Strangest thing happened, not really good strange.

I made some beads a week or so ago that I call carp agate, because they look like carp in the water. One had more brown than the others and I love it. I made some just like it. It's basically medium thickness Premo trans clay with yellow, orange and brown Pinata ink in single and overlapping splotches. Cover with VERY thin layer of trans, a tiny bit of gold or copper leaf here and there (not too much), cover that with a little trans. Cover base bead, cure. I got a bunch that had a nice dark rum or coffee look. I didn't have many, so I hand-sanded (waaah) and then Dremel buffed, plus about 3 thin-thin coats of watered-down Varathane. I love these beads! I love the colors and wanted to make more.

Well, not so fast. I replicated the steps, no science about it, but it seemed the same. Should have used more brown, but after baking and plunging into ice water, they were kinda what I wanted, just not enough brown.

So, I decided to try out lining my tumbler with sandpaper and sand a bunch of beads. I threw in the above beads, plus some avocado jasper (Kato trans colored with Adirondack inks). They look like guacamole, hence the name. Different technique...inks mixed into clay, whereas the Pinata inks are kinda on their own layer between trans.

So, all beads go in at 400 grit for 9 hours and then 600 for another 9. I didn't pay too much attention to them between grits, only that they were extremely smooth after just the 400.

Well, they're done, and the brown/orange/yellow beads are totally different looking than when they went into the tumbler. There's been a blue shift. Yes, blue! Where did that come from? I know that brown is made from green and green from blue, but I can't believe that Burro Brown has that much blue. The beads are now hideous, with pink, blue and violet overtones. The avocado beads are unchanged in appearance, except nice and smooth. The tumbler water wasn't blue, just that kinda cloudy look.

I can't remember what I used for scrap clay. It's possible that some of it was leftover red that had some fuchsia mixed in when I was trying to create a ruby clay. That blue had to come from somewhere. Water alone wouldn't do it, right?

What in the world gave the yellow/orange/brown colors a blue/pink cast? It was like when you ruin a load of whites because some rogue sock gets in.
 

I am sorry to hear your beautiful beads were ruined. I have no answer, but did want to tell you that this happened to me once. I had a load of all different stuff and when it come out everything had been dyed light purple. it improved some of the beads and ruined others. I never figured out what happened.  

Oh that's REALLY bad news.

The only thing I can think of is that the sanding removed all or most of the translucent layer, exposing the inked surface?  But that wouldn't explain what happened in Sparklebee's case.

This just might end up with copper leaf mystery - not really solved completely.

BTW - I only tumble for a couple hours with each grit, assuming the beads are pretty smooth to begin with.  I have no idea if that would make a difference in your case, though.  Perhaps inks don't like to be tumbled for some reason.

Fortunately the beads I love weren't ruined. They were hand-sanded. I was trying to make some like it and since the color wasn't as dark as I wanted, they weren't a huge loss. But yeah, they kinda purple-fied. I don't know where the blue came from. Even if the trans came off (which I don't think it did completely since there was still leaf intact behind trans) and released ink, the inks weren't blues.

I decided to perform autopsies on those beads. I hit each one with a hammer, pretty easy to bust open. Half had red (cadmium plus fuchsia) cores, half had translucent cores. Maybe it was the blue component of the fuchsia. I agree Jilla that they probably don't need hours and hours of tumble sanding. If I make any more beads like this that I like (hard to repeat successes sometimes), I'll probably have to sand by hand. Ugh ugh ugh.

OT: Pinata inks are soooo much more saturated than Adirondacks. Lettuce is the only A. color I really like. 

I think I found the culprit...Premo Frost.

This morning I used some to make some MG that I've made several times in the past, with fairly predictable results. I used some Premo Frost I've had a while, just because it was open and handy. Again I used a combination of brown/orange/yellow with tiny bits of gold leaf. The results were ghastly, with this strange overall faint purple tinge. I put smears of the inks on white paper to look for undertones, and there just isn't purple in the ones I used. The only thing I could think of was that I had definitely used Frost, when usually I use plain Premo trans.

I got out a pack of Trans and compared it to Frost. The Trans has a slight yellow cast and the Frost has a pink cast. Hmmmmmm. So, I again put brown/orange/yellow ink on thin Trans, a tiny bit of leaf, then a very very thin layer of Trans over. I used this thin layer and covered some bronze colored scrap clay. Cured and no purple cast.

I have used the Frost over the past year with no problems at all. I don't know if it's going bad or it's the interaction with alcohol ink, but the Frost was the different component.

I got Frost because it's supposed to be less susceptible to plaquing (which I don't mind all that much) and it's supposed to be more translucent.

I tried Kato trans and find that not only does it gum up my pasta machine, but it's less translucent than Premo. 

Hi, I just joined today and was looking thru the posts....what a surprise...today I pulled some all white, white with green pearl and black beads out of my only once used tumbler.   The tumbler was washed well, used sandpaper that I glued together with ca glue and some sanding pads that had a rubber or sponge type backing.  They were all covered with a "yellow" film that I was able to buff (high speed so that it basically melted off).  There was no clay that was yellow or part yellow. What in the heck did I do wrong?  Thanks for any suggestions before I use the tumbler again.  I guess I will do a test drive eliminating different elements...they tumbled for 12 hours...Thanks - Lynn

green has yellow in it... perhaps that had something to do with it. I never figured out why my beads turned teal. chalked it up to the dishwashing soap I used in the water.  

Hi Lynn! Welcome aboard.

What kind of tumbler do you have? Some people have reported that tumblers from Harbor Freight can impart color (I don't know which color) to beads and/or a nasty smell. In fact, I bought one of their tumblers, then read about belts breaking, and sent it back. Now I have a Lortone and love it.

You mentioned gluing sandpaper with CA glue. Could that possibly be the culprit? I once glued sandpaper together and cut it into small squares. Never again! Anyway, as per suggestions, I used marine glue. It's thick and messy, but it does hold up in wet conditions.

Also, you used cut-up sponges, another potential source of something leaching out.

If you want to narrow it down, I'd try the elimination diet. Make beads similar to those that went yellow (yuck, by the way) and put them in your tumbler with nothing but water. If they don't yellow, you might want to think about the CA glue or the sponges. Lining the barrel with strips of sandpaper is sooooo much easier. I'll never glue and cut sandpaper chips again.

One other thing. The tumbler motor doesn't run too hot, but after hours of tumbling, it imparts a little warmth to the water. Lukewarm, I'd call it. Don't know if that makes beads more susceptible to changes, because it isn't warmer than a hot summer day. 

Thanks for the replies...

 It is a  Chicago (red) - double barrel.  It stinks to high heaven so I keep it in a plastic garbage bag.  I digress.  Yes, I will be doing the elimination diet.  Tried putting the CA glue on a bead and leaving it in water for a day - not the culprit.  Am going to just run a group thru without color (just white) and nothing else...then add until I find out who is doing me wrong.  I lined the barrel with a strip of sandpaper so there should not have been direct contact with the barrel (except for the ends).  Today my family got treated to a cake complete with store bought frosting (so that I can use the container to keep the beads from touching the ucky black liner).  So, everyone is happy but me.  We live on Maui and due to the noise and smell - the tumbler gets to live on the lanai - and if you've ever been to Lahaina in the summer, you know it is hot.  That may be a factor.  I appreciate your concern.  These beads keep me in bananas and coconuts so I really would like to fix this problem.  I'll keep you posted.  Also, thanks for the welcome.

Sorry, I forgot...on a personal note, Linelle - I used to live in Santa Rosa.  My husband worked for Agilent - lived up in Fountain Grove.   Wasn't doing much Poly then ... but now...WOW! 

Oh my gosh, Lynn...my hubby is a long time Hewlett-Packard/Agilent employee...what a small world!

Sorry I can't offer help on the tumbler issue...I usually sand by hand.  But when I do use the tumbler, I dry tumble and do not even glue sandpaper together.  Just cut a sheet of sandpaper into pieces and throw a bunch in with the beads.  Seems to work just fine, and certainly much easier that dealing with water and marine glue, etc!

:) Julie

Small world indeed.

Lynn, how long ago did you move from SR? My next-door neighbor was a long-time Agilent employee, now working for a non-profit.

Back to tumblers:

Sounds like you have the Harbor Freight tumbler. It's smell is strong, isn't it? If there's anything leaching out of the rubber itself, I don't think any added liners will prevent that. I use sanding sponges (Ace Hardware variety) for certain tasks and you can see a thin yellow-ish layer between the sand and sponge.

No water in the sander, Julie? Is water used in hand-sanding to minimize airborne particles of polymer clay? As a lubricant? Just cuz it feels good? Because not using water in a tumbler certainly has its pluses...no strips of sandpaper drying on my kitchen counter.

I'm sold on the Jilla Method of lining the barrel with strips of sandpaper. If you get the overlaps headed in the right direction, everything stays nicely in place.
 

wE

Hi,

We lived in SR from 1999 to 2001 when Agilent gave my husband an early retirement - He was a marketing manager.  He wanted to be a teacher so we moved to LV, Nevada so he could finish his degree on the cheap.  From there we decided Lahaina would be the next rest stop so here we are.  The downside is I can't easily go to any classes or retreats like I would love to do.  Esp. the one in Wisconson - I'll have to make do with videos.  Judy, do you have any videos out?  I have done some things "in the spirit" of your style and they have turned out amazingly well.  Enough...need to go do some tumbling experiments.  Bye - and thanks for the companionship...there are few, if any, poly people on this island.  Lynn

Lynn, ask your husband if he knows Tanya Narath or Harold Julander.

I was looking at a couple of sanding sponges I use for rougher areas. The gray sponge part has yellowing creeping around the edges that looks like it's come from either the sanding surface or whatever is used to bond them together. That might be your culprit.

....AND THE ANSWER IS -

THE YELLOW CAME FROM THE SANDING SPONGES I USED - THE TEST DRIVE I DID THIS AM WHERE I USED ONLY SANDING SPONGES WAS CONCLUSIVE.  SO FOLKS...LEARN FROM THE BOO BOO PRO.  I LOOK AT IT AS YET ANOTHER LIFE LESSON.  I ONLY USED A FEW OLD BEADS FOR THE TEST SO NOTHING LOST.  THANKS FOR ALL YOUR INPUT.  LINELLE, I WILL ASK HIM WHEN HE GETS HOME FROM SCHOOL IF HE KNOWS THESE FOLKS.  HE TEACHES MATH (AN ENGINEER TEACHING MATH - WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED) TO 6-7-8TH GRADERS.

Lynn: crime buster. Good going figuring out who the perp was. Those sponges are handy, but keep 'em out of the tumbler!