Galaxy Universe technique

[Mary K]

Anyone have idea how to achieve a look like this?
I have a request, & must make a marble tomorrow morning like this.
Yikes! I don't do well with dichroic either, but I have lots of sparklie glasses.
Here is the picture sent by customer, any suggestions? how would you try to get this look?

[getdul981]

If it doesn't have to be flat like the photo, I would try a center spot of yellow or orange, whichever the center is, (I'm color-blind). Then do a vortex marble using the spot as the center of the vortex. It's hard for me to do a flat surface inside a marble. I did make a wig-wag flat surface inside a marble several years ago. I'll see if I can find the photo and the tut that I used.

Here's the marble. Now to see if I can find the tutorial.

[getdul981]

Mary - I found the article. If you have any old copies of "Glass Line" magazine, there is an article by Rob Morrison in the February/March 2010 issue that explains how to do the wig-wag. It appears to me that you could just do the wig without the wag and you would be golden. If you don't have access to that article, PM me and give me your e-mail and I will try to send you a copy of it. I suppose you could e-mail him direct at robmorrisonglass@comcast.net and he might send you a copy. That way we won't get into trouble with copyright infringement and whatever else.

In his article, he used larger glass than I had, so I used smaller glass and it worked out.

Good Luck.

[VivianLampwork]

https://www.etsy.com/listing/9493675...w_type=gallery

[LarryC]

This spiral is not a difficult pattern to make. some aventurine and maybe an opal sphere for the center. sounds like a good project for original work.

[Onekura]

Mary, you know I would do it with fume - gold fume for the center, silver for the spiral pattern and the whole thing under-layed with dichro - and of course a black backing.

[Onekura]

just thinking . . couldn't you do it with frit maybe? Imagine crushed "Jackpot" mixed with some nice blue, high-lighted with some white frit? If you can arrange it carefully into lines and melt those onto a solid rod - twist it and taper it off to a point - spot heat the tip and dip it into a yellow frit . . . well, was just an idea

[dlando1]

Bernhard, you should do a tutorial(wigwag), your favorite thing in the whole world. I also want to see Bali pics on FB. Had my first physical therapy session today. Looks like 4 months of PT for me. Be well all. Dave

[untamedrose]

I'd try silver leaf mixed heavy into clear...pulled into medium stringer.
then lines, and twist.

Least if your wanting exacts....twisted random choas universes arnt hard.

[Onekura]

Originally Posted by dlando1

Bernhard, you should do a tutorial(wigwag), your favorite thing in the whole world. I also want to see Bali pics on FB. Had my first physical therapy session today. Looks like 4 months of PT for me. Be well all. Dave

I kind of did - should be in that "tutorial room" - that new one . . get well soon and find a new studio in a hurry - missing your input here!

[Onekura]

Originally Posted by untamedrose

I'd try silver leaf mixed heavy into clear...pulled into medium stringer.
then lines, and twist.

Least if your wanting exacts....twisted random choas universes arnt hard.

and that sounds like a great idea too - good one

[Mary K]

Silver leaf? I have never tried it with Boro.

[menty666]

This was a combination of copper, silver, and glow frit plus the various boro glasses.

Sadly, the shaping was a little off and it's still living in my show cases.

[Mary K]

Well, I figured it out. I got two out of 4 that were a lot like my picture. This is how I did it:
I took an 18mm rod and attached about 3 1/2 inches of it to a 9mm rod, so it would not be so heavy, remember I have a lot of arthritis and this helps the strain.
Taper the end to a dull point.
Stripe stringer of Fool's Gold in straight lines about 5 or 6 lines that are about a little over an inch long.
Heat this in well, burn and boil the Fool's Gold, over heat it basically.
Prepare a graphite pad with a frit mixture of any blues you have, just not any silver glass frit, use opaques like Aqua and hyacinth, teals, and some Turbo cobalt too. I think I put some irrid in there too. ( no blue moon type of blue),
Roll the area on the tapered end with the Fools gold in this, heat a section and roll it, if you miss some area's that is ok, it's part of the plan.
Heat it in and then roll it in paparazzi small frit.
Heat that and then roll in some Turbo cobalt frit.
Heat that and then punty to the end and heat and give it a twist,
like a vortex.
Remove punty and then heat and compress start rounding it up.
Press it like a maria and look for a clear spot for your center planet.
poke a small indentation with your pic.
cover indent with a very small dot of carmel and then top it with a yellow,
I wasn't afraid of bubbles, I wanted them.( sounds like I'm a nut, but that is fact)
At this point I think I also gave it a dip or two in a black frit, and
more turbo cobalt. I also gave it a bit of blue leprechaun for sparkle and
knowing me, I dipped it in jackpot frit too, ya just can't have too much
sparkle.
Anyways, sorry I did not get a good picture of these, and sold them both
the first time they hit the table, so you know I will make more, and get a
picture to post. They really were nice, hope I can do it again!
Here are crappy pictures so you can kind of see what I'm talking about.
The bubbles really were bright in the sun, a hard sparkle.

[menty666]

Nice!

[Mary K]

Hello boro friends! Please click the link for my facebook page to see video of my newest attempts at universe marbles. One turned out really nice, but the planet turned into a worm instead. Oh well..........and as long as you are there please like my page, I'm having a hell of a time getting to 100 likes.

[GlassAlias]

This was done as an experiment with bismuth(which doesnt work btw) but it can easily be done with silver. I shave the silver from an old coin with a very fine file( a chainsaw blade sharpener works the best so far). Then arrange the shavings in a circular pattern. Make whatever size mariah you like to work with for marbles and dab it down red hot onto the shaving circle. The trick is to compress it SLIGHTLY one time then coat the back of the mariah with clear to cover/protect the silver from too much flame, but do it in a spiral pattern starting from the center. Then copress one more time silghtly, just enough to get texture to the swirl. Im sure that different colored glass powders could be added/used also for different colors. The key I believe is not to do too much compressing and cause the design to come up into the mariah too far.

[Mary K]

That's awesome! Do you have some blue glass in there too, or is that part of the reaction?
Could you use an old silver ring for the shavings? Could you post a picture of what the shavings look like?

[MagpieGlass]

Mary thet came out stunning. Wonderful job and so sweet to give us the step by step directions!!

Off to make sure I have "liked" your facebook page.

[Mary K]

Thanks Laura!

[GlassAlias]

The color you see is from the fumes off the metal. As I said I had used bismuth (which will cause checking) but silver can give you the same effects. Although the bismuth does produce a much much more clear and sharp color. It doesnt seem to haze up like silver does when encased. Too bad that it doesnt like to transfer heat.

As for the shavings, just make them as fine/small as you can otherwise they will pool up and merge into each. you will have to build up the back of the marble kind of like when doing a vortex. I havnt specifically attempted this pattern too many times so you may have to work with it to get the spiral galaxy you were aiming for.

[beadraven]

Originally Posted by GlassAlias

This was done as an experiment with bismuth(which doesnt work btw) but it can easily be done with silver. I shave the silver from an old coin with a very fine file( a chainsaw blade sharpener works the best so far). Then arrange the shavings in a circular pattern. Make whatever size mariah you like to work with for marbles and dab it down red hot onto the shaving circle. The trick is to compress it SLIGHTLY one time then coat the back of the mariah with clear to cover/protect the silver from too much flame, but do it in a spiral pattern starting from the center. Then copress one more time silghtly, just enough to get texture to the swirl. Im sure that different colored glass powders could be added/used also for different colors. The key I believe is not to do too much compressing and cause the design to come up into the mariah too far.

Oh, I love this look!

[Onekura]

just had to have a go too . .

[squid]

That is incredible, Onekura!!!

[Mary K]

Alright Bernhard, spill it, how did you do that? I need to know.
That's really purdy.

[Onekura]

this is only silver shavings and clear imploded with a layer of gold and silver fume to give it some colour

[Onekura]

sill trying to get a good galaxy - - Mary, you got me hokked . . again!! But it is fun, and I have been experimenting with "new" materials.

[Mary K]

Those are cool Bernhard! What ever you are using, it works. Try making one vortex style and use some Jackpot, and heat the crap out of it until it boils, you get some bubbles that really shine. They are addicting, I know. Good work.

[Onekura]

and the quest continues . . .

[Onekura]

total chaos - and there is not a single bubble in there