Mini 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 connection. In the unlikely event of a lose connection, do not use the mandrel and contact Inspiration Toolworks for a replacement.
• Dip in a bead release that gives you an even coating. Fusion FPI has proven itself to work on this mandrel.
• Now comes the tricky part. To get the best shape, you must minimize the amount of bead release used while still making sure you have enough to get the glass off after annealing.
• The coating should look even, and there should be no metal visible, but there should also be a minimum of lumps and bead release filling the valleys.
• You can spin the tool between your hands *while the tool is still in the jar, above the bead release* OR you can tap the rod on the edge of the jar to shake off the bead release. Rotate to get an even coat.
• If you have trouble keeping the bead release from cracking, you may want to try air drying instead of flame drying.

Bead Construction:

• Lay down your glass around the heart. You can use the edge of the tool as a visual guide for keeping it straight.
• You should do multiple wraps to make a stronger heart. If you want to use cane as a base, use transparent for your second layer.
• 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.

Bead Removal:

• Soak for at least 10 minutes in hot water.
• Do not try to twist *around* the mandrel like a regular bead.
• Instead, rock the bead *along* the mandrel. Push along the axis of the mandrel with your fingers on one side and pull with your thumb on the other side of the bead. Then vice-versa.
• As soon as you hear or feel it move, put it back under water and use the same rocking motion to rock it back and forth to work the bead release loose.
• After the rocking motion has loosened the bead you can remove it.
• A diamond tool can be used to clean the inside.

Bead Stringing:

• 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