Glass Beads

As I have said before...my mom can do just about anything! She has been making, hand blown glass beads for a few years now. I have always wanted to try, but have been too busy with my own "craft" stuff (scrapping, blogging, photography, and did I say photography). Since I got my Pandora bracelet, I thought I'd give it a try. So, here is a few shots of me being an artisan.

Each individual colored stick is a piece of glass. You then need to heat it up, just so, so that it doesn't heat too fast, in order to "wrap" it around the mandrel (the metal thing with dry clay on the tip). The mandrel is what you form your bead on, and must be heated just enough not to be too hot to crack your bead, but not too cool, because that will crack your bead too. So, as you are melting the glass rod at just the right speed, you have to be careful to keep the mandrel the right temp also. This takes some practice. I screwed up two beads right off the bat, but kept on going. It is a really neat thing. I just want to make more and more.

This is my mom's handi work. She is talented enough to make 2 beads at once. She said that I shouldn't even attempt this. I just laughed, knowing that I would definitely screw it up, or catch on fire. That torch is really close to you as you do this, and all I kept thinking is...this thing is going to blow up right in my lap.

My photography assistant's self portrait...Jake.

One of my finished pieces. I love it.

I think when I get older, and retire, this is something that I would like to pursue, along with some pottery, and melting glass in a kiln.