CiM Cranberry Pink 104 COE

Tips and Techniques: How to Make a Rose Cane

One of the most basic and useful detail elements used in lampworking beads is the rose cane. I notice them being used in the old beads I saw in the catalogs of antique beads that I looked at to teach myself bead designs.  Through experimenting I discovered that the cane needed to be both transparent and opaque to make an effective embellishment.

Though a rose cane is a very effective way to depict a rose on a glass bead, it is also a great detail cane for other decorative applications like feathered lines or bright pink squiggles.

To start making a rose cane, you need a rod of white (I chose Peace by CiM) and a rods of Gold Pink (I chose Cranberry by CiM) and a third rod of clear for the second punty.

Start heating both the white and the pink rods at the same time, but heat the pink more by holding it below the white in the flame because the white will slump much faster than the pink and you need it a little stiff to apply the pink.

Heating Peace and Cranberry rods in torch flame.

As you get a gather of pink on the end of your rod, start applying strips of the pink to about 1 to 1 ½ inches of the white rod.  Continue applying the pink around the white rod until you have coated all the way around.  You can vary the depth of the pink you apply to the white rod depending on how dark you want your rose cane to be.

Applying first strip of Cranberry Pink to rod of Peace.

Once you have the desired thickness of gold pink applied to your white rod, you need to marver the rose cane into a smooth cylinder to insure that the cane pulls evenly.

Stripped cane and next gather of Cranberry Pink.

At this point you need to keep your rose cane warm and apply the second punty to give you a handle to hold onto during the pulling process.  Once the punty is applied and cool enough to not stretch, start moving the pink coated section back and forth in the flame, being sure to rotate it frequently to heat it all the way through.  I like to pull the cane into a football shape when I am heating it to get more of the mass of the cane in the middle and not so much on the punty.

Encased rose cane in flame.

When your cane is thoroughly heated, start pulling slowly at first because white tends to get very liquid and thin out the cane if you pull too fast at the beginning.  When you start feeling a little resistance in the glass, start pulling faster until you achieve the desired size of rose cane that you want.  I like to use a punty that is at least 13 inches long so that I can move my hand down to the far end to extend my reach which helps to get the maximum length out of your cane pull.

Marvering rose cane to smooth surface.

Once you have stopped pulling the cane, hold the cane still and straight until the glass firms up.  White glass stays flexible for an amazing length of time and holding the cane until it is firm saves you from having crooked cane.

Applying punty to rose cane.

Next lay the cane flat on a table placing the right punty down to cut it into usable lengths and let cool until you can pick it up.  If the rose cane appears too light, don’t worry because gold pink tends to strike and un-strike as you heat it and it will develop the desired color when you use the cane.

Heating cane for pulling.

Starting to pull rose cane slowly.

Cutting rose cane with nippers.

Pieces of cut rose cane.

Rose bead made with rose cane.

Bead made with Mermaid (CiM), goldstone ribbon and rose cane.

Oval rose bead encased in blue dichroic.

Tips & Tricks #1 - About Cranberry Pink

I did a dichroic bead demo for the Pacific Northwest Bead Society last Sunday and one of the beads that I demonstrated was a Gold Pink cored bead with different colored dichroic scraps placed all over the bead.

The reason I am talking about this bead today is the fact that I finally found a Gold Pink glass that will work inside one of these dichroic beads without cracking it and that is the Cranberry Pink produced by CiM / Messy Color.

I tried for years to make a bead like this using the Gold Pinks that came from Italy, but every time I encased the Italian Gold Pinks they would crack the dichroic encasement and even just plain clear would crack over the pink.  I figured there was some kind of molecular incompatibility between the Gold Pink and Clear glass, but I couldn’t nail down what it exactly was without scientific equipment.  I gave up trying to make this kind of bead for about 10 years, not wanting to waste anymore time or glass.

Recently, I realize that there was a new Gold Pink on the market and had been available for several months, that is compatibility tested with all the available 104 COE lampworking glasses and it is the Cranberry Pink produced by CiM / Messy Color.  When the light finally dawned on me, I was really happy with the results I got when I took some Cranberry Pink to the studio and started making dichroic encased beads with it.

The Cranberry Pink core in one of these dichroic encased beads makes the purples, blues, lavender, pinks and silver dichroic scraps pop, producing a very pleasing color balance.  The colors come out so beautiful that you almost want to eat the beads.

Cranberry Pink dichroic & Goldstone

The CiM Cranberry Pink that I use for the core of these dichroic encased beads is a Unique Cranberry Pink that is paler than the regular Cranberry Pink.  I use the Unique version of this color because the regular Cranberry Pink is very dense ( so that it can be used in small amounts in detail work and produce a pleasing pink) and becomes too dark, making it difficult to see that it is a raspberry pink.

If you like using pinks in your glass bead making, I suggest that you give the CiM Cranberry Pink and Cranberry Pink Unique a try.

Cranberry Pink & Dichroic Melon Beads

Cranberry Pink with Dichroic Encased in Larkspur