Melt Your Heart ^TM Mandrel - Directions

Think Safety:

• Be proactive about safety. Take classes, do research, and talk with experts. Actively work to identify, and then reduce or eliminate hazards. You are responsible for your own safety and long term health.
• Always use the correct filtered glasses to protect your eyes.
• Wear appropriate clothing and footwear.
• Always work with proper ventilation. Talk with an expert about your situation.
• Set up and operate your torch system safely. Take a class or get an expert to show you.
• Keep your workspace clean and organized. Set up your tools and glass so you don't need to reach over or around the torch.
• Be careful with water. Putting hot tools or glass in water can generate steam. Long tubes can create jets of steam.
• Watch out for repetitive strain injury (RSI). Take breaks, watch your posture, and cushion your elbow rests.
• Always remove and clean your beads while wet to minimize bead release dust in the air.

• Inspect the mandrel and wiggle the heart to check the welds. In the unlikely event of a lose weld, do not use the mandrel and contact Inspiration Toolworks for a replacement.
• Dip in your favorite bead release and dry.
• You may want to drag a toothpick down the center valley of the heart to help define the heart shape better.
• If you have trouble keeping the bead release from cracking, you may want to try air drying instead of flame drying.
• You should push out the bead release from the inside to keep the weight down on the mandrel. This is also a safety issue. If there is a small hole created, it is possible for steam to shoot out if you quench your work in water.

• Lay down your glass around the heart. You can use the edge of the tool as a visual guide for keeping it straight. Some lampworkers prefer to lay down a small stringer to form a smaller footprint.
• You should do multiple wraps to make a stronger heart. If you want the base to be a single wrap of cane, place a layer of transparent over it.
• You will need to be a bit more careful than normal to build it evenly, as you can't just "melt it round".
• Use a sharp tool to push the glass down between the "humps"
• When finished, place the whole thing in the kiln for annealing.

• Soak in warm water to loosen the bead release.
• Push or pull the heart to loosen it. As soon as you hear it move, put it under water or under running water and wiggle it back and forth, and then pull it off.
• Remember to clean out the inside of the mandrel as well.
• A diamond tool cleans the inside of the heart easily.

• Nail polish can be applied on the inside of the heart to smooth over the bead release contact area.
• You can hang it as a pendant or try it as a toggle. A toggle should be fairly thick.

Printable version