Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Glass Beads: Tips, Tools, & Techniques for Learning the Craft
    Glass Beads: Tips, Tools, & Techniques for Learning the Craft
    Glass Beads: Tips, Tools, & Techniques for Learning the Craft
    Ebook271 pages1 hour

    Glass Beads: Tips, Tools, & Techniques for Learning the Craft

    By Louise Mehaffey

    1/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Louise Mehaffey is a master with the torch, melting glass and wrapping it around a metal rod called a mandrel to create beautiful glass beads. In this book she provides safe and easy techniques for making beads of all shapes and sizes, with tips on setting up a studio, buying the necessary tools and materials, and learning the basic skills. Helpful step-by-step instructions and photographs demonstrate how to make various shapes, from round to rectangle, and add interesting effects, such as etching and gold leaf inclusions. There are 22 projects featured, including a dot bead, hollow eye bead, petal bead, Christmas tree, and snowman.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStackpole Books
    Release dateDec 30, 2010
    ISBN9780811744201
    Glass Beads: Tips, Tools, & Techniques for Learning the Craft

    Read more from Louise Mehaffey

    Related to Glass Beads

    Related ebooks

    Crafts & Hobbies For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Bonsai Of The Beading World

      Jan 18, 2019

      Bonsai Of The Beading World
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Creative Beader

      Sep 28, 2020

      The Creative Beader
      5 min read

    • Article

      Egyptian Pillar Bracelet

      Nov 29, 2019

      Egyptian Pillar Bracelet
      2 min read

    • Article

      Macramé ‘Leaf-Fall’ Necklace

      Jan 18, 2019

      Macramé ‘Leaf-Fall’ Necklace
      5 min read

    • Article

      Captured Netting Tutorial

      Jul 23, 2017

      Captured Netting Tutorial
      9 min read

    • Article

      Transparent Mokume Gané Beads

      Mar 29, 2019

      2 x 2oz (58g) packages of Transparent Polymer Clay – Premo, Sculpey III, Fimo Soft or Fimo Classic. 4 sheets of silver or gold metallic leaf 29g (1/2 block) of each of Turquoise and Yellow Polymer Clay Work surface – glass, Perspex, granite or marble

      3 min read

    • Article

      Sweet Surrender

      Sep 27, 2019

      Sweet Surrender
      2 min read

    • Article

      Weaving Wonder

      Jan 20, 2022

      Weaving Wonder
      4 min read

    • Article

      Purple Passion

      Jan 18, 2019

      Purple Passion
      1 min read

    • Article

      Bead Knotting Knot Me!

      Nov 26, 2017

      Knotting tool or tapestry needle Jewellers cement or superglue Bead reamer Silk or nylon cord French wire Scissors Clasp Sewing pin Closed jump ring Open jump ring KNOTTING HAS TRADITIONALLY BEEN associated with pearls and gemstones and as an indica

      2 min read

    • Article

      A Career Made from Glass

      Sep 27, 2019

      “I AM A PROFESSIONAL glass artist and enjoy all the processes involved working with glass. It is about experimentation both with techniques and design, achieving items that are a representation of my thoughts and concepts. I love working with beads,

      3 min read

    • Article

      Playing With Clay

      Mar 24, 2022

      Playing With Clay
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Voice Within

      Jan 25, 2018

      The Voice Within
      7 min read

    • Article

      Azalea Bracelet

      May 30, 2021

      Azalea Bracelet
      1 min read

    • Article

      Rainbow Wrist

      Jul 30, 2020

      Rainbow Wrist
      1 min read

    • Article

      20 Projects For Under $20 Each

      Sep 28, 2020

      20 Projects For Under $20 Each
      16 min read

    • Article

      BEYOND the Beauty

      Jul 9, 2020

      Arose is a rose, right? If you don’t know who designed or manufactured a piece of jewelry, it’s still just as pretty. Nevertheless, you’ll do yourself a big favor by learning how to identify as many unmarked pieces as you can. Fleshing out this idea

      3 min read

    • Article

      Transparent Mokume Gané Beads

      Jul 26, 2018

      2 x 2oz (58g) packages of Transparent Polymer Clay – Premo, Sculpey III, Fimo Soft or Fimo Classic. 4 sheets of silver or gold metallic leaf 29g (1/2 block) of each of Turquoise and Yellow Polymer Clay Work surface – glass, Perspex, granite or marble

      3 min read

    • Article

      Napier Jewelry Of The 1950s

      Aug 17, 2022

      Napier Jewelry Of The 1950s
      4 min read

    • Article

      Beads N Wire – Necklace

      Jul 28, 2022

      Beads N Wire – Necklace
      2 min read

    • Article

      Checkerboard Bracelet

      Mar 30, 2021

      Checkerboard Bracelet
      1 min read

    • Article

      Princess Diana Pearl Choker

      Nov 29, 2019

      Princess Diana Pearl Choker
      2 min read

    • Article

      Blue Daze Spiral

      May 29, 2020

      Blue Daze Spiral
      1 min read

    • Article

      Knotted Necklace

      Sep 27, 2019

      Knotted Necklace
      2 min read

    • Article

      Herringbone Stitch

      Sep 27, 2018

      Herringbone Stitch
      10 min read

    • Article

      Knots Being Creative Again

      Jul 30, 2021

      THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES, the ability to tie knots was mainly a survival skill. Somewhere through the ages knots became more than just survival skills, it became an art. Macramé, the modern art of decorating with knots, is believed to have originated

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Cut Above

      May 19, 2021

      A Cut Above
      4 min read

    • Article

      Quartz

      Jan 19, 2023

      Quartz
      4 min read

    • Article

      Christmas JEWELRY joy

      Nov 25, 2020

      Christmas JEWELRY joy
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Glass Beads

    1/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Glass Beads - Louise Mehaffey

      CONTENTS

      Acknowledgments

      Introduction

      A Brief History of Beads

      Tools and Materials

      Basic Skills

      Making Bead Shapes

      Projects

      1. The Basic Dot Bead

      2. Flattened and Poked Dots

      3. Layered and Stacked Dots

      4. Petal Bead

      5. Pulling a Stringer

      6. Using a Stringer

      7. Bubble or Eye Bead

      8. Harlequin Bead

      9. Masked Dots

      10. Groovy Bead

      11. Twisted Dots and Patterns

      12. Raised Petals

      13. Pulling Petals

      14. Raking or Feathering

      15. Making Twisties in Two and Three Colors

      16. Christmas Tree

      17. Snowman

      18. Making and Using Frit

      19. Purple Crackle Bead with Frit

      20. Silver Stringer and Twisted Silver Stringer

      21. Batik Bead Using Silver Stringer

      22. Hollow Eye Bead

      Surface Techniques, Inclusions, and Other Fun Stuff

      Supplies and Resources

      Bibliography

      INTRODUCTION

      Two elaborate beads by Louise Mehaffey.

      This book is about how I make my mandrel-wound, lampworked glass beads. Mandrel-wound means that I wrap the molten glass around a metal rod called a mandrel, which creates the hole in the bead. Lampworking refers to using a torch to melt the glass. Before the development of modern torches, oil and wax lamps were used; the worker typically blew through a metal tube to get the flame hot enough to melt the glass. This tradition is the origin of the term, although the technique is much older. Sometimes these beads are referred to as flameworked or torchworked.

      There are other ways of making glass beads, such as fusing and casting, and glass also can be lampworked into sculptures, perfume bottles, and goblets, but the focus of this book is mandrel-wound, lampworked glass beads. The beads can stand on their own as an art form or be used to create jewelry, either by simply stringing a few beads on a cord or making more elaborate pieces along with pearls, crystals, stone, or silver beads.

      Louise Mehaffey in her studio.

      My obsession with glass started in the 1970s. My house had an ugly plastic sidelight beside the front door and I decided to replace it with a stained-glass panel, so I signed up for a workshop in stained glass and have been hooked on glass ever since. For more than twenty years, I operated a stained-glass studio, doing mostly residential commissions. During that time, I experimented with sandblasting glass, painting and firing it in a kiln, and fusing. A lampworking workshop in 1998 started me in that direction, and I now practice that craft exclusively.

      Glass is a wonderfully versatile material for an artist. It can be worked cold by cutting, grinding, sandblasting, painting, and engraving. It can be melted, shaped, and cast in a kiln. It can be worked in a furnace or with a torch and blown or shaped while molten. When it is cold, it is hard and brittle, but when it is molten, it is fluid.

      The first several chapters talk about the use of glass beads historically and provide information on tools and equipment, basic skills, and bead shapes and colors. Most of the book is devoted to specific beads that you can make, starting with a simple round bead and progressing to more difficult ones. I have tried to put the projects in order of difficulty, but many of the skills overlap, and you can certainly work on them in any order you want. It’s best to master a particular skill before moving on. You may experience many hours or even days of frustration, but you will eventually catch on, so be persistent!

      The process of lampworking with a mandrel.

      Over the years, I have developed my own unique style and way of working. This is not necessarily the right way and certainly not the only way. Like any other art worth learning, this is an art that takes practice, so don’t be discouraged by wonky beads. Experiment. Learn to work with the glass, not fight it.

      Warning: I am left-handed! Those of you who are right-handed will need to reverse hands from what’s shown in the photos.

      Shells

      More than forty thousand years ago, early Stone Age humans strung some natural materials and created the first beads. These were probably found objects that had holes already in them or were easily pierced, such as seeds, shells, teeth, bones, and later coral and amber. People during this period also figured out how to pierce soft stones, and as advances in tools were made, they learned how to drill, polish, engrave, and carve harder stones.

      Beads have served many purposes, and they can tell us much about the cultures that created and treasured them. One of their first uses was probably spiritual or ritualistic, and even today some bead designs are valued for the spiritual properties some believe they have. The color blue was considered particularly powerful by many cultures, and lapis lazuli stone beads were highly treasured. Faience beads were a distinctive blue color, and copper colored the early glass beads a beautiful shade of blue-green.

      In some cultures, beads were invaluable for trade, as currency, and to record information. Certain colors or designs identified the wearers as members of a particular tribe or group or indicated wealth or status. There are many ancient styles or designs of beads that modern beadmakers use for inspiration.

      FAIENCE BEADS

      The ancient Egyptians became masters of a technique that involved compacting a powdered mineral, usually quartz, and covering it with a glass glaze to create faience beads, a forerunner of glass beads. The first glass beads were probably created around four thousand years ago, but their exact origin is unknown.

      MELON BEADS

      Melon beads are round or oval with longitudinal grooves carved from hole to hole. They were made from different stones, but those reserved for royalty were from lapis lazuli. In some ancient cultures, this stone indicated wealth and power, but it may have had other meanings in other cultures. Many burials dating to 2450 BC at the Royal Cemetery of Ur in Mesopotamia had a single blue melon bead. This design is one that has lasted for thousands of years and is found in many cultures.

      DOT-IN-CIRCLE BEADS

      The dot-in-circle pattern is found on beads of many shapes and sizes, and among many cultures. It is so common that it seems likely to have had a powerful meaning, but the significance of this pattern is unknown. Some speculate that it was perhaps a forerunner to eye beads, but no research has been done to verify this.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1