BLACK LACE

     First I want to give credit to Kimberly Fields for alerting me to this emerging process. At the last gathering Kim came to me at the sale and asked me to come to her booth so she could show me a black web effect that didn’t use opalino. I was pleased that someone would offer me a new insight into a new color effect. Her work was an eye opener. She had beads with an ivory base and wonderful web effect. She freely gave me the secret to the effect. The secret is a way of using INTENSE BLACK (Effetre Transparent 066) to produce the effect. After talking with her recently we have decided to let the Forum in on the process. Kim said that she found the process on her own. We both have now found examples of the process in other people’s work as well. It is not really important who found the effect first. What is important is that we can now share it. Kim agrees that the process should be sheared here on the Forum. So on behalf of us all on the Forum, here is a big THANK YOU, KIM.

     This is a simple process. The intense black is a dense black that will stand up to spreading and still look black. To achieve this they loaded the glass with extra metals at the factory.

     What Kim and others have found is that a tiny thread of intense black will “open up or bloom” when exposed to a prolonged yellow heat and look like web or lace. The little thread-sized line will begin to spread when “cooked” long enough.

     Those of you that worked on the SIGNATURE BEAD PROJECT will now be able to put your skills to work. Here is what I mean. First set a NEUTRAL FLAME. To start the process you first make a sized sewing thread pull from a BB sized gather on the end of the normal sized intense black stringer (considering the price of intense black this is a big bang for your buck!). Only melt a BB size because you want the thread to be SMALL and your arms are only SO long. Medium size is the best size to work with. If the thread is too big the black will bunch up and will not “bloom” completely leaving too much black in the design.

     Next, make a blank bead (or one with a design on it) and hold it in the FAR END of the flame and scribble the thread on the bead. If you are too deep in the flame the thread will ball up and you will not get thin black lines to work with. After you have gotten enough thread to stick to the blank bead you then melt it flat onto the bead while staying out at the END of the flame. This is an important step since the thread will boil if you come any closer to the head of the torch too soon.

     Next, bring the bead first to the middle of the flame and begin cooking the entire bead. Once your bead is glowing a high red heat color, move it into the area of the flame that is just in front of the tongues at the head of the torch. This is the area and the moment where the effect takes place. You will see the black threads change into LACE right before you eyes (you must be at yellow heat color). By the time the effect happens you will have difficulty keeping the glass on the mandrel! Try not to let the bead rotate on the mandrel because the lace will be pulled apart and be less defined. We have discovered that some colors when used as a base or in a design will BLOCK the effect. One of these colors is transparent green. However most colors will allow the effect to take place.

     Good Luck, JIM and Kim.

[Home] [Beads For Sale] [Vessels For Sale] [Classes] [Videos & Books] [Smircich Tools] [Technical Articles] [Round Bead] [Combed & Raised] [About Black] [Anise White] [Separation Line] [Giant Bead] [Hollow Bead] [Black Lace] [Contact Info]