAD. Can you help me? I tired to push it in the hot glass, but then the bead cracks of the mandrel.

Thank you,
Corinna

Islandgirl · #27 2005-12-23, 9:12am

Make your base bead.... put on the body dot(s) then push the body upwards gently with your tenticle stringer then lay the balance of the tenticle onto the beads and melt it in... Not sure if that makes sense? Anyone else want to give it a try?

Lynne

hummingbird3172 · #28 2005-12-23, 9:56am

That is how I do it too! It works best if you melt it really flat before you try and use the tentacle cane. Here are some recent ones that I have done using this method:

Then I encase it...sometimes with two layers of clear...that is I get to make mine look like they are inside the bead. When I do thise they have at least 3 layers. I make a dot of white, top it with transparent color, then poke at the bottom of the dot (stay near the surface) and push upward, trail the tentacle, and flame cut the end. Melt it totally in and then encase it. This should work pretty well for you.

CSBeads · #29 2005-12-23, 12:06pm

Thank you both for your replies. I'll try this method tomorrow.

Corinna

JanMD · #30 2005-12-25, 9:54am

Here is an old one, not very well illustrated: http://www.sgb-midatlantic.org/features/feature6.html

JanMD