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This is me working in my studio, glass and tools all around. I like to
work with music on.. I use an oxygen and propane minor burner torch. I
always wear safety glasses to protect my eyes from any bits of glass
and also the sodium flare from the glass that can cause cataracts.
These didium glasses also filter out the sodium flare so you can see
your work better.
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Here I am melting the
glass in the torch flame in one hand and holding the stainless steel
bead mandril in the other. The glass will be melted on the mandril over
a ceramic bead release that will allow the bead to be removed once it
had cooled.
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These are my glass
holders. The glass comes from Italy and is called efrette then
distributed through the United States. I purchase the glass in rods the
diameter of a pencil then custom make my stringers which allow me to
create my designs in fine detail. Stringers are about the diamter of #2
pencil lead.
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Creating a bead requires
rather simple tools. My favorites are a butter knife and a steel
cuticle pusher. I also use some graphite tools like the rectangler
black paddle (lower middle bench near elbow), a graphite drafting
pencil and a graphite quilters marker. Graphite does not stick to the
hot glass which makes it a good tool. The white enamel bucket has water
in it for quenching steel tools that get too hot and stick to the glass.
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Beads are made by
layering melted glass and adding lines and dots for design. This bead
is going to be purple with five petaled turquoise flowers.
It took me three years to have the control to make flowers with five
petals. I kept the wreck of a bead that was my first attempt.
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Here I am forming the
bead from round to barrell shape so that I can add the flowers. It
looks red but it is really purple because it has to be red hot to
manipulate the glass.
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Here is a close up of the
bead as it is red hot. As it cools you can start to see the flowers.
You can also see the graphite paddle shaping tool. The ring of beads at
the lower left are stones that I refer to for colors and patterns. My
ugly can is full of beebees that I use to stand my beading mandrils so
that the bead release can dry on the other end.
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Here is bead in position
without the flame so that you can see what it looks like.
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This is a diamond shaped
purple bead. The sparkles are from dichroic glass which is glass
with atomized metals fused to the surface. It gives beads a lot of
flash and sparkle. The grey area is the bead release that breaks off
when you twist the bead from the mandril.
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This is my fiber blanket.
It allows small beads to cool slowly enough that they will not break. I
use it when I do demonstrations away from my studio. Afterwards I
anneal my demonstration beads in my kiln for durability.
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Here is my kiln from
Arrowsprings. It is a great bead annealer and works for fusing as well.
On cold morning it keeps my coffee warm.
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A variety of beads strung
on a stainless steel mandril.
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