Lampwork Glass Curved Bead Tutorial- Making Curved Glass Beads

Well, I finally did it! After many requests and loads of questions from folks, I have written down everything I know about curving glass tube beads my way, which is in the kiln! If you look at the etsy listing for the booklet, you will see that there are a lot of disclaimers. Why? Because it will take some work for each person to get it right. This is not a tut in the traditional sense, but rather instructions, suggestions, a lot of information on what might go wrong and why and happy photos of some of the beads I have made using this method. It's written in more of a workshop style, with loads of information. I've really tried to include everything I've learned as I've explored this method over the years. Tester questions are answered and details I've explored are explained. I am happy to answer questions and lend support where needed.


Is it easy? Well, yes and no. Making the bead is fairly simple, and I have provided two short photo tuts to help with that bit. Curving them after they're made is a bit of a nail biter because issues can arise. This method of curving in a kiln came about through the help of a glass fusing friend of mine. It took a lot of fooling around and changes before I got a method I was really satisfied with.



Here's a little bit of feedback I've gotten on it~
'I just glanced through your tutorial and it’s really exciting. I made some assumptions about how you make your beads and not one of them were correct.'
' It's designed to encourage experimentation, and shows you a way to create these distinctive, curved beads without any special equipment. The entire process is very clearly expressed and even includes a nice introduction to making long tube beads in addition to the info on curving them. It's really like being in the workshop with Laurie and watching her process and learning from her years of experience. No, it's not a plug-and-play, effortless, "copy this and you'll get that" kind of tutorial. To me, it's much better, because it shows you a whole way of looking at your work methods.'

I have tried some other methods and read up on others. I've had more success with this method than with the 'Tom & Sage' method (which is pretty cool) or using a curved mandrel. The curved mandrel has a few problems in my book- first it is not really all that curved, secondly it is darn hard to get the beads off, and thirdly it is simply difficult to build a bead on a mandrel that is not straight! There is also a method where the bead is built on something flexible and curved while it's hot. Sounds interesting though I have not tried it ~ it sounds a bit scary and I don't like the texture left inside by the flexible rope!

Here's the etsy listing link:
Glass Bead Workshop~ an exploration of curving tube beads in your kiln

Me on the radio! Lampwork Glass Beads on Marketplace Weekend...

Woohoo. This is a first for me- I was interviewed for the radio show Marketplace Weekend. It's just a small piece of the whole show about 'profiting on passion'. OK, so I sound a little silly. But still~ it's me on a national radio show! They said it couldn't be done.... You can listen here~

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/your-money/your-wallet-profiting-passion

This photo has absolutely nothing to do with the show~ but bending beads is my current obsession!

Bead bending success!!!

Those of you who pay attention to my meanderings may know that I have had a bee in my bonnet about bending beads for about a year. Though I was shown a method by what I'll refer to as the Holland clan (Tom, Sage and Beau) several years ago, I found it to be too hard and unreliable for me. That involved reheating the annealed, cleaned bead and bending it over the flame. Then I tried heating the beads to about 1250-1300 degrees in the kiln, taking them partway out and bending them- what a mess! I lost about 30%, got about 30% that were bent in a way I didn't like, and got a few that were good. Too much work for small results. A friend then loaned me a curved mandrel. I found that it was too shallow a curve, and it was hard to get my glass on evenly too. So my search continued to the lampworketc. forums. That was informative- people are trying all kinds of different things, but I still wasn't seeing anything that seemed easy and was curved enough to make a difference.

But THEN... well, I have to thank my glass fusing friend Judd. I've kept talking to him about this problem off and on for the past year, and finally the bee entered his bonnet and he decided it was time to solve my little problem for me. He made me a bead bender! Well, he actually made me three, but I already have a favorite- the one that has bead bender III engraved on the side. (Yes he even engraved these babies). I'm not gonna show you a picture of the actual bender as it's his own secret recipe and my secret weapon for the moment. But I will show you the amazing results.
And it's SO easy to use, even for me with my kiln that doesn't have a controller. You just slam those annealed, cleaned beads on this beauty, bring 'em up to slumping temp, crash cool and re-anneal. Yes, you do have to be careful not to leave them at slumping temp for too long or they will flatten. My second batch distorted a little on the ends as I left them there a little too long- it really takes just a minute or two. I'll be running more experiments in the near future, and then, hopefully, putting some of them in my etsy shop for sale. The next bead bender Judd makes will have a few modifications, and will have a just little bit more of a curve to it.

Judd Mann is a glass fuser who makes marvelous platters and pendants; he also makes some amazing stained glass. Meet him at the River Market Farmer's Market in Little Rock, or look at a few things here: http://juddmann.com/bowls.html