Secrets of
High Quality Lampwork Beads:

the birth of a bead

© by Laura Christensen Wells; all rights reserved

Most jewelry designers have spent countless hours in bead shops and online, searching for that perfect bead that makes our insides jump and say, WOW!

Here is the story of the "birth of a bead" to explain the artistic process behind making a glass bead - and a few of the important points a lampwork artist thinks about while making that perfect bead.

It's a chilly October morning and I am sitting in front of my unlit torch, warming my hands on my coffee mug. Hmmm, what will I make today?

I run my fingers across the many colored Moretti glass rods displayed like flower bouquets in front of my window. After careful thought, the clear blues and greens are at my side and I am ready.

I turn the knobs to start the torch and with a simple click of the igniter I am in creative land. Holding a steel rod (mandrel) that has been dipped in bead release (a mixture much like mud) in one hand, I slowly heat the glass rod in the other. The tip of the glass rod becomes fiery hot and balls up on the end, it is ready to wrap around the steel mandrel.

I hold the mandrel like a shish-kabob, constantly turning just above the blue tip of the flame. I am so excited because the possibilities at this point are endless!

I could roll the glowing glob of glass in enamel (glass fine as powder), frit (tiny chips of glass) or stringers (long thin pieces of glass). I could even squash it with a marver to create a flat pancake shape. Using dental tools I can poke, pull and stretch the glass to create whimsical accents. No matter what I choose to do, while striving to create the highest quality bead I will keep a few things in mind:

It is sometimes easy to pick the beginning lampworkers from those who have been doing it for a long time. Their finished beads appear a bit unbalanced or "wobbly".

As a beginner at the torch, one is still getting used the mechanics of sitting in front of the flame and therefore concentrates less on the shape of the bead. I know this from my own experience. I have a large drawer full of wobblies in my studio! Practice, practice is the only cure.

Absence of the mandrel is what creates the hole in the middle of the bead. A well crafted lampworked bead will have a clean and exact hole. When working at the flame the artist must make sure there is ample glass at each end of the bead to create a sturdy place for the hole to occur. If not, the ends around the hole may chip, which is a sign of a poorly made bead.

When molten glass touches a cold surface the marks left behind, which look like small ripples, are called "cold marks". An experienced lampwork artist will "heat polish" these marks away with the heat of the flame. This takes a delicate touch so that the rest of the bead does not get too hot and lose its shape.

The previous points are constant crafting skills that contribute to the perfect glass bead. Shape, color and texture are not constant, however. Fine tuning and varying the levels of these these elements creates the magic that turns a well crafted bead in to a WOW bead.

Like any fine piece of art there should be rhyme and reason for shape, color and texture. They must work together and support the overall design of the bead.

As I put the finishing touches to my new creation I study the brownish colors and try to imagine the finished piece in my mind. When heated by the flame most glass will turn a different color before it cools back down to room temperature. I place the little "shish-kabob" into the bead kiln and let it cool slowly, a process called annealing, so that it won't crack or break.

After the kiln has cooled to room temperature, it is time to remove the bead on the mandrel. I run cool water over the bead on the mandrel and let the "bead release" do its job. In the old days this mud-like substance was made from ash from a fire; nowadays we simply buy it online!

I gently twist the bead off and continue to slide the mandrel back and forth through the bead hole cleaning all the remaining bead release from the hole.

Voila! A bead is born.

Now comes the part I enjoy most of all. This little bead's journey is just beginning. Where will it end up? Will it go to New Haven, Connecticut; Plano, Texas; Anchorage, Alaska; or even Murumbeena, Australia like its fellow bijoux?

Just knowing that someone else enjoys this little creation is the most gratifying part of the craft, and with knowledge gained from my own experience and many others I am confident it is a high quality lampworked (and hopefully WOW) bead!

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