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????

 

Clean, clear glass for your lampwork glass beads

Sometimes things just seem to come together- like when I was listening to Abbey Road while doing my high school English assignment and realized that the Beatles had used an old English poem in one of their songs (Golden Slumbers). Got my class out of a whole day of work when I brought it along to school! Woo-hoo!

The same thing happened when I saw this information about making your clear glass really clear posted on facebook by Patty Frantz: http://frantznewsletter.com/?p=2914&preview=true

Now normally, this would just go to the back of my brain, because I am not likely to want to have any sodium bisulfate lying around. But then I mentioned it in passing to the man I live with, and he thought I was talking about dill pickles. And THAT reminded me about a library book I had been looking through that mentioned a homemade metal pickling compound made with vinegar.

So I went in search of that info on the internet and ended up here:
http://idreamicanflyaway.blogspot.com/2009/01/to-pickle-or-not-to-pickle.html
Please read through this for much more specific info about the pickling solution.

Now I had all the information I needed. Would it be possible to make my own pickling solution, use it on my glass per Patty's instructions, and end up with a beautiful clear glass? I think the answer is 'yes!' I tried it out and am very happy with the results. Please do read Patty's information- you use this the same way she suggested in her article, but this is a non-toxic solution.

First- about your safety- you are responsible for that. I am not saying any of this is safe or recommended by the AMA or the fire department!

Here's what I did-

1) Used recipe from 'I dream I can fly away'- 1 cup vinegar to 1 Tbl. salt- heated in a non-reactive (ceramic-lined cast iron a la le creuset) pot to the steaming point, stirred until the salt dissolves. I wouldn't boil this stuff.

2) Let solution cool to about 140 degrees. I put the clear and transparent rods into a 15x9 pyrex pan and poured the solution over them. Don't pour it over when it's too hot, or the rods may crack. The clear I am using for this is Moretti #006. All the transparent colors are also Moretti.

3) Put that into an oven that is set to about 150 degrees. I left the door open so it wouldn't get too hot for about 15-20 minutes.

4) Took the rods out and rinsed in tepid water to remove the salt. Handle the rods carefully or use gloves so that the rods don't get oils from your hands on them.

5) Stood the rods upright to dry on a couple of paper towels.

That's it. When the rods were dry, since I didn't have gloves, I picked them up using a plastic grocery bag, bundled them according to color using twist ties, and put them into plastic bags to try and keep all the dust from my house from getting on them. That is the next challenge- how to keep the rods clean!

You can keep this stuff in a non-reactive container and reuse it. Though I haven't tried it, it seems you can also 'refresh' it by adding extra vinegar. And when you do dispose of it, it should be neutralized with baking soda.

Yes, you still need to clean with 91% alcohol to get all those nasty fingerprints off, and you may still need to pull a bit of smutz off the tip from time to time. But this is definitely worth the time it takes- which is not much. Now I can encase without fear- if I could just do it without smear!

Here are couple of the beads made with my newly cleaned clear. I normally don't even bother with this type of bead because of the smutz factor. With that problem out of the way, maybe I'll finally get down to the business of learning to encase properly!

A very special thank you to Patty Frantz and to Jo Hollingsworth- you two rock! And thanks to Larry Scott, who told Patty about this to begin with.

Neapolitan Man and the new Vetro colors from Frantz

I'd like you to meet 'Neapolitan Man'.
He's made with the six new Vetrofond colors that I just received as a sample from Frantz Art Glass- pale pesto, biscotti, cream, verde, purple and mauve. The only other things I used were some Moretti clear and intense black. Oh- and I forgot, a little bi ant of raku frit, which reacted nicely with the purple.

Sometimes I see a bunch of rods together and it says-

'look how well we go together- why don't you make something out of just us?

No other colors allowed!'

And thus Neapolitan man was born. Just seeing the words pesto, biscotti and cream made me hungry! So naturally, he had to be named for some kind of Italian food too!