West Pine Creations: Ice Sickles

Monday, May 21, 2012

Ice Sickles

Ice Sickles

Supply List:
Torch set up
Burt's Bees burn cream/q-tip
Fire extinguisher
Size 3 tip for you torch
Triangle Stand for Hot Glass
Ceramic mat
6 mm Pyrex rod (colorless)
Towel (breaking glass)
File/glass cutter
Long nail
Graphite paddle

Lighting the torch:
    Use the "POOP" method (propane on, oxygen on, oxygen off, propane off).
     Have your flame (match or striker) ready and hold it near the torch tip. Turn on the red knob (propane), and obtain about a 6" orange flame. Turn on the green knob (oxygen), and obtain about a 3/4" blue flame.
     Turning off the oxygen first (green), then the propane (red). DO NOT OVER-TIGHTEN THE KNOBS!!!!! YOU'LL RUIN THE NEEDLE VALVES AND YOUR TORCH WON'T PROPERLY TURN OFF!!!!!!!!!
      Do you work at the tip of the darker blue flame.

Ice Sickles:
Remember: Hot glass looks the same as cold glass!! Don't burn the top of your bench, put your hot glass on the ceramic mats.
DO ALL YOUR WORK OUTSIDE THE FLAME!!!! Use the flame to soften your glass. Keep your glass rotating in the flame, for even heating.

Make a ball in the middle of the glass: Heat the glass in the middle, remove the glass from the heat and push the two ends together. Repeat this until the ball is about 1/2" round. (Glass is a poor conductor of heat so you can get your hands in close to your work.) Reheat and let the heat smooth out the ball.

Once the ball is obtained, flatten the ball with the nail head on the graphite paddle.

Heat the flatten ball until it's pliable (remember to heat both sides of the flatten ball).

Remove from the heat, pull & twist at the same time. This creates two ice sickles at once.
DO NOT TRY TO GRASP THE GLASS CLOSE TO THE HEATED PORTION...GRASP NEAR THE ENDS!!!!!

Heat the ice sickle at the thinnest point and separated the glass, such that there are two separate ice sickles.

Let the ice sickles cool on the mat with the cool side (handle) to the right of the mat (on the left if you are left handed)

Let cool.

Ck the glass for temp by slowly inching your fingers up the glass (from the tip of the ice sickle to the thicker portion of the ice sickle. Usually, by the time the next ice sickle was twisted and separated, the last ones are cooled.)

Make the loop: Heat the glass at the point where the rod and the ice sickle meets. Remove from the heat, count 1...2...seconds and THEN make the loop. Heat at the end of the loop and remove the rest of the rod.