Sunday, October 20, 2013

Big Blue Babies

A great big set of beads fresh out of the kiln. I'm thinking necklace.

They are made with every shade of transparent teal, blue and green I could find in my boxes of short rods.
There's electric blue, ink blue, light teal, pale aqua, dark aqua, cobalt blue, dark teal and on and on.

On top of the mash up of watery blue greens in each bead I wound, and lightly reduced, hair thin stripes of 'Double Helix Aurae' glass to give them an iridescent shimmer.


Blue, green and turquoise boxes of short rods.
Did I mention I love glass rod shorts? Nice people give them to me, sometimes I buy them on line, wherever they come from. Most lampworkers shun them - I love them.






























How about some tool talk?
The cheese knife, right there in the front, is what I used to make all the facets on this set of beads.

Make a roundish bead and let it cool down until the glow is fading and nothing is moving - then spot heat and pat, pat, pat with the flat side of some tool.. Rotate the bead and spot heat and pat, pat pat. Repeat around the bead until your whole thing is faceted. Lightly work out any chill marks in the end of the flame.

It's simple to do, try it. I bet you have a cheese knife you can pilfer out of a kitchen drawer.

1 comment:

Amy F said...

those are gorgeous! love those boxes of shorts!