Jump to content

Our Hurricanes


JacquiO

Recommended Posts

My friend Pauline (CT: CandleDungeon) and I tried our hands at making some canes. One weekend we did glass gems and then the a couple weekendslater we tried some picture canes following the techniques from Sharyl55's tutorial. Although we weren't able to participate during class time we still followed her guidelines pretty much to the letter. Thanks so much Sharyl!

I'm so happy with the results!

Our Glass Gem Canes:

Jacqui's

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture003.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture016.jpg

Pauline's

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture007.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture026.jpg

Our Picture Canes:

Jacqui's

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture005.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture020.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture021.jpg

Pauline's

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg197/jaxter515/Picture008.jpg

I didn't get a good photo of Pauline's lit up. They all came our blurry. Sorry Pauline.

Well anyway I was really happy with how they came out. The pictures of them lit really don't do them any justice. Although we each designed our own canes the production of them was definitely a team effort.

Cheers,

J

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice. Both of you did great :)

I remember doing one with the flat marbles way back when. Still have it actually. I like the way yours are at different angles though. Mine I made them all flat on the sides, but when I melted the wax around them it was uneven so it still didn't look right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all your wonderful comments. I have no problem sharing how the glass gem stone canes were made.

You need a wide cane mold so you can get a pretty thick wall. Using an insert we added the stones filling the walls of the cane up to the top. I even wanted some to poke out a bit from the top edge. Then pour you hurricane wax and transport to water bath. We didn't need to add any extra weight because of the gems.

The tricky part was figuring when to remove the insert. You need to get a fairly thick outer shell so the gems don't start falling into the center. For mine we waitied too long and I almost couldn't get the insert out. With Pauline's I don't think we waited long enough and a couple fell to the bottom but the shell cooled thick enough to cover them. Once the the cane has cooled enough to cover all the gems and create a smooth wall cut out the top skin and dump out the rest of your wax and let cool overnight.

Because of the gems your not going to get the normal shrinkage and may have to struggle getting them out of the mold. We had to pop ours in the freezer for 10 minutes and then had to apply some serious elbow grease but they did come out. Also make sure to use a mold release spray when prepping your molds. This probably helped us tremendously.

Now comes the fun part. Get out your heat gun. I let the canes warm up from being in the freezer before applying any heat. The last thing I wanted was to see them crack. Over a shallow baking sheet and working from the top to the bottom we melted away the wax just enough to bring out the gems. I'd say heat-gun-it on low but impatience got the best of me and I found myself working back and forth between hi and low. If you melt too much the gems will pop out so take your time.

Pretty much that's it. Not very complicated. Just took a little time and ingenuity and a lot of patience. :wink2:

If you try it be sure post 'em in the gallery. I'd love to see them! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...