Wig Wag Twisties?

[fyrebeadz*]

LOL, I was thinking my wigwag was too pretty to use on a bead and I might use it as a swizzle stick instead!!!! LOL!!!

I love your bead Heidi, the blue one, gorgeous!

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by hotcoles

If you are referring to my bead above, Lisa, that particular wig wag I used black as the base. Sometimes I do make a stripe of one color and put another color right on top. Also, with certain colors, you do get a devit line between them, which can look black in color.

Oh, okay, thanks. I'm still at the discovering-how-they-react stage, and use exclusively Bullseye, and am finding the darn stuff has pretty good integrity and doesn't smoosh around much. Still at the low end of the learning curve!

Of course, I did break down and buy some Terra, so now I have to buy some more colors to USE with the Terra before I can play with it. Talk about a vortex ...

Lisa

[hotcoles]

Originally Posted by fyrebeadz*

LOL, I was thinking my wigwag was too pretty to use on a bead and I might use it as a swizzle stick instead!!!! LOL!!!

I love your bead Heidi, the blue one, gorgeous!

I think a swizzle stick would be cool too! I guess you just need a great tip and to anneal right away. I'd be afraid to break it though.

And thanks, Donna

[SL Beads]

Hi People! Since you guys are getting so good at making wigwag canes, you might as well increase your linguistic knowledge on the subject. According to the author Bandhu Dunham of "Contemporary Lampworking," this technique of twisting the cane in one direction and then switching to other direction is called in Canada "Wiggidie-woo." But then he was talking about applying the straight stripe cane on a bead while twisting it in both directions. Anyone cares to experiment with this? mmmmmmm!! Sachiko L.

[hotcoles]

Well, that certainly is another interesting way to make them! I just might have to give it a try...

[Elegance_1]

Originally Posted by GinnyHampton

I made one and it turned out TERRIBLE It's about the most crooked, most pitiful twistie-lookin' thing I've ever made.

Here, have a chuckle along with me:




I obviously had high hopes since I used my favorite colors

Gee Ginny,

The colors are great! Who said it had to be straight????? LOL So what did your first ever stringer look like?

[Mustang Dawn]

Since my Kiln was down last week (bad relay) I thought I would give wig wags a try. They are pretty fun to make. Here is how I make mine

1. Using clear wind a barrel shape on the end of 3/32 mandrel. This gives you a nice stiff glass to work with and it will not be so soupy when you pull your stringer. (I pull all my cane using a 3/32 mandrel)
2. Next spiral encase with your base color that you want to use, melt smooth.
3. Place stripes down your barrel with different colors of glass. I used 3 to 4 different colors.
4. Melt your stripes smooth.
5. Attach punty to end of barrel (I used clear again due to it being a stiffer glass), Heat up until glowing and then let a skin from. This is where you have to read the heat. It can not be to soft or too firm, pull out about an inch and then twist one way. Keeping the flame toward the rear of your barrel pull out a bit more and twist the opposite way. I pull out a bit, twist, let cool just a bit and then twist the opposite direction.. keep it up until your done Remember to keep the heat on the back end of your barrel.

I played around making these with my 12 pt Optic mold today and it's a pretty cool look too.

Have a great week!

Dawn

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by Mustang Dawn

Since my Kiln was down last week (bad relay) I thought I would give wig wags a try. They are pretty fun to make. Here is how I make mine

1. Using clear wind a barrel shape on the end of 3/32 mandrel. This gives you a nice stiff glass to work with and it will not be so soupy when you pull your stringer. (I pull all my cane using a 3/32 mandrel)

Do you do this on a mandrel with bead release, or are you putting the clear directly on the mandrel? Also, it sounds like you put it over the end of the mandrel too? Trying to picture this in my head! Lisa

[Anne Ricketts]

The transparent glasses for the base defintely work better than the opaques!

[Wonker]

you do a wig wag on a piece of tubing.....rotate it 90 degrees and blow it into a bead and you get what's on northstar's featured arists section right now. http://www.northstarglass.com/ click on Product news and Featured artists. pretty nice.

[Mustang Dawn]

Originally Posted by Lisa

Do you do this on a mandrel with bead release, or are you putting the clear directly on the mandrel? Also, it sounds like you put it over the end of the mandrel too? Trying to picture this in my head! Lisa

Lisa,

I use the bare end of the mandrel. I wind the glass on the last 1/2" of the mandrel. I am just barley going over the tip of the mandrel with my clear. Then shape your clear into a barrel. etc..

Dawn

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by Mustang Dawn

Lisa,

I use the bare end of the mandrel. I wind the glass on the last 1/2" of the mandrel. I am just barley going over the tip of the mandrel with my clear. Then shape your clear into a barrel. etc..

Dawn

Dawn, Thank you, I will give that a try next. I really, really like the sharp contrasting lines and the sharp bends some of you are getting! Lisa

[MaryBeth]

Originally Posted by Mustang Dawn

Since my Kiln was down last week (bad relay) I thought I would give wig wags a try. They are pretty fun to make. Here is how I make mine

1. Using clear wind a barrel shape on the end of 3/32 mandrel. This gives you a nice stiff glass to work with and it will not be so soupy when you pull your stringer. (I pull all my cane using a 3/32 mandrel)
2. Next spiral encase with your base color that you want to use, melt smooth.
3. Place stripes down your barrel with different colors of glass. I used 3 to 4 different colors.
4. Melt your stripes smooth.
5. Attach punty to end of barrel (I used clear again due to it being a stiffer glass), Heat up until glowing and then let a skin from. This is where you have to read the heat. It can not be to soft or too firm, pull out about an inch and then twist one way. Keeping the flame toward the rear of your barrel pull out a bit more and twist the opposite way. I pull out a bit, twist, let cool just a bit and then twist the opposite direction.. keep it up until your done Remember to keep the heat on the back end of your barrel.

I played around making these with my 12 pt Optic mold today and it's a pretty cool look too.

Have a great week!

Dawn

Those are beautiful, Dawn! Thanks for the tip about using the transparent base. I made one of these today with clear and four opaque colors and ended up with a good 15 inch long pull of usuable twistie. No pictures - I used it right away! If the beads look good when they come out of the kiln tomorrow I'll post some bead pics!

Everyone else's beads and twisties look great also

[Mustang Dawn]

Thanks Mary Beth,

I'm looking forward to seeing your beads tomorrow

Have a great night!

Dawn