Petal Progression: Glass Tabs and Lentils

When I say the words ‘floral beads’, what do you picture?

My guess is that you’re thinking of encased, plunged flower beads, or those pink cased stringer roses. Or maybe beads with raised blooms, pretty watercolour effect petals or even sculpted flower beads perhaps?

All of those floral beads are fabulous and I love them but for the past few months I’ve been trying to come up with different ways of decorating beads with flowers. I wanted to make floral beads that weren’t donut-shaped or round. I wanted them to be relatively flat and to incorporate a bold flower design.

In February I came up with these lentils featuring an hibiscus design.
Although I was pleased with them I felt the design could be more delicate. Also, the way the I created the pattern meant that I was limited to using just two colours of opaque glass. I’m sure that I will revisit this hibiscus design at some point and I’ll do a spot of fine-tuning to it.

A few weeks back I saw a fabric design that was bright red and covered in white outlines of flowers. I immediately knew that I just had to try and make a bead similar. I did a few doodles and came to the conclusion that the only way to get the effect I wanted was to literally ‘draw’ the flower outline onto the bead with stringer. Up until then all petals and flowers that I’d placed inside and on top of beads were done in an arrange-the-dots sort of fashion.

So I pulled some very fine stringer and set about drawing white flowers onto bright red lentils. It took me quite a few to get the geometry and positioning just so but when it comes to beads and fine stringer I have endless patience and will not be beaten!

I made more flowery lentil beads in several different colours but again, although I was pleased with the overall effect I felt that I could maybe take the design one step further. And that’s exactly what I did when I made these tabs last week.

The basic flower is the same as the one on the red lentils but this time I’ve added some stamens and I’ve given each flower a slightly raised centre. I’m really happy with the way they’ve turned out. I’ve moved the design along but I feel that there is still some mileage in it. I have some ideas that I’m going to try out in an attempt to take this flower drawing project another step further.

I’ll keep you posted . . . . .

Laura Sparling is a full-time beadmaker in Southampton, UK. She sells her beads through her website www.beadsbylaura.co.uk.

My Lampwork Addiction - Why it Persists

I think it’s safe to say that lampworking in not a terribly common hobby, so connecting with other people who share this interest is not necessarily easy.

When I started lampworking five years ago I quickly found the online community to be a great source of information, camaraderie and support. I’ve occasionally noticed lampwork forum posts by people I perceive as “long time beadmakers” where they state they haven’t made beads in weeks, or months, or even, years. This really surprised me, because since I started lampworking I have taken very few breaks.

I had to take a break the first year, because my fireworks torch quit working so I had to wait until my new hothead arrived. Then of course there were a few vacations scattered here and there, and of course you can’t make beads when you are away from the studio.

I don’t make beads every day, but for the last 5 years I have fired up my torch every couple of days, or at very least, weekly. How many of my other hobbies have engaged my attention for so long? I’ve been doing stained glass since my college days, I’ve sewed since I was kid, and done various types of needle work.

I’ve enjoyed all these activities, and continue to do all of them from time to time, but I’ve not done any of them as consistently for as many years as I’ve been doing lampworking.

So what is it about lampworking that has kept my interest for so long? One thing I think is the near instant gratification. I really love to do stained glass, but depending on the size and complexity of the project, it can take hours to days to weeks to complete a piece. The same is true for many sewing and needlework projects (especially knitting, I’m such a slow knitter). But a bead is completed in one session, taking anywhere between a few minutes to over an hour. After the annealing session in the kiln (usually at night while I sleep) I have a completed little jewel.

A second thing that keeps my interest in lampwork so fresh is its unpredictability. With my other hobbies after making a plan or a pattern careful execution can usually yield a consistent result. If you do make a mistake they can often be undone and redone.

I don’t find that to be the case at all with lampworking. Mistakes are not easily undone, molten glass can be a difficult to control shape shifter. Getting the right combination of heat and flame chemistry to get consistent results from reactive glass and metals is also challenging.

A third thing that keeps bead making so fresh and challenging is the extensive palate of available colors and types of glass. Couple that with seemingly never ending choices of shapes, styles and techniques, lampwork beadmaking should be able to supply a lifetime of challenges. No wonder beadmaking has so easily captured and held my attention!

Linda beads and blogs from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah!

Dissecting A Beautiful Design

Fabric, fabric, fabric… I love fabric! One of the wonderful things I have found through the world of blogs is fascinating, fun, functional fabrics and designers that aren’t your average super store finds.

One of my favorite finds has been Free Spirit Fabrics. I was in a local, specialty fabric shop last week, they had just gotten a shipment of new spring designs! I was instantly lusting after the fabric above. The friend I was with teased me, as I was holding the bolt and literally petting/cooing over the soft cotton.

I ended up petting the 3 yards I purchased all the way home! LOL! And as I drove, my beady inclined brain started to envision glass beads based on the designs I saw floating in the fabric. I just love the fluidity of the design and the unexpected blend of the colors.

I decided to draw out the ideas that were forming in my head. I thought that to understand where to start, I would try to recreate the part of the pattern I found the most interesting. There is a process to building up the layers of a glass bead that is very, very different from drawing. If only you could go in and add details the way you can with a pencil.

It is ironic… one of the reasons I was at the fabric store last week was a very deliberate effort to avoid a funk. The day before the trip to the fabric shop, I was dissecting my funk on my blog and lamented that its cause might be due to the fact that I don’t surprise myself anymore.

I said “when it comes to beads, I think I have gotten to a place that I can pretty much sit down and create any design in my head. Unfortunately, new designs just don’t seem to be flowing… so I am not excited… so I don’t feel that surprise and excitement.” When I sat down to make these new beads…. I learned I was wrong!

These are the first round of beads inspired by the fabric. They aren’t what I had in my head… it turns out, making what is in my head is going to be harder then I thought! I am excited by the challenge, and I am eager to continue the experiments. I am enjoying the hunt for just the right blend of colors… I am loving trying different patterns in the layers… and I am intrigued by how I am going to blend these into “my style”. I will be sure to let you know how things go along the way.

Kerry Bogert is blogging about her glass art beads and jewelry from her home studio in Ontario NY. Check her work at www.kabsconcepts.com.

Using Big Bead Decorating Techiques

I hate to have anything go to waste, so I decided to use some of the great canes that I had made for my big beads on something a lot smaller.

Here is a pretty little pendant with by “big bead” flowers. I think that they look nice on a smaller piece too, don’t you?

Rosemarie Hanus “grows” glass flowers on her beads in her home studio in Northeast Ohio.

Working with Powders. . .A Gift of Inspiration

Recently a dear friend of mine sent me a gift of metallic powder that she had on hand. When I opened my package and looked at it, I thought, “Okay, I HAVE to try this stuff!” I’m sure that those of you that make lampwork beads have used your share of powder and frits, but for the most part I have avoided them. I think the main reason is because I have to wear a respirator. It gets so hot and stuffy inside of those masks and I tend to feel like I’m being smothered.

Her gift really inspired me when I most needed inspiration. I haven’t spent as much time as I’d like in my studio lately, as I have been chained to my desk with the renovation of my website.

The little baggie of powder that peeked out from beneath my helter skelter stack of papers on the corner of my desk, became a major distraction. I kept wondering what I could do with it, or better yet, what it could do for me.

When the powder and I finally made it down to the studio, it demanded to be used with opaque pink glass, transparent pale amethyst and honey amber. I wanted to create a trio of beads that looked as sweet as sugar and spice and everything nice. Of course there had to be flowers too and I wanted a great deal of contrast so that the look would be sweet, yet dynamic. I have some more playing to do at the torch, but so far I am pleased with the potential that this little packet of gold powder has to offer.

A special thanks to my friend Barb!!