You know, when you look at this bead under a magnifying glass they are amazing. That top flower floats, simply intoxicating.

Jenni, thank you! :shock: WOW!! You made five of these beads yesterday?! I hope you decide to post them. I'd love to see your work!

Jan, Thank you for sharing your bead! You did a great job! Thank you for the generous compliments too. I'm glad that you aren't upset about the crack. It's not an uncommon problem when you are learning to make this style of beads. Keeping it hot can sometimes be a challenge because you have to take it in and out of the flame so much. Have fun at the torch today!

Here is my first floral from Lydia's tutorial. I think it took nearly an hour..and those dots really do have to be small, or there is not enough room for all the details! I love making these beads. I used raku stringer pulled from chunks that I bought from Trey Cornette. This raku has not been processed like the cane we usually buy, so it is VERY intense! xiola

Ashton......are you going to have the "middle" bead available as purchase?
I thought that one might be in this tuturial like you had 2 in the first one.
I think it's the music box one? It's the pastel looking looking flowers. I'd love,love to have that one....the colors are gorgeous and my creativity just won't work unless I can see it started in first.
Just checking to see if it was in this one. I noticed you have a blurb in there about it....
Let me know when you can.
Suzanne...great job on the floral panel!!! You're a natural!

oops....I was wrong!!!
It was the winter bead that you show on your tuturial along with the floral panel. It's with your other series and one on the bottom left. That one was cool but the one I was talking about is in the center of your header ...
Here's the pic...



I just love this to pieces!!! And the winter one you have on the tut is just as awesome!!!

Sorry Lydia, I should have been more specific. I made 3 beads using your Black petal tutorial - which is also awesome (I should have practiced these more but I was too impatient to get to the florals), and then 2 of the encased florals.

The first encased floral took me an hour and 20 minutes and then I had to stop for a cup of tea and to give my poor mandrel spinning fingers a rest! Then I had to make another, just to make sure the first wasn't a fluke. :-) I was very happy when I pulled them out of the kiln this morning and no cracks, yay!

I made 2 more today but tried to use different colours and designs. I find that to be the hardest part of making beads - comming up with my own stye. :doubt:

Any how, here are my attempts:




Couldn't have done them with out you!

Jenni

WOW YA'LL!!!!!!! As soon as this show is over I will have some time to actually play with some of the tutorials I bought. Suzanne - just WOW!!!!!!! Xiola - beautiful! Jenni they all look great! Sorry If I'm forgetting anyone - I love them all. Before I started buying tutorials I could not even fathom spending more than about 20 minutes tops on a bead. But I have spent quite a bit of time on single beads now. Somehow all of you tutorial sellers seemed to have included patience with the tutorials. Great beads everyone!

Thank you, Nancy! xiola:love:

Xiola, your bead is fabulous! Hmmm, I wonder what they did differently with the Raku frit in order for it to be more intense? Now that you mention it, the Raku that I'm using is much less intense these days. . . Especially in the 104 line.

Reenie, The bead in the center of my website banner is called "Roman Bath House". It's my signiture bead. I've had lots of requests to do a tutorial for this one, but the bead requires the use of Terra. If Double Helix ever starts making it again, or if another VERY similar glass hits the market, I will do a tutorial for it. There are many silvered glasses on the market right now with brown undertones but all of them are too transparent. Raku doesn't work either either. While it's a nice opaque glass, it spreads WAY too much and yields a finished look that is just too messy.

The "French Music Box" bead was one of my newbie beads. It is the initial idea that lead to the encased floral panel technique. The reason that I wrote about it in the Inspiration portion of the tutorial is because I wanted to show how one little seemingly insignificant idea can not only evolve something larger and better, but it can even spin it off into different directions. I also wanted to explain the thought process that I used in order take the idea to the torch. I had no clue that anyone would would want to learn to make it.

The tutorial only teaches how to make the bead that is on the cover, "Enchanted Hydrangea". I included a gallery with a timeline that shows the evolution of the design. I had hoped the gallery would provide a bit of inspiration, while illustrating the possibilities of the core concept. Each of those beads were created using the encased floral panel technique.

Initially, I had been asked to do tutorials on various floral focals that are in my galleries. Instead of releasing a tutorial that shows people how to make a 2-3 hour focal, I'd rather do the tutorials in a series, with each tutorial focusing on the skills that would be essential for the proper execution of one of the larger focal beads. This is one of the reasons that I started with the "Black Petal Motif". While I don't often use intense black in my floral focals, I do use the raked petals a lot. Learning to create them in intense black requires extreme focus and patience. Once it's learned and practiced, the elements on the larger focals will be easier to apply.

Oh Jenni!! How wonderful! Your beads turned out beautifully!!!

Lydia your tutorials have changed my entire approach to lampworking (they are teaching me patience). They are absolutely amazing and have been well worth the wait. I would still love to take a class with you if you ever change your mind about teaching. In the meantime your tutorials are the next best thing. What is your next one going to be??

Thank you, Lydia! The raku is in very large chunks, and has to be kiln-heated and pulled into stringer. I didn't use frit. When I used the regular iris orange stringer pulled from rods the petals came out a lot lighter.

I am about to try this style with BullsEye glass. I have learned so much making these beads...patience, refinement, delicate touch, and color...some of my beads are pretty dark, and I am working toward those delightful colors that make these beads really sing! xiola

Well, yesterday's try cracked worse that the first, it has four cracks around the top and I heated it to within an inch of its life, as a matter of fact the flowers are black. Me thinks I better put this tutorial away for awhile. Although I will try the flowers on something else, the tutorial was a wonderful collection of techniques that I can use on many other things.

I'm going to buy some Raku stringers to use for them thought because I can't pull one thick enough. The thin ones just aren't controlable, at least not for me.

I like your idea of doing tutorials with techniques in them. That way we can use them to create our own style an signature....:->

I'm waiting for mine as patiently as I can... I need a foot tapping smiley. :-D

Yes I editted my posting because I didn't want to hurt your feelings or come across harsh or anything. It could have been taken the wrong way and after you've spent so much time making that beautiful bead and finding out through me that it cracked it might have hurt you and I didn't want that to happen.

Next time, try heating the entire bead by just barely touching the tip of your flame. Just do this for a minute or so to make sure the heat completely penetrates ( I said penetrate:cool:) your bead. That is how I heat up my raised stringer beads once they are done, just roll them through the tip of the flame, getting them to barely glow.


Also as far as pulling your raku stringers, try blowing on your blob of glass while pulling. The glass cools faster that way and if you pull slowly you'll end up with nice thick stringers.

How about this guy? Ha....yes, I'm a trouble-making bead maker!!!

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...ientMonkey.gif

~De

Thanks Carmen! I'm so glad that you are finding them to be helpful. I'm not sure what the next tutorial will be on. Suggestions are most definitely welcome! As for teaching. . .I've decided that I'm going to. I've already started buying the equipment to enhance my studio. I'm hoping to be ready to teach in a few months or so.

Jan, I'm sorry to hear that you are still experiencing some cracks in your beads. Given that you heated the bead so much, I have to wonder. . .Are you working with 96 or 104 Raku?

I bring this up because I have been working through cracking issues with several bead makers that were having the same problem. Turns out that they were using the 96 coe Raku instead of the 104 coe Raku.

Since we are on the subject of 96 COE Raku, I thought I might mention a bit about using it in these beads. . .As in, what will and what will not work. Using the 96 COE Raku for the flower petals is perfectly okay. However, if you use it for the large layers that are applied for the floral panels, you will have incompatibility issues. The incompatibility signs may not show up immediately, but I'd be willing to bet that a few days or a few weeks down the road, they'll have stress cracks.

I've really enjoyed seeing everyones beads over the last few days! I finally got one I'm happy with so I'll share. Keep em' coming!

Rose and everyone who has posted beads - they are just gorgeous!!!

~De

Lovely bead, Rose!!!! Your goldstone is so sparkly, and I love the white flowers!

Here are my first attempts at this bead; the ends were not good so I covered them up with a couple of wraps of glass, other then that I am pleased with the results. I can’t wait to get back on the torch tomorrow and try again; this is a wonderful tutorial, thanks Lydia! :)

Excuse the crappy photos, something I’m still working on…

Beautiful Maggie!

Thanks for the head's up about the 96 Raku. That is the only type of raku I have. I guess I'll have to try using Terra. :-\" Unless Lydia you would want to trade me some 104 raku for some terra.

OMG!! Maggie, those are beautiful!!! The only reason that you had issues with your ends is because you didn't melt the lenses all the way in. The upside to not doing so is that your color stays much more fresh and you don't risk the distortion of your floral petals. I really like the way that you saved your bead ends. . .They look fabulous!

Oh Nancy, how you do tempt me!!! Actually, I'm pming you NOW. lol

Thanks you guys!

I have to say that in my short lampwork career, less then a year, these are probably the nicest beads I've made (with the exception of the ends).

I had an epiphany while working with this tutorial Lydia...
I have been able to make nice organic freeform beads with no problems, but anything with any detail has proven to be elusive, causing much frustration.](*,)
until now!
The revelation was simple really...SLOW DOWN! #-o
Instead of just shoving a gather of molten glass on the bead and pulling it away fast (smearing everything in the process) I'm now waiting a few seconds, count...1...2...3....pull, That made all the difference!

I’m going to make a few more of these today, hopefully with better ends!

Isn't that funny! I think THE most important thing I have learned from these tutorials is patience. BT (before tutorials) the thought of spending more than a few minutes on a bead was insane to me. Even when I tried to slow down and take my time I just couldn't! AT (after tutorials) now I can spend an hour or more on a single bead. And it dosn't crack because I forget to keep it warm (usually), I get much closer to what I was trying to accomplish, and I find I'm much happier with the final product. I must admit that after 90 about minutes I am getting a bit impatient but for someone with ADD that's pretty darn good!

Yup!
These beads took me between 45 minutes to an hour each, but the result was worth the time!

I tried this yesterday and it's a great tutorial!!!! I was going to try and take a picture but there wasn't a good side to photograph!! LOL
One of my problems is working tiny, everything starts getting bigger and bigger and before you know it my bead is HUGE!! If I ever wear it I'll need a neck brace!!! lol
I can't believe I can't divide a bead into fifths!! fourths yes, fifths just ain't happening!! LOL
My stringer work is pretty bad too, I'm still trying to find that sweet spot on my new torch (not that I ever found it on my old torch but it sounds good huh??)
But all in all, the tutorial is great and I had a real DUH moment. I can't tell you how many beads I've made with raku and covered it with aqua or teal glass, it's my favorite thing to do!! Well duh I NEVER EVER thought about making flowers with it!!!!!! ](*,)
Back to try again today!!

LOL!! Debbie, there ain't nuttin wrong with big beads!!! I know what you mean though. When I first started making this style of beads they always turned out larger than I wanted them to. Once you get a little practice, you should be able to scale everything down a little bit. I'm glad that you are enjoying the tutorial!!

Oh it looks beautiful. Just ordered mine:-D
Getting excited!
Cheers,
Patricia

Patricia you are going to love this tutorial!
Here are a few more that I made the other day, I'm still having issues with the ends, but I'm sure with a bit more ppp I'll get it down.
These are fun to make!

Oh Maggie ,
Those are gorgeous!!!!!! Well done!
Mine just came. feels like Christmas,
Cheers,
Patricia

Beautiful work Maggie!!

Oh, I loved the tut, I am going to try to put a pic in but have never done that and my picture taking skills are really bad but here goes...
Hmmm. that didn't work...

Yay! That one did..Took me way longer to post this than making the bead but...My first picture.
Thanks again!
Cheers,
Patricia

Way to go Patricia!! You did a fantastic job on the bead and the picture!

I can only say as someone who drools over you beads, if I thought there was a hope in this world that my bead would turn out 1/3 that good I'd be all over it.. maybe after the first of the year.. LOL PPPPPPPPPPPPP is what I need

Lydia, your Tutorial is awesome, thanks so much for sharing it ! This is my forth bead made with it ... my three others were sitting on my work tray at the markets last week and some gals spotted them and wanted them ... they really were not going to be for sale but .... they talked me into it ! Of course I didn't get pics of them #-o

Thank you Arlene!! I know you'll do beautifully!! Blech, PPP!!! I've been making perfume bottles for the last two weeks. I think I'm going to go nuts! I keep telling myself that the lost glass and time will be worth it but I'm not so convinced. lol

Aurore, that's music to my ears! Congrats on your sales!! Your bead is beautiful, thanks for sharing it!!

great beads!!

Here are some of my first attemps:








Will be making a pendant from this one

Sorry for hogging:hide:

Christina, those are beautiful!! I love the color combinations too. Thanks for sharing them!! :-)

Thanks Lydia,
It is so much fun to make them!

I made a nice pendant of the last bead, will make a pic later today

Wonderul, Chrissy! I can't wait to see it! :-)

How dare you to say that, they are gourgious!

Just ordered it, can't wait.. Everyone's beads are lovely!

Thank you Lydia, for your tutorial. I had fun with this. I had to translate the colors to Bullseye Glass and it still worked out just fine. I hope to find ways to incorporate some of these techniques into my own style but here are the ones I made from the tutorial. When I hold them in my hand they look like "jewels".

Oooooh Jennifer, those are pretty. I've just gotten this tut and will need to do a "tranlation" to BE as well.

Thanks Lydia fore the wonderful tutorials!!!
I have many fun with this technique.

THANK YOU!

Best wishes
Conny

Conny those are beautiful, the first is my favorite!

Jenny, Thank you so much fore your nice comments :)

Best wishes
Conny

Conny your beads are beautiful! I really like the last one!