Tuesday, May 27, 2008

spring blossom beads

these beads were made ages ago, but were finally photographed late this afternoon.
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i rather like them, so i drew a little illustrated tutorial in my bead sketchbook so that they can be made again later.
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here it is step by step:
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these floral beads could be fun in lots of color combinations, or with clear in the center which sort of disappears leaving just the petals.

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i actually dipped the warmed white rod of glass into some rubino oro homemade frit before applying the petals to the bead - if you look below you can see the hints of pink.
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sometimes if the flattened petal bottoms won't cover the whole of the inside bead, it this happens add a drop or two more of the white glass and flatten it to cover better. i use a stainless steel cheese knife.
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the tweezers should be non-serrated with fine pointed tips. when you do a final flame anneal on the beads after pulling the petals, the tips of the petals will round out a little bit and look nice and natural.
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these are great to make in pairs for earrings - strung on headpins, with freshwater pearls, either petals up or petals down.
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2 comments:

Patty said...

These are beautiful, and so delicate! I know what you mean about making beads and then x days, weeks, months later taking pix. Sometimes you just have to wait for the perfect light, right?

Thanks for sharing...

Vickie Hallmark said...

Your sketchbook is brilliant! I keep a sketchbook for ideas, but I never put tutorials in it. Time to start.