This is one effect I use shards for, there are many techniques and effects you can achieve with shards, I will try and explain what I have done in the top section of this heart pendant.
This applies to any shards you may want to use. The shards I used her I made myself.
The top of the heart is essentially a gather of Moretti Black glass, it will work on mandrel made beads too. I take the shards and if I have the time or patience, I arrange them on a warmer. If not, this particular technique is fine because you do not need to be exact with placement and if they break because of thermal shock, it is not an issue.
I spot heat the gather where I want to attach the shard. Once it is hot, with a small, very small flame I bring the shard and gather together just outside the flame. I ensure the heat is just at the edge of the shard, not in the center or it will likely fold up on you.
Once I have attached the shard where I want it, I use a VERY small flame and heat the shard from the contact point outward so it lays down flat against the base gather. I may manipulate it a bit at this point with tweezers or tack an edge down here or there with tweezers so the shard doesn't curl up or pull away from the base gather.
When I have the shard in place I heat it thoroughly until it is completely melted in to the gather. I almost always overlap shards here and there and will sometimes take smaller shard pieces and attach them to areas where I have already melted a shard in. This gives variation and striations to my color (color texture).
After I have the shards melted in and overlapped in some areas, I will often place varying sizes but generally small dots of clear or some other transparent that will enhance the shard color. In this pendant I have small dots of clear and small dots of pale aqua transparent. Then I melt the transparent dots in.
A few things to consider: Plan when you want to add your shards. Depending on the effect, you may want to add your shards before you get a good final shape on your beads or you may want to add them at the end. If you are using a silver glass shard that strikes easily and then easily turns to mud, you may want to take this in to account as to when you apply your shards. On the other hand if the silver glass needs a lot of heat in order to strike, you may not want to give your bead a nice, perfect shape before applying the shards.
This is just one effect and one technique I have described. There are many methods of applying shards and many different techniques you can achieve. I hope this helps get you STARTED and I hope you experiment with a variety of glasses for shards and a variety of techniques.
Have fun and I would love to see pics of your experiments posted here.
Otter