It Will Need Practice To Create Lampwork Beads You may have come across lamp work jewelry before, if you've ever taken a good look at the different kinds of beads in beaded jewelry. Lamp work describes 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 end outcome is a glass bead with beautiful designs that may sit under a glassy layer, or perhaps be raised so as to provide the bead texture. Here's the method as to how these stunning beads are really made. First, the tools need to be gathered. You need rods of glass to start with. To help you create the design, it will help to have rods of different thicknesses. You could start off with a thicker rod to get the base bead, and then use thinner rods to help you create imaginative designs. You will want to assemble the colored glass rods that you will be working with, have a mandrel that has been dipped in bead release, and any tools that you want to use to create textures (like a pick). Safety gear, like gloves and eyewear may also be needed. Do not forget your torch for heating up the glass! Once you are ready and you have your torch turned on, you can start heating up one of your rods. The tricky part here is learning how to turn your rod so that the glass doesn't drip off in the beadmaking process. The glass should be heated until it forms a sort of blob on the end, at which point you then start heating up your coated mandrel. You'll have to keep both the mandrel and the glass rod slowly turning. Then you could slowly and carefully wrap the heated glass around the mandrel to form your 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 want, continue spinning the bead in the flame. After the bead is initially made, then you can add little embellishments to it by repeating the process. You will be able to heat up a few other rods of glass and place the heated parts to your beads, just make sure you only heat up the glass you're planning on using, especially when you're using the thinner rods. As you add these little embellishments, you can add to them by using picks or other tools to create designs or other textures on the bead. Make sure you keep your bead fairly warm, or you might have trouble adding to the design of your bead. You might want to anneal your beads overnight in a kiln, after you've finished making your bead and are happy with its look. This is important if you are planning on using the beads for items of jewelry or if you want to sell them at a later date. There is quite a bit of prep work that will go into each and every piece of lamp work jewelry, as you can see. It's going to take 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 kind of bead on a piece of jewelry. To obtain lampwork earrings that are handmade and equipped to give as a gift, check out Pacific Jewelry Designs. Go to www.pacificjewelrydesigns.com for much more information about Pacific Jewelry Designs.
Pacific Jewelry Designs
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It Will Need Practice To Create Lampwork Beads
Document Tags: lampwork bracelet, lampwork necklace, lampwork earrings, lampwork jewelry http://www.pacificjewelrydesigns.com/
Pacific Jewelry Designs
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