Brown bullseye

Lynne Smith · #1 07-22-2002, 03:08 AM

I use bullseye rods for my beads and cannot find a brown. I'm looking for a tree trunk brown. What do other bulleye beaders use. Do you mix certain colours or do you go to sheet glass and use that in stead. That is also in short supply where I live.
Thanks,
Lynne

mlou · #2 07-22-2002, 03:20 AM

If you call Bullseye, they have color sticks I think is what they call them. These are sheet glass cut into strips for you and there is a "Woodland Brown" that is exactly what you are looking for, it's very nice.
mlou

jimbly · #3 07-22-2002, 01:12 PM

You can blend Bullseye colors just as you can blend the Moretti colors. Try Red and green to make brown. You can use a transparent and one not for a translucent color if you like. Experiment with a little before you make a lot. If the color is not quite right, you can modify by reblending it.

To blend, I wrap a or more turns of the second color around a rod of the first color. I use another first color rod to help mix in the flame...looks sort like knitting. Wind and rewind and twist and ball up in the flame until it is well mexed, leave the flame with a ball suspended between the two rods and then wait a second and slowly pull them apart to make a rod the same diameter as those you started with. tou cna blend a little black into the brown you make to darken it some for shadows, etc.
Hope thi shelps.
Jim

KD-W · #4 07-23-2002, 03:43 AM

I find it a good idea too to mix in something light for the trunk... when you have mixed your colors and are ready to pull a stringer, lay a nice piece of white down your gather and pull... when you draw the trunk and branches, twist the stringer as you go... it will give the impression of a light source...

KD-W · #5 07-23-2002, 04:00 AM

Oh and if you simply use black with a slim piece of white or pale beige, it works really well, that's what I do..I'm posting one here... seem to remember I have posted it beforem but not sure.. Anyway, here it is to make my point about light in the trunk.
The special how-to section of the Lapidary Journal for May ( it is called Step By Step and is probably still available... it is the quarterly little mag and this one is May till August) has a reproduction of an article I wrote for them several years ago... a step by step on exactly how I make tree beads...any of you read it? Has it helped you? Not fishing... really want to know if these articles of mine do... I wrote for the Lapidary Journal for seven years straight and only dropped out a couple of years ago because I was at the time tapped for ideas... I had written 50 articles... I'm about to start again... if I can take time out from working on this new jewelry book, writing articles about the Meringovian digs here in France, making beads for Ebay ... I WANTand NEED a hot tub

cankeep · #6 07-23-2002, 08:48 AM

Kate,
Your detailed "How To's" in Lapidary Journal were some of the very first instructions I found on making beads. I think I memorized every word about beads that appeared in LJ for a good year before I ever found a torch to try it myself! As soon as I saw what could be done with glass I was under the spell, but back then I had no computer, it was before the ISGB got started and I was totally on my own. Had no idea where to start, took me months to find suppliers for glass and used strips of Bullseye fusible to practice with (I'd taken a fusing class so had some I'd bought for that)
If not for LJ and the informative "How To" articles they featured I may have never discovered the wonderful world of Lampwork beads! Keep writing! You never know who you may reach! I just wish I'd thought to contact you when I first started out. Could have saved me years of trial and error!
I have a real case of "celebrity shyness" though. It just never occurred to me that the artists I read about in LJ would actually be approachable, and even better, give classes!
The advice and tips you've shared have been a big help. Though I've never been tempted to do a tree bead, the basics of color blending you discussed in your article made me look at using the glass almost like I'd use paints and that realization has had a big influence on my work my work over the years! Thanks!

Lezlie

Lynne Smith · #7 07-25-2002, 04:06 PM

Thanks everyone for all your help and suggestions.Thank you Kate for your advise. It was one of your tree beads that made me absolutely have to try one. The first time I saw one I just had to try. Unfortunately can't get the Lapidary Journal because we don't get it in South Africa. I love your beads. Where is the best place for me to order your video from on making beads using spectrum. I do stained glass as well and use a lot of Spectrum so have a lot of off cuts. Can you tell me that in this forum?
Lynne

KD-W · #8 07-25-2002, 10:56 PM

Yes Lynne and thanks for this thread... and all the encouragement in the world! All you do is post an e-mail to Helen Saul in my office.. at >beads2@theriver.com< and then you can both work it out.. I am away in France at the present time....Peace, Kate.

KD-W · #9 07-25-2002, 10:59 PM

Oh and by the way, there are actually two different videos by me on Making Beads With Stained Glass Remnants...parts 1 and 2.... the second one has the tree bead in it , and making a small bottle on the mandrel....

E_Black · #10 10-14-2003, 11:34 AM

Hi, I have Kates second video and it is great. She shows a number of different beads, plus a vessel. Ellen

chuckie · #11 10-14-2003, 12:26 PM

Wasser glass is 90 COE. They have three or four colors you might like. 501 is a nice chocolate brown, 502 is a terracotta brown, there are two versions of streaky 114 with 502, black and red that would work. If you can find the old formula, they have a beautiful dark tan brown called Mink.

Wasser is flat glass, so you'll have to cut strips. If you're just using stringer and know how to pull your own, then you can cut it up and pull it out.

Wasser melts faster than Bullseye, so you'll have to be carefull not to cause compatibility problems by letting one get too cool while the other is too hot.

Here are two sites where you can learn about Wasser and purchase it online.

http://www.sunshineglass.com/rcol/b_.../wasser-36.htm

http://www.artglass2.com/order_glass-main.html

Char

baroness · #12 10-14-2003, 01:13 PM

Hi, Lynne!

Bullseye has several new colors in the Colorstix (and sheet glass, too) that may be useful--transparent Sienna, a reddish brown; Khaki; a new gray--as well as the opaque Woodland Brown.

Lynne Smith · #13 10-14-2003, 03:03 PM

Thanks Sharon,
Gosh, where did you dredge up that old posting, but thanks for the info on the new colours. Carmen has just arrived back with some moretti for me so I will be playing with that for a while. It really does seem to work out a lot cheaper even taking into account the $30 must haves.
Lynne S

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