Implosion

There are two types of implosions: hollow and solid. You probably correctly guessed that hollow implosions are done on tubing while solid implosions are done on a rod.

The Big Idea

An implosion is when a color pattern, such as complex dot patterns or flower designs are sucked up into the middle of a clear gather. The color stretches into the middle and gets a beautifully depthy look. The way the color stretches up into the piece make implosions perfect for making realistic looking flowers within a marble.

Rod Implosions

Generally, flower implosions are done on a rod. Here are the steps for a simple implosion. 1. On the end of a rod, get a gather of hot glass and shape it into a maria. 2. Apply dots and lines of color. Try to create layers, starting in the middle of the maria and moving out to the edges. 3. Make sure your color is melted in, you may need to use a marver to squish it in. 4. Now, what you will do is heat your maria in such a way that the edges will fold over into the middle, sucking the middle of the maria up into the gather, so that your color becomes encased. 5 To do this, hold your rod at a slight downward angle, and heat the edges of the maria. 6. Once your implosion has begun, marver your gather back into a maria and repeat the whole process until you are satisfied. 7. Punti up to the back, melt off your initial rod, and have your way with it.

Hollow Implosions

Complex dot patterns and signatures are generally done on tubes. Here are the steps. 1. Get a gather on the end of your tube and blow it into an even bubble. 2. Starting on the end of the bubble opposite your handle, apply dots and lines in the funkiest fashion you like. Try having layers of dots or short squiggle lines. Your pattern can cover about half of the bubble, don't go far beyond that point. 3. Once you are satisfied with you design, you will start to melt the bubble back into a solid gather, letting the color get sucked up into the middle as you do. 4. Starting at the very end of your bubble and moving very slowly towards your handle, heat evenly and allow the bubble to melt into itself. 5. Once you have melted your bubble all the way down, punty up to the back and remove your initial tube by either melting it off and chasing out the air bubble, or make a trash bubble. In any case, beware of air bubbles. 6. These make great pendants with a little bit of color backing.