New Headpin Tool, New Ideas!

A couple of months ago I had an inspiration- a headpin tool that is easy to open and close, and that the wire could fit inside to solve the making a bead on a moving wire experience. I spoke to Craig Milliron at Arrow Springs- and voila! Just like magic he made the tool I was looking for!

It's so easy to use too. Just cut a length of wire (I like to use wire that is about 18 - 20 gauge for a nice sturdy headpin), make sure it's pretty straight, open up the jaws of the clip, push the wire down inside leaving it sticking out an inch or two so you're not overheating the tool, and get to work making your headpin. Since the wire is nice and stable, it is really easy to make anything you'd like on the end of the wire. I decided to try making some hearts and was very pleased.

When you're ready to put the headpin into your kiln, swish it through the flame, grab a bit of the wire between the tool and the glass with a pair of tweezers or a locking hemostat, open up the jaws and pull it out. Caution: the tab of the tool may be a bit hot, so give it a quick test before you press down. Craig put little thumb tab on the tool to keep it touchably warm- just in case you put it right into the flame.

There's a bit more info on how I make headpins here.

Here are some of the results. Need one? You can get it from Arrow Springs! They call it a broach clip.

A Lampwork Beadmaking Primer; Getting Started With Hot Glass

From time to time I've had folks ask how they can get started in lampworking, and I've decided it would be smart to just put it all in one place so others can get started on their glass beadmaking obsession. And we're off!

The very most important thing in learning to make glass beads is practice time. A good class at your local Art Center, Glass Shop, or from a beadmaker in your area is a great place to get the ball rolling.
You can join the International Society of Glass Beadmakers to learn about what's happening in your area, get their new magazine Glass Bead Evolution, join in the forum, and meet up with other beadmakers at The Gathering. The instructor listing might just be the perfect place to find that class.
Another excellent place to connect with people on every level in the glass beadmaking community is Lampwork, Etc. It  is chock full of lampworking info-free tutorials, tools for sale, galleries- LE has it all, and so much more! You'll get every opinion possible there.
A nice, inexpensive monthly magazine with some interesting tutorials and information on lots of different levels is The Soda Lime Times. It is now out of print, but back issues are available on her website and in her etsy shop.

You should definitely get a book or two. You can get many of these books through an inter-library loan if you want to take a look before you buy.
Making Glass Beads by Cyndi Jenkins is the book I learned from, and is still a great value for a beadmaking book. If you get a kit, it will likely come with 'you can make glass beads' by the same author- see if you can switch it out, or just take it off as it is just a pamphlet and the book has much more info for about the same price. 
Passing the Flame by Corinna Tettinger is well liked, but a bit pricey. It is nice because it has lots of step-by-step photos. Good thing to look for used.

The Complete Book of Glass Beadmaking by Kimberly Adams is also a good book for learning the basics. 

Beads of Glass by Cindy Jenkins has bead maker bios and step by step instructions to some specific bead styles with some different & interesting techniques.

As far as tools and materials and starter kits- there are a lot of choices. Here are a few I've tried out:
Frantz Art Glass in Washington has a great selection of Moretti glass. They are very helpful and price competitive.
Artistry in Glass in Canada has a wonderful selection of a lot of different brands ( the best overall selection, I think) and decent prices. Check with them for shipping details.
Arrow Springs has a great selection of tools.
Howaco Glass in Michigan is a nice place to get glass because you can order just one rod of something and test it out. Also price competitive.
There are so many suppliers you can use- some of the others that I have not tried are Mountain Glass and  Moretti & More.
Getting proper eye wear is extremely important. All of the vendors I have spoken to over the years have been very helpful, and should be happy to help you make sure you are getting what you need. Most places sell glasses with didydium or Ace lenses, but something else may be recommended if you are using a minor burner or larger torch.

In my opinion, when you are just learning, you don't have to have a kiln immediately. When you have practiced for a while and are thinking about selling, it becomes more important. There are other cooling methods you can use in the beginning like a fiber blanket, vermiculite in a warm crock pot, or annealing bubbles. You need to learn to 'flame anneal' your beads if you are going to go without a kiln, which is just slowly backing them out of the flame until the glow is gone; something you should do anyway (but a kiln makes it less important). The beads can be 'batch annealed' in a kiln later if there is a shop that you can take them to for that.

If the beads are just learning beads and just for you, you can take a bit more of a chance with them. When your beads get larger, or if you want to add things like dichro or silver, you will lose a fairly large percentage of them to breakage without a kiln. The 'inclusions' are the thing that cause the most trouble as they cause the bead to cool differently. My theory is that they insulate the interior while the exterior cools more quickly. I know some people would disagree with me about the whole kiln issue. Now that I have a kiln, I don't know how I lived without it- but I did for quite a while. I dislike batch annealing because I think it can cause problems if done incorrectly, so I pop everything into the kiln as I go now.

Here is a list of the things I think every new lampworker needs to get started on this wonderful journey- kind of a make-your-own kit.
1)  A torch (I'm not gonna tell you what kind- you'll have to research that yourself) and everything that goes with it to get it set up, including a table to attach it to and a way to attach it to your table.
2)  Proper eyewear- see above.
3)  Mandrels- I recommend medium size- 3/32 inch- to start with.
4)  Bead release (sludge)- you can read some of my opinions about that here
5)   A way to cool your beads- kiln, vermiculite or annealing bubbles- see above.
6)  Glass- make sure you have learned about coe and that everything you get is compatible and will work with the torch you've selected.
7)  A good book about glass beadmaking- see above.
8)  Some tools! I recommend a hand held marver, tweezers, scissors (shears), a rake or pick of some kind, a striker to light your torch.
9)  A bead reamer- you can use a manual diamond reamer or an electric reaming tool.
10)  Other good stuff you might just want- a marver that attaches to your torch, a rod rest, a flat or barbeque masher, and any other tools or supplies that just look like too much fun!

So what are you waiting for????

 

Using the Osibin Lentil Shaper

Sometimes I feel like I'm just bloggin' in the wind, but I get these ideas and figure I might just as well write them here as anywhere else!

Recently, when meeting with some other beadmakers, I brought along my Osibin lentil shaper. When one of the gals said- you use one of those? Can you show me how? My confident answer was "Sure!" And then I proceeded to show that I had no clue HOW I used it- but use it I do. There are some of us in the lampworking world who don't use any of the cool lentil presses that exist. It is partly a $$ thing, and partly just a bit of stubborn- ness. But it is also, I think, a bit more time consuming and difficult to get a standard size and shape bead without a press.

So here's how I use this tool.

First of all, you can see I've made a slight modification. I used my trusty diamond reamer to make a wee slot for my mandrel. Without it I couldn't seem to get the bead deeply enough in the shaper to make a nice flat lentil. If you choose to do this, be very careful to center the slot on the lentil shape. So far, I have only modified the smaller two depressions.

Now to start the bead. With this shaper, as with all lentil shaping tools, you need to measure your starter bead-you want to make your base bead a little shorter than the press as it will lengthen slightly as you work on it. I'd say about 1/8 inch shorter over all. You don't have to make the bead large enough to go across the entire length of the shaper if you don't want to. And if you end up getting a little too large you can just move up to the next size. That's one advantage of this tool- you've got four different sizes to choose from. I started with a small black tube that I've rolled in silver foil. I started out pretty small as I didn't want to outgrow the shaper.

I added some more clear glass to encase the silver and rolled it in a bit of raku frit.

Now it's time to think about the shape you need to get a nice even press. Make your bead into a bicone, and then roll the center into a barrel shape- so you've got a kind of fat barrel with ends that taper towards the mandrel (see picture). Make sure the bead is nice and cylindrical. If it's at all wonky, you'll have a difficult time getting a nice lentil shape. Either keep that basic shape, or else let it kind of melt into an oval. If you are trying to make a pair of beads, remember which shape you ended up with, because you will be making that same shape again .

And now it's time to press. Get your bead nice and hot all over- orangey hot, not white hot. You may have to try this a few times before you get the hang of it. Pause before pressing, but only for a couple of seconds, then put into the shaper and press down, rocking the bead slightly from side to side to make the edges a little thinner. Quickly turn it over and press again. You do not necessarily want to press straight down- watch what's happening- you may need to push a little more on one side, or actually kind of slide the bead across the shaper a little to get it nice and evenly shaped. I like being able to actually see what the bead is doing and tweak the shape as I go. You may need to reheat and shape a little bit again.

According to the information on the Arrow Springs website, you'll press one side, reheat, and then press the other side, but with these beads, I went directly from one side to the other. Another thing they mention is that each of the four diameters has a different curve to it, making many different types of shape possible. I didn't know that!

I didn't use any other tool to shape these beads, and look how close they are to each other in size and shape- I used them for a pair of earrings and part of a necklace.