Punty Marks.

I am having some trouble with leaving punty marks or blemishes on my work.

Even on cold seals, when I pop them off it usually takes either a small piece of my work with it or if I punty up to say a colored marble, I will pull some color off, even with a cold seal.


I work very hard as a newbie to get things right, and my work comes out just fine.

Until it is time for the final punty.

The final punty ends up being the final 6 punties , and then I have to try to add color or re-shape the piece. Or I just flat out ruin the artwork.



When I think I have a good cold seal, it pops right off. BUT, it usually takes a very very very small piece of work with it.


What am I doing wrong??? This causes me to take at least 5 times longer to make something, it is getting old. Please help a feller out.



I am heating only the rod(say 8 mil) and cold sealing it to the relatively cooler piece. How cool should the piece BE??

I even try using the smallest possible rod that will hold the weight of my work, but it still leaves a mark.


On clear it is ok, because I can work it back out or pull it out with tweezers, but still unnecessary and way to time consuming.

I am searching and the best thing I found was to melt it in or make it look like it should be there.

I don't like either.....maybe attach a small piece of the color you are puntying up to, this way it leaves a mark , but the same color......just like clear.

But what if it is on a design? Shoot, this where the learning curve comes in for us newbsters. Just one little thing like this can really stump us.

Sorry just kinda talking it out amongst myself. Brainstorming.


Any clues?

when removing the punty, flash in into the fire just a touch first... helps sometimes for me....

using a matching color helps as well...

maybe someone with more experience will chime in..

You're just cold sealing things a little too hot is all. It'll work itself out.

I always blow gently on the piece I'm about to punty, to chill the surface.

I used to get the same thing, still do sometimes... just practice. Figure out how cold you can work and still get a strong seal. You want the piece you're working on much cooler than your punty, by the way, not equal.

-Doug

i flash it in the flame and then run it on something cooler (the corner of the marver pad on top of the torch or whatever) right where the punty touches the marble to cool it real quick before i tap the punty to snap it of.

Ok, I will have to try that Mermonkey and Greymatter. Thanks guys.

By flashing it you mean, just pop it in the flame for a second right?

Then cool the punty and snap? Gotta go try it thanks.

No dice tonight. Try Try Again. I shocked and tried popping it off and the punty snapped with about a 1/4 left on the pendant. And then again on a pipe, and the marble on the pipe. I have to practice I guess, this punty mark thing is really tiresome. Now that my work is getting nicer, (still not great at all) this is ruining my stuff.

Doug and mer and preachin gospel. Maybe your base glass(pendant) has a bit to much heat in it when you punty. Flash it til red heat. As it cools then heat your punty, chill it and apply. For added success, pinch your tweezer together, dunk(tweezers, not pendant) in you water bucket, and add some shock to the punty before detaching.

Respect,

boxfan

try to cone your 8mill rod so its like 5-6 mil on the tip that way you get the strength of 8 mill and contact of a smaller surface area to make it not so strong also the other methods involving chilling and attaching at def temps is a must.You will get past this pyro.

what they said, your piece is too hot.
Jane

Yeah, either the piece or the punty are too hot. Try waiting until the punty is no longer glowing red before attaching it. You'll eventually find the right balance as I always used to leave a little chunk of punty behind. Also, I've found myself using bigger punties lately to make them easier to center. The disadvantage of going with the smallest punty possible is that it amplifies the problem if it's even a little bit off center. You'll get it, bro!

Letting a skin form on the punty rod before sticking it on helps it break clean. Also, I find if you punty with too large a rod the heat manages to soak into what you are puntying up to, and that is why you are taking a divot out of it.

hold your piece under your bench in the dark...if you see any glowing its still too hot. i blow on the piece like doug said, and i also blow on the punty sometimes, then its hot enough to stick still, but has a skin on the outside. you gotta stick in on there gently too, just a light touch...i know i have a tendency to wanna mash it on there

As usual, Thanks alot for all of the input, just got home from the day job....bout to go make stuff.

I will try it all out, Thanks alot guys for the encouragement.

I do marbles and I find the marble needs to be cool to the point that the red glow is gone for the surface. Then I heat just the tip of my punty till white hot but not boiling! Take it out of the flame and count to 3 seconds then touch the punty to the work.
If a lot of the punty is hot, the heat will continue to heat the seal and it will pull glass off the cool marble. So just heat the tip of the punty. That's my story....I'm sticking to it.....