calla lilly bead
 

OR is it Cala lilly?? At any rate, I have been asked to make some wedding jewelry and the bride really wants me to "try" to make a cala lilly bead for her necklace. I have searched the internet and have not found any tutorials on this. Would anybody know of any?

Thanks in advance!

Sandy Quiring chickadee_quiring@sasktel.net

Hi Sandy,
Are you talking sculptural or regular rounded beads? Years ago, I took a class from Deanna Griffin Dove and the calla lillies we made were raised on a bead. It started out with a stem, and then we made a large white dot that we pulled into shape. Then we plunged a stringer on an angle to indicate the stamen. I'm not sure how clear that is, but perhaps you can imagine it. Also, on the cover of Deanna and Brad's Bead Review from last year, there was a drop dead gorgeous calla lily bead.

If you don't get other responses, pm me, and I'll try to dig up that ancient calla in my bead box and photo it and go into more specifics.

Good luck,
Marcy

The easiest way I know of (for a flush design) is to first add your stem with a thick green stringer. Then add a large dot in the color you want your flower to be at the top of your stem. Melt in the dot and use a raking tool or cold stringer (in the same color as your dot) to pull the top of the dot to a point or a taper (think spade). Next, add your stamen. I'd use a rod of dark yellow, heavily encased in clear and pull into a thick stringer. Heat the center the dot and push the thick stamen at an angle into the bead (don't push the stamen at a 90 degree angle to the surface of the bead). Use your rod nippers to nip off the excess stamen and melt it into the bead. Then, encase the entire bead to add depth and to give the flower more of a 3D look.

I'll try and make one tonight to post a picture tomorrow. :)

Hope that helps!

Karla

Oooohhhhh I can't wait to see a pic, I am having Cala Lilly's in my wedding and am planning on making my own jewelery.

This is what they look like as a sculptural bead.

Calla Lily:

Green for barrel
Yellow/Cream/White for Flower

1. Make a small barrel bead
2. Add first the yellow as a stripe 3/4 way around the barrel - do not melt all the way in
3. On top of the yellow add the Cream/white for 4/5 layers - do not melt in
4. Heat up this yellow/white
5. Using your tool flatten the yellow/white until it looks like a petal
6. Warm the petal and with your marver flatten it against the barrel then wrap it around the
barrel until it forms your calla lily.
7. Heat so that it is smooth but still sculptural
8. Heat the tip of your petal at the highest point and using the rod pull it out to a point.

Barb

If your looking for round beads with calla lily designs, it's not too difficult to do. Start by encasing your stamen color rod with clear and pull. make your bead, add vines if you want, then, put your small dots where you want your lilies to be, than spot heat each, then, with a sharp razor, crease just the top, then cover each with clear, melt it, then spot heat and poke your stamen rods, encase in clear. Well, that's how I make mine. I don't do many sculptural beads. Here's a picture of one I did a while back. Have a great day!!!
J.

Oh My Gosh, Thanks You All~!!

WOOPS, I hit something on the keyboard and it submitted my message...LOL. Silly me! At any rate thank you all for your ideas. Once I find time to get to the torch, I am going to try all of these ideas. I really appreciate the help. Lampworketc is such an awsome place, I SWEAR it is! :)

If you're comfortably with off-mandrel work, you can make one that way too. This was my 2nd try and I'm still working on my o/m skillz, so probably just about anyone can do this!


1 - Make a gather on the end of a white cane. Use mashers to squish it into a lollipop - as thin as possible!
Add a stripe of yellow stringer in the middle of the lollipop, closer to the base of the cane.
2 - Gently heat the edges of the lollipop to soft-but-not-liquid. Roll the edges gently to overlap at the base of the white cane.
3 - Take a second , shorter white rod with a melted tip to be your punty. Heat the end and also soften the end of your rolled-lollipop. Fuse on the punty (don't bother cold-fusing, since you'll be making a pointed end anyway so it's easier to just flame cut) and pull out a nice, even point. Keep the punty attached at the end for a handle!
4 - Soften a 1/2" of rod from base of the calla-lily upwards. Remove it from the flame and pull it gently into a thick stringer.
5 - Use the rod to pull it smoothly into a loop and stick it to the back of the lily near the top. Flame cut the loop off. You can heat and shape the remaining mini-blob but mostly leave it alone! It'll be at the back and it's easy to mess up your loop. Also see Mary Moth's off-mandrel loop tutorial for a different approach.
6 - Flash the whole lily in the flame to warm it (but don't soften it). At the same time, warm a pair of long-nosed pliers or long tweezers in the back of the flame. Grab the lily in a flat area, flame cut the punty off (quickly) and melt the point so it's pointy-but-not-sharp. Pop it in the kiln very quickly.

I have a funkadelic version to show. White would be much easier.

Thanks to all of you that posted tutorials on the calla's ! I have attempted these beautiful flowers on several occasions with little luck but now, I do believe I am good to go ! lol !
Thanks so much !
Debbie A.

That is a beautiful flower. Now I need to go learn how to draw on the computer.

Barb

Thanks Barb! Nowhere near your lovelies, but I'm progressing! The drawing was really easy - I just used Microsoft Paint (the free one that comes in Accessories beside the calculator). My "trick" is using the curved line... you lay it down and can then "bend" it in one or two places to make nice curves. Then I just copy and paste. It took me about 20 minutes to make.

-Heather

Thanks - I'll try that tonight. It's so much easier to explain with drawings then pictures.

Barb

This thread is GREAT!! Does anyone have a pictorial of how to do the Dot method on a Tab or lentil type bead (or tube bead) I'd love to try it but I can't "picture" it!
thanks!

OH MY GOSH.... WOW.... THANKS! I have been busy all week with the daycare, a craft fair yesterday...baby shower for someone I don't know today (lol...long story), and I just got a second to look at this thread again. Thanks SOOOO much for all who have shared. Please give these methods a try and post pics. Once I find an hour or two of time, I am going to go try these and see where I get with them. I SO EXCITED! :)

I'm so glad to see this thread! I've been in the mood to make large sculptural flowers, thanks to everyone that offered tutorials!

I tried it with the opalinos to see how the lollipop style worked and it was nice. That glass is rather gooey and moved around really easily. I think the white is too transluscent to look right as a flower though.
Thanks for all the hints, it was fun.
Marcy

So many ideas!
Thanks, everyone, for wonderful tutorials!

Great tutorials! Now im going to have to try all of them! LOL

Robyn
www.thefirewithinbeads.com

*grin* This thread inspired me to try to make off-mandrel calla lilies again, since I hadn't done one since the blue and red one pictured above. I'll try to get some pictures up in the next few days. Does anyone else want to share pictures of their versions?

And one tip - I found that using tweezers to fold the petals (step 2) resulted in too much of a tool-mark. I had better luck just pushing the folds in place with my torch marver. It worked out more as a soft roll that way instead of a fold, also.

I tried Heather's version using both the tweezers and roll on the marver. I also started laying the stamen off-center before I rolled and tried to get one side to fold over a bit at the bottom.

Thank you Heather!

It was weird working off mandrel, it just didn't "feel" stable and I kept worrying it was going to crack and fall off the rod. I definately need more practice and I'd like to work larger.



~Tracy

Tracy, I love those. It looks like you got it!
Marcy

Those are great, Tracy! I love the colours you used. The variegated stem is a really nice touch and the pink and orange blushes to the centre are lovely! Is this really your first time working off-mandrel? You're a natural! (My first tries were HIDEOUS!) Keep practicing and the weird feeling will go away. It's definitely a different approach from on-mandrel work!

I look forward to more pictures of any of the techniques - old beads or new!

-Heather

ps - Sometimes it *can* crack and fall off the rod... It's rare, but to be safe, always manipulate it over your worksurface, NEVER over your lap.

Everyone is just wonderful and you all give me warm fuzzies with your williness to share your knowledge. I'm really glad to have stumbled across Lampworketc.
Thank you,
Connie

Here's some pictures of mine. I like Tracy's better. :) But I had fun making these. I had an alabaster blue one that was really nice, too, but it sold before I could get a picture. I hope people post more of their calla beads, pendants and designs!

Wow, thank you Marcy and Heather!

The bottom greenery was just stripes of green stringer I spaced on the white rod after smashing it, and then when I added the loop, I twisted. I was actually trying to twist the flower petal more but this seemed to work out anyway. The inside pink was a rod leftover from when I had pulled stringer of white with oro rubino stripes (before I started using mandrels as punties for that).
Seriously though, I love these you just posted up there Heather! Yours look very "classy" and artistic. They'd be great made into a vase too! I don't know if you work that big but even small little vases where the top half forms a calla lily, I think that would be awesome.
No, I don't remember working off mandrel before..probably just for that reason that it was awkward. But maybe I did in the beginning and blocked the experience (and probably an ugly bead)from memory? :p :lol:
I know I had wanted to learn how to do a wig wag pendant at one time, but need to actually see it done to grasp it.

Beautiful lillies!! The biggest problem I have working off mandrel is remembering to keep my body parts out of the flame area because I tend to twist my entire body working on the piece - it's definitely a challenge of a different color.

Barb

I have to take some photos of mine. Just haven't had the time to do so. Every ones are really beautiful.

Here are my lillies and peace lillies. Sorry that it took so long.

Great work, Rose Leslie! It looks like you used a number of different techniques. I like the leaves you added to the sides of some of your flowers! Thank you for posting! :) -Heather