flamey

Folder: Under Construction
How (some of my) Glass Beads Are Made. :)

Glass - melted in the flame - is wound around a metal wire that's been partially coated with "bead release", which when dried and heated in the flame forms a stable base for the glass but once cooled becomes brittle, allowing the wire to be removed leaving behind the hole which defines the resulting object as a bead. :) I use heat, gravity, and a grap…  (read more)
29 Apr 2014 2 2 286
Glass bead in progress: The basic "footprint" of the bead has been set down; here I'm adding more glass to one of the stripes.
26 Apr 2014 2 2 302
By this point, all the glass has been added, and shaping has started; there's still a long way to go, smoothing out the last of those bumpy bits and refining the shape.
29 Apr 2014 1 3 273
Nearly done! Using a graphite paddle to shape the glass.