VALORIE
: The Growth of a Beadmaker
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Valorie came to
learn beadmaking from me in April of 2002, and was a very determined
and talented student.
She has a background
in graphic design, and picked up hot glass technique very quickly.
After she went home and set up her studio, I asked her if she
would be willing to send me regular updates on her work in progress,
to help others see how the learning process goes in glass beadmaking.
Brave Valorie said Yes
!
Today Val sells
her beads on eBay, on her website:
Glass
Poet.com
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Here are the beads Valorie was making
after only Six Weeks !
One of the first things a
new beadmaker must work on is getting round, evenly distributed
beads. The secret to this is to learn how to use gravity, slow,
even twirling, and gentle marvering to allow the glass to flow
evenly around the mandrel. Patience helps too.
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Valorie does a nice job of
using dots to experiment with design. The lowly dot is the basis
for many more complex designs. One difficult beginner's task
is to learn how to place small amounts of glass precisely by
using thin strands of glass (called stringers) to "paint"
on designs. |
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Another important goal for
the new beadmaker is to try to get the holes on the beads to
have ends that "dimple" inward. This keeps the sharp
edge of the glass from cutting through stringing material. The
secret to nicely dimpled ends is to lay down an even "footprint"
of glass on the mandrel, and then wind a round of glass on top
of that, and let heat and gravity do the rest ! |
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Work, work, work.
After twelve weeks,
Valorie has beautiful, evenly round beads, with nicely dimpled
ends. She is making much more precise and controlled patterns
on her beads.
She has learned
a lot about heat, too, because pink glass can become murky if
you get it too hot. Valorie has achieved rich, clear raspberry
& mulberry pinks; no easy feat!
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If you take a look
at the polka dot beads, you may notice that the dots seem to
be floating on the surface of the bead. Valorie has laid down
a core of solid color, then encased it in clear glass, and finally,
put dots of solid color on top of that. This allows the dots
to cast a shadow on the solid color core below, giving dimension
and depth to a very simple bead!
And, for the record,
encasing a bead in clear glass with no unplanned bubbles is extremely
difficult, but Valorie's encased beads are bubble free!
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Val has now has
her own website, where you can see her latest beads!
Please Visit: Glass Poet
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