My treats!

I know I mentioned the big project I am working on and so I am working on the torch much more than I have been. It's kinda wonderful because I feel like I have to complete a number of the required pieces every time I sit down. After I have done my "must do's" I treat myself by making something I really want to try or do... Yesterday, it was mostly vessels, but I did have one set:
I call it "Winter Wonderland" or "Winter Whites". It is pretty simple, but it is a great color combo that seems to go with everything in the winter time and was probably one of the first successful organic-style bead sets that I ever made.

My first vessel was "Golden Tea":I call it that because the top and bottom are made of a gold luster glass and the center is clear glass called iced tea. It is interesting because some of the luster actually turned gold, but it also fumed the iced tea glass. It is see through, but there is a sort of oil slick look to the whole thing..

Next, I tried a different combo and came up with "Gold Depths":
This was a different gold luster glass that seemed to behave a bit better. I used it with a veiled olive green glass. The bubbles in the glass along with the aged gold look makes it look like something that has been pulled from the depths of the ocean.

Finally, I think this is one of my all-time favorite vessels, "Blue Luster":
I don't think I ever used this glass since I purchased it a year or so ago. I just seemed to discover it yesterday. The top, handle and bottom are blue luster and the center is a veiled blue gaffer glass. There is a strong iridescent or metallic effect all over the dark blue while the center is clear, threaded with blue. In person, it is very much like a shimmering blue soap bubble.

More Faux Redware

I was working on a special order vessel this weekend along with some more of the "redware" type beads I was so excited about in my last post.

This is the final vessel. After a couple of false starts, we wound up with the perfect thing for the person who wanted it. Her business includes the word "spiral" and there's one on both sides.

Then, on to the faux redware beads. I tried a couple with a blue background, attempting to inscribe hearts and other shapes.

I was using Ivory to do the inscriptions and I think that was my first mistake. Ivory is not as "stiff" as the brown and they turned into shapeless blobs so you won't be seeing them here. I knew I could do this "branch" pattern. I love the way they look and expect them to become more refined as I go along.

I had googled redware to find old patterns and made some quick sketches of things that I want to try as time goes on.

I do think these or some variation of them will be my "hometown" charm. I can't wait to make a full bracelet of them - 'course then I'll have to go buy the right clothes to go with them. Oh the perils of jewelry making!

Making a Vessel

I am often asked if I "blow" glass. What I do is properly called "lampworking" and I don't actually blow the air into my hollow beads and vessels. I have always intended to make a page on my website to show how the vessels are made because the questions are asked so frequently.

Some time ago, I got someone to take a series of pictures over my shoulder as I made a vessel. This is a brief tutorial on how the basic vessel is made.


I make my vessels on the end of a "mandrel". The mandrel is a stainless steel rod. It is coated with a ceramic substance called bead release. This keeps the glass from sticking to the mandrel and when the bead is finished, the bead release dissolves in water and the bead "slips" off the mandrel.

First, a footprint is laid down on the mandrel for two discs. It looks as though there are two beads being made on the mandrel at the same time.

These discs will be the top and bottom of the vessel.






The disc at the end will be the bottom and extra glass is added to seal the hole

The discs are built up by adding glass until they are large enough to meet over the mandrel.








  

Sometimes, I gently coax them together with a tweezers or a "marver" which is a graphite paddle mounted on a wooden handle. The heat of the glass doesn't melt the graphite and it can be used to manipulate the glass as you will see later.








When the discs have been coaxed together, one more wrap of glass right around the middle makes sure the seal is complete.

Now there is air trapped inside the bubble of glass and I begin to heat the glass until the glass is molten and the air, now heated, expands. You can see it happening in the picture to the right.

This is a magical thing to me. When I first started making beads, my instructor told me I'd have to make at least 40 beads before I'd finally get a decent hollow. She was right!

So often, the seal isn't complete somewhere - either on the "belly" of the bead or something has happened to the bead release so that it isn't complete there. If the seal isn't complete, the bead will deflate into a sad glob of glass... sometimes with a big bubble somewhere, but not where it was intended.

When it works, which is most of the time now (!), I always get a big kick out of it.

Now, the finishing begins. Glass is often added to the bottom of the vessel to give it weight at the bottom so it will hang gracefully or just because it makes the design work.

The vessel is "marvered" to shape it and make the glass move together properly. Often, various types of decoration are added with tiny glass rods called stringer or by dipping the vessel in frit which is crushed glass, often a reactive combination of deep colors.

I'm not showing it here, but the neck is added - like adding another bead right at the end and it is built up and shaped however I envision it.

Finally a handle or handles are added.

And voila! The finished vessel, with a cork and hung on a chain, ready to grace your neck and hold your favorite perfume, essential oil or other tiny treasure.

I've just updated my vessels page and you can see the latest creations I have made with this technique.