stringers

What is Zanfirico Cane?

I became aware of the existence of a type of Italian decorative cane called “Zanfirico” the first time I visited Murano back in the early 1990’s.  It is stored in the same warehouse at Effetre with the murrini cane and was a titillating eye candy experience.

Zanfirico cane in the Effetre warehouse.

Zanfirico is a hand pulled cane style that requires a lot of skill to produce and is very popular with the traditional glass blowers on Murano, who do beautiful blown glass pieces with ribbons of fine twisting colors in stunning vases, bowls and other glass objects.

Frantz Art Glass has had Zanfirico cane available for many years, but it was marketed as “Marble Stock” in our catalog and on our website.  The colors of Zanfirico that Frantz had in the past was not as delightful as the new batch that is now available and there is a better selection of cane sizes to pick from with this new shipment.

Since there are all these new styles and colors of Zanfirico, I decided to see what I could do using this cane style to make beads.  I had a lot of fun seeing how I could make fancy 2 mm stringers out of 15 to 20 mm thick pieces that were 2 – 2 ½ inch long of zanfirico cane.  I heat these short thick pieces of zanfirico cane in my annealing kiln at 1000F and then pick them up out of the kiln with a glass punty that is heated at the pick-up end to sticky hot.  I then transfer the zanfirico chunk to the torch flame and start warming it and add a glass punty to the other end.  When the zanfirico chunk starts to get soft, I start to introduce more twists into the cane and when it is ready to pull out, I continue to add more twists to make them compact enough to look good in a bead.  This treatment takes a little practice, but is well worth it.

Here is a side by side photo of the larger zanfirico cane and the stringers I pulled out of it.

While I was experimenting with the zanfirico cane, I discovered that some of the cane patterns actually looked better when I applied a 5 to 6 mm cane directly to a thin bead cylinder on a mandrel and heated and twisted the cane down as I melted it around the bead.  This technique allowed me to use the cane in its’ full size which made the cane pattern larger and more visible and I really liked the results.  Instead of wispy twisted patterns of color, I got beefy twists that were more dramatic.

A photo of the punty and larger sized stringer that I pulled for an 8 mm cane, notice how it is wavy and this goes away when reheated.

If you like exotic stringers, I highly recommend trying some of this new shipment of zanfirico cane.   It saves you from having to make it from scratch and it allows you to introduce details into your beads that are difficult to produce and very lovely to see.

Blue spiral zanfirico over base of CiM Creamsicle with Peace and Cornflower dots	Blue spiral zanfirico over base of CiM Rose Quartz with an accent stringer of goldstone.

Pink spiral zanfirico stringer over bead made from Intense Blue.	Bead made with 6 mm zanfirico cane with multiple threads of blue and yellow that was warped around the mandrel and tips of Intense Blue were added for accents.

Blue spiral zanfirico stringer warped around a round bead made with CiM Pumpkin.	Round bead wrapped with 6 mm cane line zanfirico in black and white over a core of CiM Chalcedony.

Yellow line zanfirico over core of Intense Blue with dots of CiM Pumpkin and Cornflower, made with a 6 mm cane.	Pink line zanfirico over core of CiM Cornflower, made with a 6 mm cane.

Pink spiral zanfirico stringer over CiM Poison Apple.	Goldstone zanfirico with black line over a core of CiM Great Bluedini.

White line zanfirico stringer over CiM Tuxedo.  When line zanfirico is pulled down to stringer size, the zanfirico can become very wispy.	Small round bead made with a 6 mm rod of blue spiral zanfirico.

Click here to view current stock of Zanfirico.

Did you know that CiM/Messy Color has Fabulous Stringers? (6-10-10)

In spring 2010, CiM began producing stringers of some of their more popular colors that would translate well to smaller diameters. Read more

Need More Information and Inspiration?

When you click on the Web Gallery, a web page appears that shows links for the three different sections of the web gallery that are Focal Beads, Spacer Beads and Strands. Click on one of the choices and you will be taken to a page of thumb (small images) to pick from. When you click on a thumb image, a large image will appear with a list of the different glass colors that were used in that bead and the glass colors are linked to the Frantz Art Glass web page for easy purchase, plus pertinent information on how the bead was made. Read more

Effetre Silver and Zucca Glass (3/12/09)

I am writing about the Effetre Silver and Zucca Glass for Lampworkers colors named “The Silver Challenge 7 Rod Assortment”, which were given out or sold with orders placed in mid-November.  I am urging everyone who got this glass to please send in photos of their results (good or bad), so that they can be entered into the raffle for a box of rare glass from Mike’s vault.

The seven glass colors in the "Silver Challenge" assortment.

A beadmaking friend, Sue Stewart and I both did test beads and I am posting different examples of what we got from these new colors.  We want to see what everyone else  made out of these new colors.

I liked the Silver #4 the best out of the four silver colors and I really like the yellow and orange colors from this group.  Listed below are the names and reference numbers for the “Silver Challenge 7 Rod Assortment”.

• Silver #1 – 591718
• Silver #2 – 591719
• Silver #3 – 591720
• Silver #4 – 591721
• Yellow Ocra – 591411
• Lt. Zucca – 591425
• Dark Zucca – 592426

BTW Sue Stewart is teaching several different classes at Frantz Art Glass focusing on techniques for using silver glass in beadmaking.

Bead made out of Silver #1 with twisty of Psyche and Opal Yellow, then encased with Aether.

Core of bead made with Silver #4 and encased with Aether.

Bead by Sue Stewart made with Silver #1, Ivory and Clear.

Bead by Sue Stewart made with Silver #2, Pulsar and Mermaid.

Bead made with #591425 Light Zucca and silvered Ivory shards.

Core of bead made with Silver #3 decorated with a Psyche stringer and encased with Clear.

Bead by Sue Stewart made with Silver #3 and encased with clear.

Bead by Sue Stewart made with Silver #2, Unique Sapphire and Clear.

Bead made with Yellow Orca and decorated with Black Metallic shards.

Bead made with Silver #4 and decorated with reduced Triton designs.

Bead made with Dark Zucca and decorated with silvered Ivory shards and Triton.

Bead by Sue Stewart made with Silver #1 over Teal.

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.

What You Didn't Know About Goldstone!

Aventurine Marron is the Italian name for a specialty glass the Americans call Goldstone.  Before I got into lampworking I would see cut stones and beads made out of goldstone in lapidary shops and I have always thought it was really cool looking glass.

Large chunk of Goldstone with smaller piece.

Strips of Goldstone ribbon cane.

Frantz Art Glass buys its goldstone/aventurine from Effetre, but on one trip to Murano, Italy we found out that Effetre didn’t actually make the goldstone, but instead was a middle man for another glass company.  This lead us on an adventure to find out where and how it was made because we were looking for a source for larger chunks (fist size boulders), so that we could offer a larger range of goldstone piece sizes.

Gold and red dichroic with swirled goldstone design.

Two toned olive shaped bead with goldston swirls.

The formula for making adventurine /goldstone has been a much guarded secret through the ages in Europe.  The story goes that it was originally developed by glass making monks, but I can’t say how accurate this charming tale is.  I know for sure that the goldstone we buy from Effetre is made in a glass factory in Northern Italy.

One of the reasons that this particular type of glass is so expensive is the fact that when they make a crucible of goldstone, only one third of the batch is “A” quality with the familiar bright flakes in it.  The other two parts of the batch are “B” quality that has a lot of veins of brown in it and the last third is waste and they have to break the crucible off the glass when it has cooled, so they lose the crucible ever time they make a batch and crucibles are expensive.

You can get goldstone/aventurine to use in five sizes from powder to large chunks that you can use as is or process into what ever stringer or cane you like.  Last year we were fortunate to obtain a batch of specially made goldstone ribbon cane that was made by a glass artist that we know on Murano.  Recently we received another batch of ribbon cane and this batch is really great!  It is thicker, brighter and easier to use than the last batch and I have been enjoying using it.

Goldstone ribbon zig zag design with magenta-blue and teal dichroic.

Goldstone ribbon design over tabular bead made from CiM "Mink".

The ribbon cane is really nice to use because it has a very thin coat of clear glass over the goldstone which keeps the ribbon cane looking brilliant even when exposed to high heat.  I learned the hard way that to get goldstone from pieces to look bright after being torched, it is best to have a thin layer of clear glass over it.  When I first started messing around with goldstone, I would have the raw goldstone in the flame and it would turn kind of khaki brown-green with almost no sparkle to it – very disappointing!

Aventurine/goldstone comes in a few other colors which the most common are blue and green, though I have seen red goldstone in the past.  You have to be careful with the really rare colors of goldstone because sometimes it is not compatible.

Strand of encased goldstone beads.

Goldstone ribbon cane and a rose cane over CiM Mermaid.

A special goldstone ribbon cane with black line on dichroic bead.

Small flat diamond shaped bead made out of goldstone ribbon cane and covered with pale aqua.

Band of goldstone ribbon cane around a half Sangre and half Poison Apple bicone bead.

More New Colors from CiM – Messy Color

here are three New Colors from CiM this week, that were made at the request of the lampworking community.  The new colors are:

• Poison Apple
• Mink
• Mermaid

Poison Apple – # 511487

Mink – # 511788

Mermaid – # 511586

I have had the pleasure to make beads with these three new colors this week and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with the results of my experimenting.

In rod form, Poison Apple looks very translucent bright green, but as you work it in the heat it becomes denser and loses some of its translucent look.  The first bead I made with it was a straight forward Sangre (red) and Poison Apple (green) short bicone with a band of goldstone ribbon cane and red opaque bumps.  I got many comments that the bead looked very Christmassy.  The next bead I made had a core of Poison Apple with a band of reduced Triton that was twisted into swirls around the bead and encased in Aether.  That combination really popped and the bead was both simple and flashy at the same time.  I made an even bigger Poison Apple bead with a spiral wrap of reduced Triton that was swirled and encased with Aether.  I really like this bead, it made me a lover of Poison Apple and I have never liked any of the greens similar to Poison Apple before.

Poison Apple with Triton swirls

Poison Apple and Sangre bicone.

The next big surprise was the Mink which is a medium opal brown.  I have never seen any color in soft glass that looks like Mink and that alone makes it an important addition to the available glass color palette.  I was wowed when I paired the Mink with goldstone ribbon cane and Sangre, it looks so good I wanted to eat it.  I also made another bead with goldstone ribbon cane and reduced Triton around the middle and was really pleased with the results.

Mink with Sangre and Goldstone.

Mink with band of goldstone and swirled Triton.

The last color is Mermaid which kind of looks like a cross between Petroleum Green and Dark Turquoise.  This color has received the strongest positive response from most beadmakers and rightly so because it is beautiful and fills an empty place in the present glass color palette.  I have made several beads out of Mermaid and I like them all.

Mermaid with Triton swirls.

Mermaid designs over Ivory.

There is a fourth color that arrived this week that is a remake of a previously released green called Commando.  I was told by CiM that too many beadmakers complained that Olive and Commando were too close in hue, so Commando was reformulated and the result is a drab camouflage green that looks a lot like what the plant “Green Sage” really looks like.  The reformulation of Commando has given the lampworking community yet another green thathasn’t been available until now which I think is great.

New Commando with swirl flower

Triton swirls over Poison Apple.

Mermaid with swirl flower.

Tips and Techniques #2 – Feathering

The lampworking technique call Feathering has been in use for hundreds of years by Italian lampworkers and I think it is very useful for decorating beads.

A long bicone of CiM Ghee with Triton and goldstone that was feathered with a 6 inch stringer.

CiM Hades over Peace with feathering done using a 6 inch stringer.

There is several ways to do feathering on a glass bead.  One way to create a feathered design is to lay down lines on your bead with a stringer.  The stringer lines can be wrapped around the bead in a spiral from hole to hole on the bead and melted enough to keep it from popping off while you are feathering the other side of the bead.  I use a 1 1/2mm stringer that is the same color as the stringer lines and it is about 6 inches long.  To make the feathering marks, it is best to heat one side of the bead at a time to prevent moving to much glass as you drag the molten stringer lines.  At the end of each drag (if you are doing the hole to hole kind), take the glass that will be clinging to your dragging stringer and make the glass go around the end of the bead which gives your feathering lines a very finished look.  Continue around the bead making the feathering go back and forth which usually takes about four passes to complete the whole bead.  The bead will always get a little distorted from the feathering and will require some reheating and shaping.

Squiggle leaf garland under roses on dichroic covered bead.

Bubble Gum Pink bead with dot garland feathering.

You can make very pleasing leaf patterns on your beads using the short stringer to feather your bead.  There are two ways to do feathered leaves: The first can be done by placing two dots of glass next to each other (about ¼ inch apart) in a row and then marver them down a little before you heat a manageable section of dots and drag the stringer between the dots.  This technique draws the dots out into a garland looking decoration.  The second leaf pattern can be produced by taking a stringer of a leaf like color and laying down a squiggle where you want the leaves to be.  Heat and marver the squiggle down a bit to keep it from popping off while you are feathering, then take your 6 inch stringer and drag it down the middle of the squiggle in manageable sections.  This technique produces very fluid looking leaf garlands.

A feathering stringer can also be used to produce swirls in color lines on a glass bead.  To make a swirl, heat the spot you want the swirl to be and insert the stringer and twist it.  At this point, you must wait a few seconds to let the glass stiffen up which will make it very easy to snap off the stringer that is stuck in the middle of the swirl.  You can also place five or six dots in a circle and heating the center of the circle, insert the feathering stringer and spin it which will make the dots swirl around the center dot made by the stringer, producing a swirled  flower design.

Dichroic and goldstone tabular bead with swirl design.

Example of a swirled flower done with a fat yellow stringer.

Another way to feather designs into hot glass that produces a more controlled look, is to use a bent tungsten pick.  I use the bent tungsten pick when I want really crisp points in my feathered design.  I love my bent tungsten pick, it has so many uses and gives you so much control over the molten glass.

I use the tungsten pick to produce zigzag feathering, where I have laid stringer color in strips from hole to hole around my bead.  You can use zigzag feathering in lots of design situation, with pleasing results.

Sapphire over Marshmallow with zigzag design.

Dichroic zigzag design over Dark and Light Yellow Mimosas

I hope this short blog on feathering will inspire other lampworkers to give it a try.

Lavender blue bicone with diagonal zigzag design.

Raised swirl design in Triton on two color dichroic bead.

CiM Pumpkin and Smurfy bead with tungsten feathered design.

Bead out of Spanish Leather with Triton and Hades ribbon zigzag design.

Vetrofond - the Other Italian Glass Factory

Most beadmakers have heard of the Effetre (Moretti) glass factory on Murano near Venice, Italy, but fewer beadmakers know about the other Italian 104 COE glass rod manufacturer Vetrofond.  Vetrofond is located across the lagoon from Venice on the main land in a suburb of Mestre, which is the main industrial port of the area.

Cullet Storage Yard at Vetrofond

Carts of Glass Rods at Vetrofond

Vetrofond is mostly involved with making custom modern looking blown glass lamp fixtures, but they have a large set up for producing 104 COE glass rods.  In past years, they have gone out of their way to produce interesting limited runs of odd lot colored rods for the international lampworking community, like River Rock, Parrot Green, Poppy, Ocean Green, Frosty Blue and Key Lime.

Currently, there is a huge selection of odd lot colored glass rods made by Vetrofond with names like Cosmic Storm, Jupiter,Seashell Swirl, Dark Lichen, LemonMeringue, Orange Punch, Yellow Ice, Jungle Twilight, and Sweet Lime.  There are over 50 odd lot glass rod colors from Vetrofond that greatly extends the color palette of glass beadmakers.

Jupiter with Triton & Dark Pink

Vetrofond Transparent Yellow with Triton and Goldstone

Vetrofond has a very unassuming front to the building which masks the intense levels of activity going on inside the factory.  It is a factory which is both dangerous and thrilling to see in operation with hot furnaces, huge metal equipment and lots of organized glass shards.  There is such a swirl of activity that it is mind boggling.

I have personally made only a modest dent in the huge selection of available Odd colors from Vetrofond, but I have been please with the results none the less. All of Vetrofonds colors are compatible with other 104 COE glasses and I highly recommend that every beadmaker take a spin through the Vetrofond palette, for the adventure that is contained within each glass rod.

Nyx over Vetrofond Emerald Green

Vetrofond Seashell Swirl, Ivory & Black