Hands on Glass Beads

Hands on Glass Beads!
Signora Sveva Lucciola

This will cover:

Making A Basic Bead Shaping

Playing With More Colors Basic Equipment

Suppliers Resources For More Information

Making a Basic Bead

1. An organized workspace and proper posture and form are the first things to learn! You will be in the same position for a while. Make sure you are comfortable BEFORE you have a handful of hot glass! Practice twirling the mandrel to see which finger position works better for you. Practice applying the glass rod to the mandrel at a 90-degree angle. Arrange your workstation before you actually light the torch.

2. Apply bead separator to mandrel and dry in the flame. Dip into separator far enough to cover the area you need to build the bead on. Inspect mandrel to see that it is completely covered with no gaps or cracks. Run through the flame until dry. Inspect your mandrel to make sure no cracks or bubbles formed in heating. But mandrel aside, being careful not to scrape separator on anything

3. Heat glass rod Take glass rod in your dominant hand and rotate TIP at the top of the flame. Glass rod should be HORIZONTAL. When the glass begins to ball up on then you are PROBABLY ready to apply it to the mandrel.

4. Wrap glass on mandrel While keeping glass hot in the flame, run the mandrel through the higher flame to warm up (subordinate hand). When both are hot, apply the glass to the mandrel. Remember to keep everything horizontal and the two rods (mandrel & glass) at 90-degree angles from each other. At this time, you should be heating the glass rod in the flame, rather than the mandrel and bead. Here it is broken down further* Step 1. Start rotating the mandrel over and away from you. Step 2. Bring the glass above and in front of the mandrel (see diagrams) Step 3. Lightly touch the glass bulb to the mandrel and let the mandrel pull & wrap glass off as you continue to turn in over and away from you. Step 4. When you have enough glass, or you have wrapped most of what is heated, pull the glass rod slowly away from the mandrel with the point of the flame at the area just off the bead. Step 5. If you want a larger bead, repeat steps *however this time you need to keep the bead warm while you heat up the glass. This can be done by turning it higher above the flame. Step 6. When bead is as big as you want it, put the HOT glass rod down on a protected surface. Step 7. You may switch mandrel to dominate hand.

5. Spin to form round bead Remember to keep horizontal.

6. Cool for moment and place in blanket When bead is how you want it, place between layers of blanket with mandrel sticking out the side. Be careful NOT to uncover earlier cooling beads. LEAVE IT BE!!!

7. Take off mandrel When bead has cooled down, you may remove it from the blanket. (Be careful of other cooling beads!) Wipe the exposed separator off. Grip the mandrel in your subordinate hand, and grip the bead between the thumb and first two fingers of you dominant hand. Slowly try rotating the bead around the mandrel. Also try pushing it further on and off. You should sense a little movement. Keep gently, but firmly trying to rotate it until it comes loose. If the bead is not welded to the mandrel by a crack in the separator, I am able to use ONLY this method to free them, although I sometimes use rubber jar grippies to help get a firmer grip. This will sometimes take ages for a bead however. Other methods (both of these should be tried when the bead in COMPLETELY COOLED...at least several hours after being made!): 1. Soak the mandrel and bead in water to dissolve some of the separator. 2. Put the mandrel and bead in the freezer to help the metal shrink even further.

Shaping

Use of gravity
Use of paddle
Use of marver and other tools

Playing with more than one color

Pulling stringer
Adding dots
Adding bands
Dragging and Raking

Basic Equipment:

Torch head	These must be purchased from a supplier. You will want to use one which introduces more oxygen into the flame (has holes at base of torch head) so that your colors stay bright and clear. You will also want to make sure it is rated for using MAPP gas, which burns hotter than some other fuel sources. These run around $35.
MAPP gas	Can be purchased from local hardware and discount stores (Wal-Mart). Usually runs around $7-9 a can. These cans should be disposed of through your local hazardous materials dept. A more cost efficient method is to purchase a small gas canister and have it filled (and refilled). This requires additional hoses and attachments, but financially pays you back pretty quickly.
Mandrels	You can purchase these directly from a supplier or you can get stainless steel welding wire from your local welding shop and cut your own. Pay attention to what thickness you order since this will determine how big the center hole in your bead will be.
Bead release	You also can order this from suppliers. There are several different mixes out there. The main difference you need to be aware of is how the stuff needs to dry. Some are flame dryable, some must air dry. Living in the humidity of the East Coast, you need to have FLAME dryable.
Glass	Make sure it is Hot Head or Turbo Torch workable. Some types of glass need to be heated much higher than your little torch will be able to heat it. Secondly, make sure the glasses you combine are compatible with similar COE's (coefficients of expansion)otherwise your projects could shatter. One of the best known name in lampworking glass is Moretti* glass, and it comes in rods which are easy to handle. Local Stain Glass suppliers will often try to sell you Bullseye. It is a much stiffer glass and can be difficult to use with a small torch (non oxy-propane). Local Stain Glass suppliers will also often offer to order the supplies for you, but so far I have not found them any cheaper than ordering myself or with my friends.
Eye protection	From supplier. If you can't get the Rose Didymium glasses, at the very least wear safety glasses!
Workstation	You can purchase a torch holder/station or you can put one together yourself with an "L" bracket and a hose clamp (both available from your local hardware store). Remember to have something non-flammable for your work surface. You also do not want anything which would release oils if heated.
Graphite paddle, Marvers, Rakes, Probes and other shaping tools	Purchased from suppliers you have a selection of stainless steel, graphite or tungsten tools. One word of warning with the tungsten probe, it is fragile and if it gets damaged, it will no longer work. You can also purchase bits of graphite and carve your own shapes. You can also look around your house and use interesting surface textured metal to create your own shaping tools.

Suppliers

Frantz Bead Company
E. 1222 Sunset Hill Rd.
Shelton, Wa. 98584
ph: (360)-426-6712
fax: (360)-427-5866
Email MFrantz@aol.com
http://www.olywa.net/frantzbead/ Arrow Springs
4570 Tennessee Dr.,
Shingle Springs, CA. 95682;
(916) 677-9482
http://www.arrowsprings.com Sundance Art Glass Center
231 South Whisman Road, Mountain View CA 94041.
Phone: (415) 964-7248. 415-965-2266 888-4HOTGLASS
http://www.sundanceglass.com/artglass.htm

Sources of Information
La Compagnia dei Maestri del Vetro web page: http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/guilds/cmv/index.htm

To join the SCA-Glassworker's List, send "subscribe" as the text of a message to compagnia-request@phosphor-ink.com

Windmasters Hill Glassworkers page (http://www.oocities.org/glassworkers/index

My Home page (www.oocities.org/ladysveva) This handout, as well as several others relating to glass, is available on my webpage. Please feel free to use it, but give credit where it is due. I would really appreciate it if you dropped me a line to let me know when and where it is used.

I welcome any feed back, corrections, links to your pages, or other such useful things!

Please email me at ladysveva@yahoo.com

Making A Basic Bead	Shaping
Playing With More Colors	Basic Equipment
Suppliers	Resources For More Information

1. An organized workspace and proper posture and form are the first things to learn!	You will be in the same position for a while. Make sure you are comfortable BEFORE you have a handful of hot glass! Practice twirling the mandrel to see which finger position works better for you. Practice applying the glass rod to the mandrel at a 90-degree angle. Arrange your workstation before you actually light the torch.
2. Apply bead separator to mandrel and dry in the flame.	Dip into separator far enough to cover the area you need to build the bead on. Inspect mandrel to see that it is completely covered with no gaps or cracks. Run through the flame until dry. Inspect your mandrel to make sure no cracks or bubbles formed in heating. But mandrel aside, being careful not to scrape separator on anything
3. Heat glass rod	Take glass rod in your dominant hand and rotate TIP at the top of the flame. Glass rod should be HORIZONTAL. When the glass begins to ball up on then you are PROBABLY ready to apply it to the mandrel.
4. Wrap glass on mandrel	While keeping glass hot in the flame, run the mandrel through the higher flame to warm up (subordinate hand). When both are hot, apply the glass to the mandrel. Remember to keep everything horizontal and the two rods (mandrel & glass) at 90-degree angles from each other. At this time, you should be heating the glass rod in the flame, rather than the mandrel and bead. Here it is broken down further* Step 1. Start rotating the mandrel over and away from you. Step 2. Bring the glass above and in front of the mandrel (see diagrams) Step 3. Lightly touch the glass bulb to the mandrel and let the mandrel pull & wrap glass off as you continue to turn in over and away from you. Step 4. When you have enough glass, or you have wrapped most of what is heated, pull the glass rod slowly away from the mandrel with the point of the flame at the area just off the bead. Step 5. If you want a larger bead, repeat steps *however this time you need to keep the bead warm while you heat up the glass. This can be done by turning it higher above the flame. Step 6. When bead is as big as you want it, put the HOT glass rod down on a protected surface. Step 7. You may switch mandrel to dominate hand.
5. Spin to form round bead	Remember to keep horizontal.
6. Cool for moment and place in blanket	When bead is how you want it, place between layers of blanket with mandrel sticking out the side. Be careful NOT to uncover earlier cooling beads. LEAVE IT BE!!!
7. Take off mandrel	When bead has cooled down, you may remove it from the blanket. (Be careful of other cooling beads!) Wipe the exposed separator off. Grip the mandrel in your subordinate hand, and grip the bead between the thumb and first two fingers of you dominant hand. Slowly try rotating the bead around the mandrel. Also try pushing it further on and off. You should sense a little movement. Keep gently, but firmly trying to rotate it until it comes loose. If the bead is not welded to the mandrel by a crack in the separator, I am able to use ONLY this method to free them, although I sometimes use rubber jar grippies to help get a firmer grip. This will sometimes take ages for a bead however. Other methods (both of these should be tried when the bead in COMPLETELY COOLED...at least several hours after being made!): 1. Soak the mandrel and bead in water to dissolve some of the separator. 2. Put the mandrel and bead in the freezer to help the metal shrink even further.