Drawing the Line~ Glass Stringer Control for Beginners

Well, I recently purchased a pair of amazing glass beads with musical notes on a staff from Heather Behrendt. The stringer work on them was so precise and tiny I could hardly believe my eyes. Needless to say, I started thinking that it was maybe just slightly possible that I could begin to learn to draw a few lines on some beads. I know the theory, of course~ pull very fine stringer, find sweet spot in flame, apply to bead. Sounds easy, yes?  Oh! I forgot something~ p,p,p (practice, practice, practice, in case you had something else in mind).

I tried a wee bit of this out yesterday, and here are a few conclusions, ideas and points of interest. Firstly, if you are just scribbling stringer randomly around a bead, you can heat up a pea-sized bit of glass on the end of a rod to a nice red glow, pull it out of the flame, attach it to the bead and run it quickly around the bead by either turning the bead around or moving the blob about. This is what I call a 'glass blowers style' application as was used in this bead. Not a teeny tiny line, but quite easy to do, and no need to pull stringer in advance as you are using a blob of glass instead of a thin bit.


But anyone can do that, right? Time to move on to something a bit more difficult. The next bead was made using a commercial thin stringer. Thinner than a regular commercial stringer, but still not really thin, so the lines still ended up thick-ish. I tried out a couple of parallel lines and then a couple intersecting lines. Here's where the sweet spot in the flame came into play. I have often heard that you can work to the side of the flame, using the heat of the bead to heat the stringer. Seems I was working more in front of the flame. I don't think it really matters, as long as the bead is hot enough to make the stringer stick. The stringer should be applied by pushing it onto the bead, not just laying it down onto the bead, or it will not adhere properly. If that happens, it will pull off of the bead and ball up, giving you dots instead of lines. In this case, I added some dots at the intersections of the lines to help hide any blobby bits there.

Now on to the harder stuff! For this bead, the first step was pulling some thin stringer. I have not gotten to the hair-thin phase, but it's pretty thin! I decided to try some colors other than black just for fun. The main tip here is- PAY ATTENTION! Hold the stringer near the end so it doesn't wobble while you apply it, but be sure there is enough sticking out to make the entire swipe onto the bead at once. Be sure the tip of your stinger is not blobbly (cut it off if it is), heat the bead, put it in position out of the flame, but still close (your sweet spot) and apply the stringer by pushing it onto the bead. Wow, do I have shaky hands! You can see I used a lot of dots here and there to hide ends and wobbly bits. I had to figure out how to make that a design element! Oh, but now I've given it away... I do like the look of the different stringer colors~ helps with the retro look! And you can see that is is very different on each side. Why the heck not?!

I will have to let you know if the p,p,p works out, or if I just end up peeved, peeved, peeved!

Form Follows Function

Looking around on facebook, I saw a wonderful thread with many lampworking tips and it got me thinking about one little lampworking detail that I think about a lot which is the first step in many bead style decisions, and that is- 'how will this bead hang?' I make a LOT of fish, so that's where I'll start.

If the fish has a vertical hole (as most of mine do), the front and back end need to be fairly well balanced. That means the front end of the basic body will be a little bit longer than the back end. Why? Because the back will have the fins and the tail added which, though thin, will add some weight. The side fins do not extend much past the hole, adding a little more weight to the front. Hopefully in the end it will all work out! One more thing; ever since my wind disaster, I have made my fish with the side fins against the body rather than sticking out to the sides. Much less fragile!

A horizontal hole on a fish is a bit more difficult for me. The bottom of the fish needs to be heavier than the top, so I mash it a bit unevenly and then try to extend the bottom a little more. Sometimes later in the process, when it's time to add the eyes, I can't remember or really see which is the top and which is the bottom. Today, I added a wee dot of clear at the top where I was planning to put the eyes. Problem solved~ now I wouldn't get mixed up later, and the clear does not mess with the design; I can just melt it and cover it up later. (thanks to Elizabeth Dauch for this tip)

Another new design change for those horizontal fish has made them work out so much better in my mind. No more worries about the tail being too fragile- it is now just another part of the bead.

One more thing- you might call this a pet peeve, I suppose. Both sides of any bead I make have a design on them. Why? Because they can flip over or be put on backwards and I feel they should still be nice to look at. Any time I put up a bead for sale anywhere online, I show both sides, and maybe even a side view.

There you have it~ one little step in the design of the bead that can be quite important. Or so I believe...

What's in a Name?

Just a short little bit of something- how about naming all those lampwork glass beads I make? Well, I don't normally name individual beads unless something just hits me. I figure the person who wants to wear the wee talisman will want to name it her (or sometimes his) self. But I can name a series or style of bead so- here goes.

A 'portal' pendant has a hole through the center. It could be a door to new ideas, or a new chapter in your life. I test marketed the name with my all knowing daughter who liked it because there are usually swirly twirly bits about, giving it that mystical feel. Sometimes these also have a bit of a wing along one side.

A 'mandala' bead has eight points- for the four directions and then one bump between those. I often find 'The Circle Game' by Joni Mitchell going through my head when I make these! If I make one of these beads with 7 or 9 points, they become 'kaleidoscope' beads. Sometimes they end up star shaped as well- when I just don't feel like waiting for everything to melt in!

'Glitterati' fish have a shiny center and shiny bits of green aventurine on the outside- for folks who just have to have a bit of bling !

"Cephalopod-esque' beads have a bit of a tentacle. They are not really meant to be any kind of animal, but are such fun for me to make, I just can't resist!

'Chrysalis' beads are stylized beads based on cocoons or chrysalides. Folks seem to like the rebirth and moving to a new phase in life implications in these. They are interesting to make~ often I feel hard to get quite 'right.' I don't make them very often these days.

The Technology of a Glass Button

Well, every time I start on a new or revisited project, there is something new to learn. Glass buttons have been an elusive thing for me. I've tried many times over the years, and always given up, normally in pretty short order. But this time, I feel like I've gotten a much better feel for the whole button-making process. There are two very difficult things about making glass buttons- getting the glass smoothly in the tiny space between the two mandrels, and making them round, or at least somewhat regular.

Because of the way the mandrel is made and turns and all of that, the natural shape for a two hole button is rather oval. In the past, I've tried to make them semi-round. But I have recently realized that that is not necessarily necessary! So my new buttons are sometimes oval, and sometimes not so much. I keep them in my etsy shop, alongside my glass whorls and other spinning supplies

Ah, decorative buttons are a thing! Who knew? Well, probably lots of folks, but buttons are not always functional. So, if a button is oddly shaped, it can simply be sewn onto a lovely fiber design as kind of an alternate form of jewelry.

The backs of buttons- well I was kind of going for flat. But guess what? Many buttons are actually curved on the back side as well as the front. Why? Well, I think it's because you have to be able to button them. If they are too flat on the fabric, it could be a no go!

And then someone mentioned weight. If the button is too heavy, it will pull things in some random undesirable direction. Hmmm... I wonder how heavy is too heavy?

And did you know that buttons have their very own measuring system? They are measured in lignes, with 40 lignes equal to 1 inch. The American National Button Society divides its buttons into 'small', 'medium' and 'large' sizes. But how many lignes is a large button? I will have to leave that to the experts!

Ready to learn more about the ins and outs of button history and technology? You can always find fun info on Wikipedia . There's also the Keep Homestead Museum in Massachusetts, which has a button collection and this treatise on buttons by Charles Dickens. Amazing!