Making Variegated Glass Flat Stringers with The Electric Mandrel Spinner

These five photos show Scott making a Variegated Glass Cane Flat Stringer. A very cool technique! This is one he showed during his presentation at the Gathering 2007.

Making Variegated Glass Flat Stringers with The Electric Mandrel Spinner

What a mess!

So, in case you are wondering where your order is or why there have not been new beads on eBay, well, here is your answer. Plumbing. When one only has one toilet in the house and showers need to be taken, you drop everything and fix the pluming when it stops working. Scott fixed it himself. What a handyman! It was yucky though. Very yucky and it involved a four foot long root about eight inches in diameter. No wonder our drains had been draining slowly. All fixed now and Scott feels quite proud. Now back to biz.

Making Twisty Canes Fast and Easy with The Electric Mandrel Spinner

Watch Scott use The Electric Mandrel Spinner, which he invented and sells, to make quick and tight twisty canes with ease. He no longer makes and sells the workstation that you see, but he does sell the Rolling Marvers, but they are handheld or benchmounted.

Making Glass Twisty Canes with Electric Mandrel Spinner

Tack and Spin using The Electric Mandrel Spinner

I am pleased to show you a new slide show I have put together using WebShots. I intend to put together informational slide shows like this one to show you on a regular basis. Enjoy! I'd love to hear your comments on any of our blogs.

A great technique that is unique to The Electric Mandrel Spinner. Try doing this by hand alone. Note the super fine lines. Keep in mind that these lines are all laid down in seconds. After laying the lines, try raking them for an added effect.

Tack and Spin Lampwork using The Electric Mandrel Spinner

The Dragon's Lair

These pictures show an entry we did recently for a juried competition. I did the mosaic work and put it all together and Scott did the glass work. We didn't get into the competition, but our jury scores were not bad. I agree with their comments. One comment was that the background colors were too much like the pieces and therefore the glass items did not "pop". I agree. We scrambed to get this together in time for the deadline and did our best with what we had and what we could do at the time. It is still fun though and I wanted to show it to you anyway.

We are having plumbing issues at our house today, grrrr. Scott went to rent a snake. After that gets fixed, Scott will be working on tools and beads. We hope to get a couple more bead auctions up on eBay tonight, but we'll see how today goes. Happy St. Patrick's Day! I just might have to go buy a couple cans of Guiness so we can toast tonight.

I have added 11 new focals to the bead store today.

MO

A Spinner is born.

Check this out. This is the very first Electric Mandrel Spinner that Scott invented back in 2004. Our first introduction of this tool was at The Best Bead Show II in Tucson 2005. Scott has since made it more simple and light-weight. I love to see this fine piece of work. We save ours like it belongs in a museum. It all started here and it has since helped a lot of people. Scott does quality work and it is fun to see how he tinkered to put this machine together. Tiny nuts and bolts and great precision and a spinner is born. Scott's Electric Mandrel Spinners have saved his wrists and hands from fatigue and his production and precision in his work increased greatly. He jokes that he "gave himself a raise."

Monica

How did Scott do this?

How did Scott achieve these bubbles in such a uniform fashion? You will find out tomorrow when we introduce one of our two new tools. We are working on getting the website ready to introduce this tool and Scott is making a video clip and doing a photo shoot. If you are signed up for our e-newsletter (from our main website in the left column), you will receive our newsletter announcing the new tools and other happenings. Check back.....two very fun tools!!!!

Cracking Glass

Grrrr. I was so excited to see the kiln opening this morning to see the large lentil beads that Scott had made the night before. There was about 9 gorgeous beads. THEY WERE ALL CRACKED!! We had this problem a few time recently and thought it might be the kiln, so Scott tried a few things and it seemed to be working fine. Scott called Craig at Arrow Springs and he suggested some things to try for testing glass compatibility issues. A black glass we received recently turned out to be the culprit. It is supposed to be compatible with Effetre, but it failed the tests by a long shot. Scott will post some of the info he learned here and some pictures regarding this issue. So sad. What a waste of time and money. Oh well, what can you do. We learned a great way to test glass compatibility and we're glad that the problem was not with the kiln. We'll be back on eBay on a regular basis now. We would have had more up by now, but now you see why.
Ciao!
Monica