This is a task that I never seem to get around to. I have a bunch of lovely beads that have been mounting up here, so I’ve decided to put everything else aside today and get as many listed as I can.

I’ve just started listing some of them in my Artfire shop (have about 22 beads to go at this point in time). After I’ve done these, there’s another 20 or so beads heading for my Etsy Shop.

If you like dotty…. there are some interesting dotty beads coming up. I am lovin’ the dotty atm. LOL

Well I continued to use my new flame setting, testing the flame for the possibility of it dumping carbon scum onto my beads, and making very subtle adjustments ‘before’ I make beads. I am happy to say I have nailed it! No more scum!!! The colours are stunningly vibrant and no longer a mystery as to how other beadmakers are able to achieve such clean colours.

As mentioned in my last post,. my flame is quite different to every picture I have seen and everything I read about how the neutral flame should look. My flame looks like what is often described as an oxidizing flame,..but I know it is a neutral flame on my Bobcat torch. All torches are different, I knew that, but I never realised that the difference was quite this big in the flame setting. My flame adjustments for years have only been slight, fearing not to veer away too far from what is recommended.

I have spoken about a little test I do to make sure there is no scum before I make beads. I do this test each time I light the torch because as you know, each lighting and flame adjustment is not exactly the same as the last. This is what I do;

When you have lit the torch as you would normally, grab a rod of light sky blue. I find this colour shows up the specks of carbon well, but there is probably other pale colours that would do just as well. You’re going to use this rod to ball up the end and pull test stringers. After you have balled up the end,.. grap your pliers and pull slowly,.. but just as you start to pull…look verrrrrrrrrry closely at the glass blog because as it is beginning to cool and go back to opaque there is a second or two where the scum specks are very visable,..but then they are really hard to see when the stringer is cooled unless you look through a magnifier. The amount of scum is significant because as you can imagine this stringer has only been in the flame for a short while,.. but a bead will be in that flame for much longer and of course receive scum deposits for longer.

If you see carbon specks in that test, reduced the gas (propane or natural gas) very slightly and retest. You will see less specks and eventually none at all. Then off you go and make vibrant coloured beads. All you have done is waste a couple of stringers, but that’s better than wasting so many beads. Eventually you probably wont be need to test, but if your colours are looking a bit off again at any time…you can always do this quick test again to make sure it’s not carbon causing the problem.

Happy beadmaking!!!

….I hope! I’ll know for sure after a few more sessions.

Some of you know that I have had carbon issues with my Bobcat torch for a very long while. It has been driving me insane, and this morning’s session was the same… I was thinking this morning I have no other choice but to pack it up and send it back to GTT for a service.

I thought I had fixed the problem a few times in the past after tweeking things here and there, but it comes right back in varied levels of carbon. The beads lose their vibrant colour and sometimes go completely scummy grey. I have tightened up my OxyCon connecters after discovering a little leak and consequently low Oxy PSI,..and I also give the jets a clean with the little tool and blow any build up out with Oxy before each session. While these two things have made some significant improvements, there was still signs of carbon scum in my beads… sometimes it’s minimal and doesn’t affect the design especially if it is organic, but lately because I’m making lots of dots on dots beads,..the carbon has ruined more beads than I can use grrrrrr.

After making six more scum beads this morning, I had nothing to lose so I decided to ignore everything I have learned about how the flame should look for a neutral flame with regards to length and shape of inner cone, with tiny yellow tips blah blah blah. I adjusted the flame so that the inner cone had no sign of yellow tips at all, and the inner cone flames were very straight and quite a bit shorter than usual. The Bobcat was turned up to just under the point where it would hiss real loudly. You know the sound.

I made six more beads and the vibrant colour is back. As a bonus, I didn’t need to keep adjusting the knobs (due to them creeping , which was part of the carbon problem also I think) like I usually have to do.

I will continue testing this through the week, but I’m pretty sure the carbon issue with the Bobcat is now resolved. Whoot!