Getting more torch time

I have been getting more torch time this week since the garden has pretty much given me what it is going to give except for a few tomatoes and a few hands full of beans now and then.

Anyhow, yesterday I was at the torch 3 times   These beads are the result.

The opaque pale blue beads on top are the best of the two pairs.

The dark ones on bottom are transparent purple.  And the bigger one with spots is an opaque pink bead with transparent dark red dots and opaque white dots.

The purple pair is not perfectly matched, one is thinner.  

I had some trouble getting the stringer to break away and the big dotted bead got messed up with some stray dots of red on it.  

I finally learned how to break away the stringer when making dots and to resize the dots if they are too large or too small.  Yaaayyy.  I have yet to be able to get all the dots the same size though.  I think that must take practice with perception.  Also, I finally learned how to lay the glass on the mandrel more accurately to make, more or less, matching size beads.   And I learned to slow down when shaping the bead.  They turn out much much nicer now.  And I found the sweet spot so things go faster now.  :)

All in all, I am happy with what I learned in these last few sessions at the torch.  But I certainly need more practice, practice, practice.  At least now, I am not practicing mistakes LOL.

Here is another bead I made day before yesterday.  I wanted a striped bead.  I laid on a little clear then laid on the stripes, yellow, green, and orange.  I should have used an opaque color for the ends.  That would have made it look neater.  Also, I should have made thinner stripes.  But I still would use this one, just wouldn't try to sell it.  lol   I just had a thought, maybe the stripes should have gone around the diameter instead of along the length of it.