With my eyelashes singed and tangled, keeping one of my eyes closed, I look at her with the heavily watering other eye, and tell her "I was making lampwork beads, and my torch blew up."
The look on her face pretty much said it all ("huh?") but she asked
me anyway.. the same thing most people used to ask me when I told them what I do. "What are lampwork beads"?Never mind the fact that my face is uber inflamed and I can't open one eye, I had to answer the question.
"I take rods of glass of various colors, and melt them in a torch flame, and form them into beads". I would have gone further into detail with her, because she was clearly interested beyond that point, but given I just wanted to get my eye open and all.. I left it at that.
After explaining again to the doctor who checked me out and going into detail while he cut my lashes, opened my eye, put dye in it, looked at it through a machine, in the light, in the dark, and put some goop in it, he told me he thought it was interesting, and that I might want to find another 'hobby'. (...not likely, Jack.)
First lets get into what "Lampworking" actually is.
Lampworking has been around for hundreds of years, and to begin with was done by using an oil lamp with a worker forcing plain air into the flame to make it hotter, and able to melt the glass. A wide variety of items can be made through lampworking, including beads, drinking glasses, smoking pipes, and lots more.
Modern lampworking is done with a torch or some sort that is usually fueled by propane and air or oxygen is usually brought to the flame through one way or another.
The hotter and larger the flame, the more types of glass you can use, and the larger the project you can work.
Now onto bead making through lampwork -
Most bead makers will melt their glass (usually purchased in rod/stick form) and wind it onto a thin metal rod called a "mandrel" while keeping the glass molten in the torch flame. This is how the hole is formed in the bead. After adding as few or as many colors and design elements as the artist feels warranted, the artist then is either finished with the bead and will leave it to cool, or will anneal the bead.
The importance of annealed beads -
Thermal Shock - When a bead is annealed, it takes a long time (hours) for the bead to cool. In this time, the molecules in the glass have the time to wander themselves to a 'cozy' position, where they'll remain happily. Annealing happens in a heated oven, called a "kiln"
Unannealed beads are cooled quickly, forcing these molecules to freeze wherever they are, some too close to others, some not close enough.. sad little molecules.. and sooner or later (sometimes years) the piece will crack or break from seemingly no cause, but we know it's from the internal stresses of cooling too quickly. (poor stressed beads....)
How do you know if the beads you just bought are annealed?
Well... the short answer is.. you don't. It's becoming a more common practice to anneal glass beads, but if you're buying mass produced beads, chances are high that they are not annealed. The best you can do is look up the many self representing glass bead makers on the Internet, and ask if they anneal their beads.
Above: imported mass produced beads
Buying Lampwork Beads -
Beads from an artist with their own studio are likely to cost more than the beads mass produced and imported. While imported lampwork beads are handmade, there are several things to take into consideration when buying.
- You want beads that have nice clean color and transparent colors aren't polluted with scum.
- You want beads with nicely formed holes and no sharp edges.
- You want beads that have been cleaned of the bead release that kept it from sticking to the mandrel.
- You want beads that have been annealed to relieve the internal stress.
- Many artists have taken numerous classes in their medium, and their skill level is high, usually shown in their work.
- Lampwork artists play with fire, and do get burned while making these little works of art. The cost of a lampworker's studio, torch, kiln, glass, and other tools can reach into the thousands.
Although you can purchase mass production beads with nice color, time after time I see them with bead holes, sharp edges, full of bead release (which either you have to clean out or it gets all over your projects) and they are prone to cracking and breaking.
What got me into lampworking?
I've loved the look of lampwork since I started making jewelry, but loved the idea that I could make beads with just the color combos that I wanted. I've always been attracted hot glass working, and fire. Naturally the two had to come together at some point. I was in a stained glass shop with my uncle one day, and saw a kit. I just had to take it home.
I didn't take a class, I didn't buy any safety glasses, I sat at my kitchen table, and started trying to work it out. The problems with this.. well this post is long enough already. I'll do that later.
Finally about 3 months later I have the sense to think there might be people online that already do this kind of thing, so I seek them out. I find out I need a kiln, glasses, ventilation, and (basically) a brain. After working out a few kinks, I was completely happy with my venture into lampworking, and I'm still in love with it. I can't get to my torch every day, or week, and sometimes months go by before I can get back in that seat, but I know I'll never give it up.
Over time changed from telling people ''I make lampwork beads" to "I make beads" but I was asked, "You mean you make jewelry?" that changed. "Yes I make jewelry, but I also actually make glass beads."
Now I've pretty much settled on telling people "I make glass beads in a torch flame" or "I make flameworked beads" and leave it at that unless they ask.
I got by with a scratched cornea, a bunch of fizzled hair, and a bright pink face for a few days after my little blow-out. It could have been much worse, but since I was thankfully wearing safety glasses (even though they got blown off my face) I avoided serious damage to both eyes. If not for the split second it took for my glasses to move, I likely wouldn't have closed my eyes in time, who knows.
I plan to do another post later about safety in glass working. If you are thinking about making glass beads, please... take a class from a reputable bead making instructor. The price is worth it, since you have safety practices included, and it will take you less time to learn to make beads, thus saving you fuel, glass, and believe me, mandrels.
The ISGB (International Society of Glass Beadmakers) has a nice page on teaching standards.
I advise looking for a reputable teacher in your area through the forums at either Lampwork Etc. or the ISGB.
Note: All beads shown in this post were made by me, with the exception of the red/white ones.
