I’ve read about the liquid filled ampules some kaleidoscope artists make. You can see examples here.
I got some glass tubes – 5mm flint glass scraps from www.sciplus.com (along with lots of other good stuff). I think I’ve concluded that I can’t do a liquid filled ampule with my current equipment and knowledge but I did come up with something I liked. 😉
I’m using a tiny little $9 butane torch from the hardware store. It works great on melting 1mm stringer and can bend 2mm but it takes longer. I heated the end of one tube and then twisted it shut. The twists look a bit messy but I think they’d probably still look good in an image. Then I filled a short section of the tube with tiny holeless beads. I then heated and twisted (or compressed and pulled) a bit above the beads to close off the tube and pull the section free.
It worked pretty well but I think it took longer than a liquid could handle and I don’t think I always got a perfect end seal. The neat thing is now I
can suspend tiny objects within the cell so they don’t all clump at the bottom of the object chamber. It does take some time and patience though – at least without an actual glass torch.
So guess what I did? I ordered a beginners glass torch! We’ll see how much I end up using it 🙂
Great idea and great crafting. They look awesome. I look forward to see more of your work with the glass torch.
You remind me of Martha Stewart because you are inventive and informative while presenting the facts.I think you have a fantastick website featurring lots of articles to choose from.Just so you know,thanks alot!
Thanks Meltem and April. I’m glad you find my experiments interesting 🙂 I haven’t done anything with the torch yet but hopefully by this weekend.