Transparent Glass Bead Triangles

This class is designed for the beginning lampwork glass beadmaker. It is a basic class using melted dots of molten glass, applied to a base bead, and then heated to form little triangles of decoration. The class will begin with an introduction and presentation of the short class syllabus. We will then review the prerequisites including good workspace, some knowledge of glass safety practices, ventilation and a kiln is recommended to anneal the beads for strength and durability. I will then jump into the bead preparation which includes some short observations about glass rod diameters that you receive from your glass supplier. The students will then get a review of how to pull stringers from molten glass rods. Once the preparation is complete, we will begin making the bead by winding molten glass around a mandrel, making sure that the left and right sides are precisely lined up to form smooth puckered holes around the mandrel. Additional wraps of glass will be placed on the bead until the appropriate amount of material is applied to the base bead. We will then shape the molten glass into a donut shape using heat and gravity while spinning the bead to achieve the final configuration. Once the base bead is complete, I will show the students how to apply and melt various dot sizes to achieve a triangular decoration on the bead. Layers of dots will be applied of smaller and smaller volumes to get a stacked dot. The dots will all be melted down flat to achieve the final bead.