Here's something I haven't made in ages - fake ancient beads.
It couldn't be easier.
Make a bead and then roll it, while it's still hot but not drippy, in plain old baking soda.
I have my soda in a small stainless steel dish.
Put the soda coated bead back in the flame and watch it sizzle.
Start way out in the flame - if it gets too hot you may not get good fizzle and the bead might stay sort of shiny. Some colors work better than others, start with turquoise it goes crazy.
The more baking soda the bigger the craters.Want more pitting? Roll it in the soda again and burn off the soda again.
When you have the perfect, perfect amount of crusty ancient-ness put it in your kiln.
Most of these beads were triple dipped.
Just try it, you'll get the hang of it right away.Be sure you have good ventilation.
When they come out of the kiln they can be a little too crusty and rough.
Rinse them off in water.
Then brush them with a very stiff brush to knock to off any loose grit and clean out the craters.
Lastly, I give them a light coat of Renaissance wax, let dry and buff.
The light wax coating makes them much nicer to the touch.
7 comments:
I'm a big crust fan. these came out great!
Love that old look.
These look great!!
alittlebitsunshine.blogspot.com
I am puzzled. I followed the directions, including three coats and ended up with a smooth bead. I tried a different (but still out of date by six months) box of baking soda--it was still good for making cornbread, but still ended up with a smooth bead. I had my instructors watch and she was puzzled too. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Donna
First, I assume that you are using soda-lime glass (104) not borosilicate glass? When dipping your bead into the baking soda is the soda sticking to the bead in little clumps and completely coating it? If not, then the bead needs to be a little hotter when you dip it. When you put the baking soda coated bead back into the flame is it sizzling and sputtering? Please try it again - this time getting a heavier coat of soda on the bead. If you still have problems comment again. We'll get this working for you!
Going to the studio today so will try again! I am getting an even coating of the baking soda but the surface somehow seems to heal it's self back to smooth.
Thanks for your response! I do love watching the fireworks in the flame. I haven't tried with boro.
Thanks so much for your help! I had someone in the studio watch me and he figured out that I was getting the bead too hot! You did say to work in the cooler part of the flame.
Thanks for your help!
Donna
PS I wish you had a search function for your blog--I've now read every entry
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