How to strike
Striking Silver Glass
The Striking Sequence
Striking is a three-step process
Heat the surface striking silver glass (Khaos in video – substitute with current production color Atlas) to between the bright orange glow to almost clear (how much is dependent on the striking silver glass so experiment)
Cool until the glow is gone (check the bead under the table to check), sometimes amber tones will bloom
Reheat at the tip of the flame until the bead turns dark – dark brown or purple depending on the glass – this is what I call “first strike”
Bring the bead back to the normal working zone (about 2 in / 5cm from the torch face), waft in and out to coax out various colors
Depending on the striking silver glass, colors bloom from dark to light – purples, magentas, blues, and greens.
Most striking silver glass allow you to re-strike (going through the three-step striking process) multiple times. However, colors won’t be as dark or saturated with each subsequent re-strike.
Note that the latest Double Helix striking silver glass Skylla and Skiron have a slightly different cooling time (see working notes under S). Skylla is also very dense so by layering it thinly over a light opaque base such as white will yield more vibrant colors.
“Silver glass strikes due to silver crystal growth. When the glass is worked hot, the silver crystals dissolve, yielding a clear glass. When the glass is reheated, crystals form inside the glass. These crystal lengths grow to the same size as various wavelengths of light. The color sequence of lengthening crystals is as follows: clear, yellow, orange, red, red-purple, purple, blue, green. When glass is worked hot (‘reset’), the glass looks clear. Due to ambient heat within the glass, the first stages of striking usually occur automatically, yielding yellow-orange-red, which all blend together to read as ‘amber’ or transparent dark brown. As the glass is cooled and reheated, purples, blues, and greens are developed.”
The video was from a presentation Hayley did at the 2016 International Society of Glass Beadmakers (ISGB) annual conference, The Gathering, at New Orleans. Thus the glass(es) used may not be in production anymore.
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