How I make my handmade lampwork glass beads.
Click the button to watch a short You Tube video of a lampworking demonstration at the August 2013 Tidewater Turner meeting in Norfolk, VA. (Video by Paul Chin Jr.)
Lampworking
History
Lampworking is a term for the traditional technique of heating and manipulating glass in a small flame from a candle or an oil lamp. You can even melt or bend thin stringers of glass in a tea light flame. Flameworking dates back to ancient Syrian times before 1500 BC and continues with the Egyptians and Romans making significant technical advances. The term lampworking became applicable in the seventeenth century as artisans melted their glass with oil and paraffin lamps. Many techniques were kept secret by the Italian lampworkers working on the island of Murano.
In the 1970’s American glass artists began sharing their bead making experiments and by 1993 formed the International Society of Glass Beadmakers (ISGB). Now many local and regional chapters of the ISGB share information in publications, classes, meetings and conferences.
Throughout history people prized glass beads as treasure, used beads to create stunning jewelry and cherished beads and miniature art glass sculptures.
Lampworking is a term for the traditional technique of heating and manipulating glass in a small flame from a candle or an oil lamp. You can even melt or bend thin stringers of glass in a tea light flame. Flameworking dates back to ancient Syrian times before 1500 BC and continues with the Egyptians and Romans making significant technical advances. The term lampworking became applicable in the seventeenth century as artisans melted their glass with oil and paraffin lamps. Many techniques were kept secret by the Italian lampworkers working on the island of Murano.
In the 1970’s American glass artists began sharing their bead making experiments and by 1993 formed the International Society of Glass Beadmakers (ISGB). Now many local and regional chapters of the ISGB share information in publications, classes, meetings and conferences.
Throughout history people prized glass beads as treasure, used beads to create stunning jewelry and cherished beads and miniature art glass sculptures.
The
glass beadmaking process
Using a small beadmaking torch, I melt Italian glass rods of various colors onto a stainless steel welding rod (the rod forms the hole in the bead). I build up many layers of glass often adding fine silver foil, enamels, or other inclusions. I shape and decorate each bead using heat, gravity, and tools – no machines involved. The bead anneals (or slowly cools) overnight in a small kiln. I dissolve the clay coating that prevented the glass from permanently adhering to the metal rod, remove the bead, and clean the hole. I examine each bead and use the color, patterns or techniques to spark my creativity for the next bead in that series or to initiate a new direction.
Using a small beadmaking torch, I melt Italian glass rods of various colors onto a stainless steel welding rod (the rod forms the hole in the bead). I build up many layers of glass often adding fine silver foil, enamels, or other inclusions. I shape and decorate each bead using heat, gravity, and tools – no machines involved. The bead anneals (or slowly cools) overnight in a small kiln. I dissolve the clay coating that prevented the glass from permanently adhering to the metal rod, remove the bead, and clean the hole. I examine each bead and use the color, patterns or techniques to spark my creativity for the next bead in that series or to initiate a new direction.
I start with Italian glass rods of 104 COE soft glass.
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Melt the glass rods in the torch flame onto a stainless steel TIG rod covered with bead release.
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Shape and decorate the bead in the torch flame, then put the bead in a small lampworking kiln overnight to slowly cool.
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After removing the bead from the kiln, I soak it in water to loosen the bead release, pull the bead off the TIG rod, and clean the bead release from the hole with a dremel tool. The final bead is ready to use and appreciate.
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