Fleur de Lis Technique (pics)?
 

I have always admired the work of Lydia Muell of Ashton Jewels and I have been trying to get the Fleur De Lis down and just can't seem to get there. Here is an example (it is the black clover look floral):

http://www.beadartists.org/Img25102_...chikrock.j.asp

I have done 3 dots and then twist and 3 dots and then raked and I just can't seem to get the right effect. If anyone can help it would be much appreciated!

She used to post here, maybe she'll pop in with an answer. :)

I know that Lydia puts in a LOT of time on each one of her beads. You can't always tell in the pics but she has layers and layers of transparents etc to achieve the look. You could email and ask her but I suspect a large part of this technique is PPP.

I suspected that there are multiple layers and I am not sure that the layers have an effect on the Fleur De Lis but they could.... My Father was born in France and he was a Pastry Chef at Le Cordon Bleu and taught at the Paris school for 15 years plus. He specialized in Fleur De Lis gold paintings on Petit Fours etc and they just bring back so many happy memories....

Those beads are certainly beautiful. I would ask the artist directly, you never know, she may share the technique. That being said if I had looked at those beads not knowing what you were trying to make, I would have never thought those were Fleur De Lis'.



KristiO:)

What is "PPP"?

Practice! Practice! Practice!

Duh! I should have known that! Thanks!

I never would have gotten that from her beads either. I'll tell you this - if you've tried to rake the dots, try raking from the bottom of the dots, on the base color. In other words, don't touch the dots themselves. You can twist like this too. Get the base warm enough after you melt the dots down and then rake or twist the base just below them, in the center. Clear enough?

Fleur de Lis was the closest description I could come up with :???: I tried to find an email for her and no luck ;-(

I have tried raking and the swirl around the other adjoining dots just doesn't work. I will certainly continue to PPP without a doubt!

You need to heat up a large area that includes the dots and below them. While they are all still really hot you rake starting just below the dots. Let that cool. Then heat up the bottom end of the rake, put your clear stinger in that and twist.

Thank you everyone, I will give some of these ideas a shot...

Michele, thank you for the compliments on this bead set. Gwacie told me that someone was asking about them here at LE so I thought I'd pop in to see if I could help out. I feel kind of bad because after we spoke yesterday, I realized that I didn't really tell you anything that could help you figure out how to make them.

I get more questions about this style than I do any other so I had tried to do a tut for Glassline and it ended up being WAY too long. I just threw my hands up and moved on to something else. lol Anyway, my husband and I are going to do a video for this. Not one that you have to pay for. . .It will be free on my site. That will keep me from having to write so much. Hopefully my camera man/producer/husband will hold the camera steady and we'll end up with something that will help those that want to know how to create this design. (I am camera shy, but just so you know, I'll be the one holding the mandrel and wearing a bag over her head.) ;-)

In the meantime, here are a few tips that might help. . .
Use a plain old base glass and don't get fancy (you can fancy up later). Of course I'm sure you know you'll need to pull lots of black stringer. USE INTENSE BLACK. Any other black will NOT yield good results because they look like trans dark purple. Apply your black dots in an arrangement that resembles a stemless three leaf clover. Melt them all the way in, but work as cool as you can because intense black likes to bleed when it becomes really hot.
Once your three dots are melted in, pull the left dot with a downward motion, yet slightly to the right. . .. Next, pull the dot on the right, again, pulling in a downward motion, but this time, pull the dot slightly to the left. The middle dot is easier. . You just pull it straight down. As a side not, when you are pulling the dots, be sure to place your pick 2/3 of the distance from the top and be as graceful with the pull as you possibly can. Work slowly, and pull with an almost feather light touch.

After you get this part of it down pat, you can start adding more "petals" and twisting them in different directions.

Hope this helps, Michele!!

Lydia~ You are a doll and I so appreciate your help. After our email exchanges I feel I have gained a friend.

I will give this a try tonight and hope that my Dad is watching over the process (you know what I mean.....)

Hugs.........

Lydia - I admire the artistry, skill, creativity and everything else it must take to make your absolutely gorgeous work, and I thank you and applaud you for your generosity. Thank you so much! Lisa

Michele, please do let me know how the tips worked out for you.
Actually, I owe YOU much thanks because your questions inspired me to try a similar design with some of the German glass that I have been struggling with. The result was very nice. If you need further help, you have my email addy. . .Just give me a shout.

On another note, I'm sure you'll dad will be proudly watching while you work. I know mine does. :-)

Lisa, thank you and it was my pleasure!!

Must be Lauscha, my nemesis..... I am glad you got you got good results but then again, glass in your hands would produce no less.....

I just want to comment that sharing your technique is incredibly generous.

I've long admired your beads and its nice to know that the person making them is just as gorgeous inside.

Lydia, thankyou for the tips. We love ya and your magnificent beads.

Ohmigosh, Michele, Lara and Pat, thank you guys for thank you! lol I enjoyed giving the info. It felt so good infact, that I might just have to try it again sometime.!!

Just had to pop in and say what a HUGE fan I am of Lydia and her beads!!!!--Gail

And I had to pop back in and say that I am a huge fan of Gail. :-)

Lydia~

Are you using a rake to pull the dots? I tried this last night and it seemed a little too big with the tool I was using and may go down to my dental tools.

Yep. I've used a rake, but get much better results from dental picks. I have a dental pick stock because I throw them away every week or so. lol

Reading this thread has been very helpful. Thanks to those who took the time to respond.
Gorgeous beads!
Anne High

if you don't have a dental pick, you can sharpen the end of a 1/16 or 3/32 mandrel to a point and use that as a tool to move the glass around. Gives me something to do with those bent mandrels.

Hi Lydia,
I just clicked on your website to look at your beads and the writting was all overlapped on top of each line....is that my computer? lol just a fyi check..
I love your beads there gorgeous

Thank you Anne!

Teena, thank you for mentioning that it looks that way to you. I have had a couple of people tell me the same thing and I think that it has to do with text size setting that you have setup in explorer (if you are using explorer). Mine is set to medium. If I change it to large, my page looks pretty crazy. I need to figure out how to fix this so that it won't be problem for those that have large text settings in their browsers.

Sweet ! I have always wanted to try this technique....off to try. Thanks Lydia !!

I take it that you do the design then press if your going to press.

Actually, I press to get the shape first, then apply the designs and press again. This particular bead design gets about 5 presses per bead by the time I'm finished.