SIS variables?

Vicki B. · #1 2009-02-23, 3:35pm

I am sis challenged! There - I admitted it! I have almost no control over anything I do with SIS including making the stringers to begin with. I would love to get the "veined" effect that many of you do where the ivory seems to break up with sort of blk/silver veins appearing. More often I get sort of a greyed/ivory effect.

I have used different batches of dark ivory with silver leaf - always on the Hothead.

Am I not heating it hot enough?

Should I be using silver foil to get that effect?

OR.......

I'd show some examples, but they are not mine.....I know Kevan, Naos etc often have this effect in their beads.

Thanks for those who can help.

effemess · #2 2009-02-23, 4:32pm

I was on a hot head and posed exactly the same question.. I dont think it has anything to do with the torch... but when I tried silver foil I got the lovely silvery striations, however with silver leaf I just got grey !! The leaf is too thin to make a silvery impression on the dark ivory, whereas the foil seems to clump in places, giving that great SIS look ..
Hope this helps

Vicki B. · #3 2009-02-23, 5:16pm

Thanks efferness,
It finally occurred to me that the silver leaf might be the problem. Now I looked at my silver package and it does say "foil". Do you think I am just being too stingy with the amount I am using? I bet there is another thread I should have found if you already asked this question...

OK I just found your previous thread and several folks daid to try more silver - i.e. a double layer etc. I did notice that the fat ends of the stringer where there is a glob of silver have a nicer reaction - must be the same thing!

Rhymnoceros · #4 2009-02-23, 5:26pm

Ive used pure silver foil to make very heavily fumed SIS, what id recommend you do is melt your ivory rod into a big ole fat glob, then proceed to marver the glob into a cane form (essentially just making your rod thicker) then, roll the fatter cane in the foil, after that really really burnish the silver onto the surface of the cane well (graphite paddle works just fine, just make sure that it's completely burnished well)

finally, punty and pull the stringer a little on the thick side

Thats my process for SIS and i hope it works for you, and i hope the way i explained it makes sense

RSimmons · #5 2009-02-23, 6:53pm

The oxygen level in the flame will also have an effect on how the color and veining develop. A hothead limits your flexibility there to always being slightly reducing, or at best neutral farther out in the flame.

Robert

LyndaJ · #6 2009-02-23, 7:06pm

Robert, does more O2 in the flame give more (or less) veining?

RSimmons · #7 2009-02-24, 7:12am

I've found that a little more O2 (neutral flame) pushes the flame temp a little higher and you can get more veining by really heating the surface (just the surface) and letting the SIS spread out. You get more veining with intense black than SIS, but there are similarities. Therein lies one of the advantages of having control over the flame chemistry in a fuel/oxygen torch over a fuel/air torch.

Robert

LyndaJ · #8 2009-02-24, 9:25am

Thank-you for the info!

tonips · #9 2009-02-24, 10:44am

I'll share my first experience with leaf. I bought a packet labeled silver leaf at the local art store and didn't discover until I had ruined a fair amount of glass that this isn't the fine silver leaf I had used in class! Got the same nasty gun metal grey every time! Ordered a new packet from the glass supplier, and lo and behold, no more problems. So before you do anything differently, make sure it's the proper leaf.

The brand name on the new book of leaf I bought was Monarch, and it was fine.
By the way, at that time, I was also on a hothead. Hope this helps.

Vicki B. · #10 2009-02-24, 10:47am

Yes - thanks Chris & Robert. I have trouble getting any veining with IB as well. I rarely heat the beads to white or "dripping."

RSimmons · #11 2009-02-24, 11:35am

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonips

I'll share my first experience with leaf. I bought a packet labeled silver leaf at the local art store and didn't discover until I had ruined a fair amount of glass that this isn't the fine silver leaf I had used in class! Got the same nasty gun metal grey every time! Ordered a new packet from the glass supplier, and lo and behold, no more problems. So before you do anything differently, make sure it's the proper leaf.

The brand name on the new book of leaf I bought was Monarch, and it was fine.
By the way, at that time, I was also on a hothead. Hope this helps.

This is a good point that many new glass workers miss the first time around. Most of the 'silver leaf' or 'gold leaf' that you find in craft stores is in reality colored aluminum or aluminum alloy. You've seen the results and they aren't pretty. A good rule of thumb is to have an idea of the going price for precious metals and if the price is low then it's probably not the real thing. This is the time to go to more specialized dealers.

Robert

Vicki B. · #12 2009-02-24, 12:45pm

Don't think, in my case, that it's the foil as I got it from a lampwork supply dealer that probably lots of people on this forum use.

Damselfly · #13 2009-02-24, 1:21pm

Whenever I make SIS, I use two layers of silver foil. I get really nice striations, and even some specks of silver in an SIS dot. I always get compliments on that color.

I think there is even differences in thicknesses of foil, so if you're not getting the look you want, it wouldn't hurt to try adding a little more, for one stringer.