Collaborators Wanted!

[Solunar Silver Studio]

You mean like this.. Flickr: Dora Schubert's Photostream

Dora's stringer work is all done by hand, using hair fine stringer and flame.. just tell your friend, its a steady hand, low heat and practice !!

Nope - you can see they are stringers as you get that little blob at the beginning and end. The photos he showed me had crisp blunt ends to practically parallel lines. I'll email him and get him to send me some piccies and then I'll be back!! (It might take a day or so for him to reply!!) Dora has some lovely work there though! Reminds me very much of piped royal icing on cakes!!

[Pandanimal]

Wow those beads are amazing.
Is that the sort of thing your friend is thinking of?

I was just off to look up a few examples of fine stringer.
here they are

Naive Seventies Feather Nuggets

or this

CHEEKY Lampwork bead set by Pixie Willow Designs by pixiewillow

Both these artists do very fine stringer work and I am in awe of their control,
but it is stringer and it must take hours of practise to get that good, years probably.
Quick tip. don't suggest to a lampwork artist that their stringer is actually drawn on with a glass pen. They might just feel a little miffed.
To say the least.
Julia

[Pandanimal]

oh! OK we cross posted. Not like that then.

[Solunar Silver Studio]

Those look a bit more like what he showed me but I'm sure that the ends weren't covered with a blob! Sorry - no technical terms here!! - stringer is about as technical as I get ...and humble apologies to any lampworkers I have inadvertantly offended! I am overwhelmed by your skills and wouldn't demean them for anything! I have emailled him so hopefully he will send me something just to prove that I wasn't dreaming it!! I am just curious and you don't get answers unless you ask!!

So - what on earth is a 'glass pen' and who uses it and for what?

[Di Sandland]

oh my word - how clever is that!

[AlexandraBuckle]

Aren't those beads amazing! Wow!

[mizgeorge]

There are some lampworkers who can do amazing things with hair fine stringer. I am very definitely not one of them!

B - glass pens are generally used in fused work - I think they only work with COEs in the 90-96 range. You 'draw' directly onto one layer, and fuse a clear or transparent layer on top. They certainly don't go very thin though.

Another way of getting very fine lines would be using fine silver and not melting it in enough to 'blob'.

[Emerald]

mmm and i have got a couple of Moogin and pixie willow's in my stash ....so much to do so little time

[mizgeorge]

I have (ahem) one or two of Mindy's beads too. This was one that sold the other week - her focals always seem to work really well on pins



Her stringer work is always utterly faultless

[geti-titanium]

If you want to know any more please feel free to message me, I could talk about lampwork for hours!

Thanks for that Julia, I've amended the copy to include your contribution - keep 'em coming