Tips & Tricks
Dipping Mandrels
“Tips, Tricks & Tools” is an ongoing section of our Newsletter overseen by Alice Henry. If you have ideas for this section, please share via email to: Tips@theglassdragons.com
Greetings and salutations for the New Year! This month we’re looking at tips for dipping mandrels.
After taking the “Svelte – Slender Bicone in Silver Glass” class with Hayley Tsang Sather, I learned that to get a really even, thin coating (which is particularly desirable for long beads), you need to follow some important steps:
Hayley uses a 50/50 mixture of Foster Fire Smooth & Tough and Fusion bead separator
- Never hold your jar at an angle
- Dip into the release and remove your mandrel VERY slowly! (15 seconds or so)
- Hold the mandrel upright and tap the end gently on your work surface a few dozen times. This makes an even thinner coating
- Wipe off the excess that drips down and place the mandrel straight up and down in your rack to dry (don’t allow it to stand at an angle)
In case you weren’t aware, Hayley has a free Basics class on her virtual workshop portal. Please visit http://www.envisionsf.com/ to check it out!
Judy Fearn is sharing a trick she learned from her friend, Rona Horn:
“If I need to dip a bunch of mandrels in a hurry, I can push the ends into some floral foam. Then fill a plastic dish (like the kind some deli meat comes in) with as much bead release as you need to get the length of the mandrel covered that you want. You can invert it and dip as many as will fit into the opening of the container—all at once! Then pull it out and allow it to drip off, if it’s going to, and set the foam down with your little forest of dipped mandrels sticking up so they can dry. It’s quick and slick!”
Thank you for being part of our glass-loving community. Wishing everyone health and happiness in 2022!
Alice