I need some blue glass beads about .5" across, and I can’t find what
I want. I can, however, find sheets of blue glass, exactly the right
color. They’re sold for making leaded windows.
I have all the usual equipment in my studio, including an enameling
kiln and I know I may be able to make the beads from this glass. I
know that I lack the knowledge to do this successfully. I also know
that one of you will be able to point me in the right direction.
Tony you asked about making glass beads. A great book is “Making
Glass Beads” by Cindy Jenkins. It is best to use the proper
equipment which would include the purchase of a special torch but
it’s worth it considering the fun you’ll have. A lot of people end
up specializing in lampworked beads after trying it. Good luck Marta
I have all the usual equipment in my studio, including an
enameling kiln and I know I may be able to make the beads from this
glass. I know that I lack the knowledge to do this successfully. I
also know that one of you will be able to point me in the right
direction.
Tony, in the last couple years the Lapidary Journal has published
several articles on making glass beads. I have seen it done but
never tried it myself. One thing though, they all seem to use glass
rods rather than sheet glass. The process goes something like this.
You take a mandrel which is a wire with a wooden handle (I don’t
know which metal though but I think it is copper". You then melt the
tip of the glass rod and using a twisting motion of the mandrel,
transfer some glass from the rod to the mandrel. then still twisting
heat the transferred glass to allow it to from a uniform bead. They
sometimes add second colors and patterns to the beads by using other
colored glass rods. This is a rather simple description as the
process looks so simple. I am sure that there is a lot of tricks and
techniques that you will need to learn though
equipment wise for beadmaking you’ll also need steel mandrels, bead
separator, and something to rest the mandrels on when they’re in your
kiln, so the beads don’t touch the kiln. you’ll probably also want a
scorer for cutting uniform strips of the glass. i’ve made beads from
stained glass scraps that my friends who make stained glass save for
me. if you have a Little Torch, for beads that size you can use a
rosebud tip made specifically for that torch to get a large enough
flame. you’ll probably also want to see how the glass reacts to
different flame sizes in order to get the color you want. sometimes
that particular glass changes color completely or gets little bubbles
across it. if it’s clear glass, not much is going to change except
that if you’re using propane the flame can leave a pink streak on the
glass.
for glass techniques i recommend Making Glass Beads by Cindy Jenkins.
she also gives a list of tools you might need that i haven’t thought
of.
for tools the best sight is arrowsprings.com - they give tips and
tricks, etc.
if you haven’t already, you might also try shipwreck-beads.com. they
may have what you’re looking for.
kate wilkinson wrote a couple of articles in the lapidary journal’s
jewelry journal section about baking lampworked beads from stained
glass scraps. i don’t remember when it was, but it was after 1996.
she also has a video out about how to do it. i think that it
involved using a glass rod (not compatible with the stained glass) as
a punty to pick up pieces of the stained glass. after the lampworked
bead as made, the punty was removed using the incompatibility of the
glass. i’m not sure where i have seen the video advertised, but i do
have an address and email address for her company.