How Lampwork Jewelry Is Actually Made If you have ever taken a close look at the different types of beads in beaded jewelry, you might have discovered lamp work jewelry before. Lamp work refers to a very specific type of bead that's made of glass. Each bead is usually made by hand through a careful method of heating glass and winding it or applying it to a prepared mandrel. The final product will certainly be a beautifully designed glass bead that can sit under a gassy layer, or possibly be raised more to provide a bit more texture. Here's some insight as to how these beautiful beads are actually made. First of all, all the tools will need to be gathered. You need rods of glass to begin with. To help you develop the design, it can help to have rods of different thicknesses. You can start off with a thicker rod to get the base bead, after which use thinner rods that will help you create imaginative designs. You will want to assemble the colored glass rods that you will be working with, have a mandrel that's been dipped in bead release, and any tools that you would like to use to create textures (such as a pick). In addition, you may want to consider safety gear like gloves and eyewear. Don't forget your torch for heating up the glass! Once you are ready and you have your torch turned on, you can begin heating up one of your rods. The challenging part is figuring out how to turn your rod so that the glass won't drip off while in the bead-making process. The glass must be heated until you have formed a blob at the end, then you'll need to start heating up your coated mandrel. You'll have to keep both the mandrel and the glass rod slowly turning. You'll then, carefully and slowly wrap the heated glass around the mandrel until you have formed the bead. You can use the heat of your torch flame to disconnect the bead from the rest of the glass rod. To achieve the shape that you would like, continue spinning the bead in the flame. After the bead is initially made, you can then add little embellishments to it by repeating the process. You could heat up other rods of glass and apply the heated parts to your bead (make certain only to heat up as much glass as you intend on using, particularly when working with thin rods). You can add these little embellishments by using picks along with other tools to make designs or several textures on the bead. Make sure you keep your bead fairly warm, or you might have trouble adding to the design of your bead. After you have finished making your bead and are happy with its uniformity, you may want to anneal your beads overnight in a kiln. This will be relevant if you're planning on using the beads for items of jewelry or if you want to sell them at a later date. There's quite a bit of prep work that will go into each and every piece of lamp work jewelry, as you can see. It will require a lot of practice to master this whole process. You will be able to appreciate even more the effort and creativity that went into making it, the very next time you see this type of bead on an item of jewelry. Pacific Jewelry Designs is the place to obtain the perfect hand made lampwork necklace, as they possess a great selection that will appeal to any taste. Take a look at http://www.pacificjewelrydesigns.com/ to find out more info on Pacific Jewelry Designs.
Pacific Jewelry Designs
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How Lampwork Jewelry Is Actually Made
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Pacific Jewelry Designs
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