Some things I have made

Some of these are available on ebay.  Look for bellakjewelry.  More will be available soon.

                                                      
                          My favorite, I made the wire wrap on the pendant and the chain maille chain too
                          the chain pattern is called rosette.

 

Yeah I like this one too.  Purple is the color theme here.  I also made the chain maille here.  It is called eclipse. 

LOL  my first icicles,  not too bad for starters.  :)  It took a few before I got the hang of making the loop.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be.

And here is my first off mandrel pendant.  I decided to try it after I had learned how to make the loop while making the icicles. 

This is a lanyard I made for my daughter-in-law.  It still needs the clasp and a split ring at the bottom to hold her clip.  I used the eclipse chain maille chain here too.  I really like the way it turned out.

I made my own bead rest for inside the kiln

 Don't waste your money buying bead annealing racks from someone else, you can do it yourself with the tools and materials you are likely to have already. 

Here is a bead rack I made using a 1/16" stainless steel mandrel.  It comes from 1/16" stainless steel welding rod.  If you buy your mandrels already pre-cut, I urge you to check out your local welding supply store for 1/16" and 3/32" stainless steel welding rod.  It comes in different grades.  You want 308 308L.  These will take a lot of heat and last a long time.  I use a hothead so don't know about the heat from a dual fuel torch.

To make the rack I used 3 of my 1/16" stainless mandrels.  Be aware that stainless steel is strong so it will give resistance.   I first made a bend a little off center using my round nose pliers.  Then I made another bend beside it.  After that there is one more bend to make the other leg.  Then bend the legs as shown.  These first three bends are the middle where the straight mandrel rests.  See the picture for an idea of where and how much to bend the legs.  The legs must be bent as shown so that they won't tip over under the weight of the beads.  I would say to make about a 45-60 degree angle.  I made my mandrel that will hold the beads just short of 9" to fit my kiln.  I have a table top model that was made by The Glass Hive.  I got the short guy :) and I love it.  This isn't a plug for them, just saying that my kiln interior measures 9" across.

Ahhh, now I have to make 6 more rests.  Then I will be able to anneal more beads at one time than my other, purchased, rest would accommodate.   I batch anneal because I do not work at it full time.  I usually get from 8-16 hours a week at my torch so I only anneal when I have a full load. 

I have an idea that a taller and a shorter version of this bead rest could be made to create two more tiers of racks for better utilization of space in the kiln. Wow!  I could have 100-150 beads in there at once.  That means I would have to spend more time at the torch, it's a good thing :)

Good ways to practice lampworking

I have been trying to learn lampworking from online tutorials and youtube videos.  There is a lot that is left unsaid by the posters of these lessons.  I don't fault them for it because it is wonderful that people are willing to help others learn.

I have learned how to make beads of approximately the same size.  I found that if I make several of them in one sitting I am more successful than if I take a break in the middle of making a set.  Any beads that don't match in size get sorted out, then I have a nice set of graduated beads :)

Making icicles of the same size is also challenging.  I have all sizes of them now and no two match, but they are pretty :)  What the heck, they don't hang on the tree next to each other anyhow so I don't see it as a major problem.

The small things that people take for granted are things that we have to learn for ourselves and lots of practice is the way.

I wanted to learn to make icicles so I watched some videos on the subject.  Then I thought through the process for a couple of days until I had it in my head how I was going to do it.

I learned that making icicles is excellent practice for learning heat control, how to heat just a small area such as working on the hanger end, and how to work off-mandrel using tools to hold the piece.

Lesson # 1
Always preheat any tool that you are going to hold your piece with.  If you don't, your piece will likely crack and/or break in two.  You don't want the tool hot, just warm enough that the temperature isn't a shock to the glass.

Lesson #2
Don't get the glass too hot, it will boil and be ruined.  I already learned this from making beads but in making the gather on the first few icicles, I kept the molten ball (gather) too hot for too long.  I soon learned to keep it at the coolest part of the flame that would have enough heat to shape the ball.  The best way to avoid boiling the glass that I have found is to work in the flame for a little while then move the ball farther away to cool it down a little.  Keep working back and forth like this.  At least it works for me. 

making my own striped stringers

Yesterday I was making some stringers and decided to apply stripes of 3 different colors to a clear rod.  The rod was about the thickness of my little finger.

I first made stringers with the colors I wanted to use, then I heated the clear rod and applied the stringers in stripes of about 1 1/2 inches to the end of the clear rod.

Then I made a fatter stringer out of the striped end of the clear rod and applied that to a small bead I made using the clear glass.  It turned out looking like a stone bead only with bits of clear between the stripes.

This is a pic of some beads I have made so far.  The striped ones are at the bottom,  I made 2 of them.

Making matching beads

This is not easy for a beginner like me.  I have had my equipment and glass for about 6 months but only have less than two weeks of torch time, measured by a standard 40 hour work week.

I used to work as a tig welder in factories so I know there is a 2-4 week learning curve when starting a new "job".  So my lampworking fits the category of a new job.  I expect that after another 30-40 hours of practice should be enough for me to reach the quality and consistency goals I have set for my work. 

Getting same size beads has been difficult and finally I have two beads that are matched in size.  The bumps are another story lol.  One bead has higher bumps than the other one but otherwise they are perfectly matched.  The difference in height of the bumps is not very much so I am calling them a matched pair.  Yaaaayyyy

Here they are.  I am very pleased with these.

For the longest time I had trouble getting same size beads and also controlling the size of dots.  I had trouble breaking away from the dot after I placed it on the bead, I almost always got a long, very thin string of glass that stuck between the top of the bead and the stringer I was using.

I also had trouble getting a nicely shaped bead but then I went back to youtube and watched a few of my favorite how to videos and it all clicked.  So now those two problems have been solved.  Now it is a matter of practice makes perfect.  I don't expect every bead to be perfect but at least I will be making sellable beads soon. 

I learned that I should be holding the bead beneath the flame while placing dots on it and that I should be entering the side of the flame, above the bead with the stringer I was using.  Then when I had a gather of the size I required, placing it on the bead where I want it and lift the bead so the dot was nearer to the flame until the top of the dot seperated from the stringer.  It worked perfectly the first time I tried it.  Amazing LOL

Oh, and it helped that I finally learned how to pull consistent stringers by watching a youtube video.  That also worked the first time I tried it.  You make a gather on your glass rod, then, working quickly, take the gather out of the flame, pinch  the end with a needle nose plier or tweezers, and pull.  As you pull fast the stringer will be thin, as you pull more slowly, the stringer will be thicker.  For a thicker stringer, you will need a much larger gather than if you have for a thinner stringer.  When you start to feel resistance, you can pull faster until the glass is finally too cool and won't move anymore.

Placing the correct amount of glass on the mandrel every time was still eluding me but after seeing a youtube video showing how to wind the glass on the mandrel, I finally got it.  I have seen other videos that showed people building up the bead from side to side and that was how I was trying to do it.  The video that changed my technique showed to make a nice size gather on the glass rod, start the wrap on the mandrel, then wind it upward on it's self as in making a tall, thin spacer bead.  Then just spinning it slowly in the flame until it became the size bead, lengthwise, that I wanted.  It explained that the glass will want to gather close to the mandrel if you spin it slowly and will want to spread upward if you spin it faster.  Well, learning these facts and trying them out has helped me to learn how the glass flows under different conditions.  This has given me the knowledge of how to get beads of same/similar size.  Now to practice more :)  I have too many ideas about designs for my beads now :)

I was about ready to try and find someone near me who would give me lessons on the basics of lampworking beads.  I am glad I went back to youtube enough times and found the instructions I needed.......for free. 

lampwork beads, making stringers, and bracelets using all my own lanpwork beads

Today I finally made a very nice bead with 6 dots within dots.  The base is white, the first dots are yellow and the second dots are green.

Tomorrow I will see if I can make another one like it.  It would be nice to be able to make matching beads for a change.  So far I have only made singles.

Today I also finally made some very nice straight stringers too Yaaayyy

It seems the youtube videos I have been watching are finally sinking in.  Although it really does take a lot of practice even if you know how it is supposed to be done.

Two days ago I made 3 bracelets using wire and my beads I have made.  They are for two of my sisters and my wonderful Daughter in Law.  Shhhh don't tell, they are for Christmas gifts.

Here is a small hand full of beads, they are my first useable ones.  But still, they are not as nice as I would like.  They all have their glaring imperfections  but they look surprisingly niiiice when put together in these 3 bracelets.

These are the three bracelets I have made from my beads for Christmas gifts.  As you can see, I still have no control over size as yet.  Working on it :)

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.