I made my first beads!!!!!!:-d

[fannydotson]

Hey Guys,

Pardon the caps, but I was yelling to the world! Tonight, I made my first beads. The first is seriously off center, and teardrop shaped, the second is off center, but has cute dots...lol, and the third is encased in clear. I do not have a kiln yet, but can take them to a shop in town and have them batch annealed. Until then, I have them cooling in a vermiculite in a small crock pot set on low. My question is this: How long does it take for them to cool down?

I would take a pic to show you, but I read in an earlier post that it I take a pic before they are annealed, they'll crack...so be patient...

[Puddy Tat Glass]

Congratulations ! Isn't it fun. I can't answer your question because I use a little kiln...but if you just leave them over night you're sure to have nicely cooled beads in the morning. Can't wait to see your pictures.

[glassymom]

Hi Fanny
Congrats!! It is a great feeling isn't it!!
As for the crockpot......before I got my kiln with the door I used to use a crockpot set on high and when I was finished making my beads I would just shut it off. If it was winter time *yea like its cold here LOL* I would put a towel around it. then next am I would take them out and when I had a bunch I would batch anneal.
Have fun!!
Sue

[NorLigh]

Congratulations! Welcome to the crazed addictive world of lampwork beadmaking. You'll now lay in bed at night dreaming off all the different color combos, styles, etc, of beads you can make!

[Carolyn M]

Congratulations!

Just a little advice, try to get the hang of making round beads before you attempt anything else. Try different colours, different combos etc, but if you can't make a round bead nothing else will ever be right! By round I mean donut shaped with nice holes.

Once they are cool taking a pic won't make them crack!

[fannydotson]

Originally Posted by Carolyn M

Congratulations!

Just a little advice, try to get the hang of making round beads before you attempt anything else. Try different colours, different combos etc, but if you can't make a round bead nothing else will ever be right! By round I mean donut shaped with nice holes.

Once they are cool taking a pic won't make them crack!

Sounds good to me! I can't wait till tomorrow!

[Doolollies]

Small beads I usually take out in a couple of hours or so after I have finished torching. I bury mine DEEP. I have a large spoon and I scoop a hole and lower the bead and then pile it up with vermiculite. A few times I rammed them in too hot and Hershey kiss shaped glass blobs.

HAVE FUN!

[fannydotson]

Originally Posted by Doolollies

Small beads I usually take out in a couple of hours or so after I have finished torching. I bury mine DEEP. I have a large spoon and I scoop a hole and lower the bead and then pile it up with vermiculite. A few times I rammed them in too hot and Hershey kiss shaped glass blobs.

HAVE FUN!

He he he , my first is the most perfectest kiss you ever did see! LOL! I'll remember that!
Thanks!

[Karen Hardy]

Looking forward to seeing what you made!

I remember my first beads. Misshapen blobs with
lots of dirty residue trapped under the clear from
a defective torch I was using.
I STILL treasure them! WE all gotta start somewhere!

[theglasszone]

YAY, Fanny!!! YAY, YAY, YAY....And I second what NorLigh said - the part about lying in bed dreaming of all the colors and shapes, and, and, and....

It's my reason for getting up every morn!

Congrats baby! I'm proud of you!

De

[houptdavid]

Fanny well post them in the newbie gallery in the Gallery and join the challenges

[Judith Billig]

Congrats on your first beads.
And do keep them ... I just showed this week a visitor and newbee some of my first beads from 3 years ago. We had a good laugh about them ... oh my, the shapes, the colors, the bead ends!

[fannydotson]

Wow! you guys are awesome! Thanks for all the responses! I will most definitely keep them. Oh, and already started dreamin' 'bout all the different techniques I have been researching! It's funny, in my dreams, I am a true artist, then I woke up and was like, someday!

[Otter's Flame]

Wooooo hoooooooo Fanny!!!! Good for you!!!!! I still remember my first beads also...... opaque yellow blobs with sharp ends, periwinkle and white and then when I got all fancy.... after about a week..... white with periwinkle dots!! All of them wonky, globby, sharp ends and the most hideous little things I will treasure forever. Good luck on your new addiction!!!!!!!

Otter

[fannydotson]

The two blue ones are the FIRST> The smaller one is the one my hubby made. He used the small graphite paddle and everything. The larger one...the one that has vermiculite embedded in it and sort of resembles a turd, would be my first one.
The broken one, well, let's just say I will wait until they are annealed before I attempt cleaning anymore...lol.
And the green and red one looks like a turd one way, adn a donught the other. Whatever.

[Dale M.]

Some thing you may want to consider is stop making beads, yes that is what I said...... NO not because of your first results, but for a educational moment......

Hot glass is like a fluid, its always in motion...... Wind on a mandrel a hot blob of glass and play with it... Get it to hot and see what it does, let glas get to cool and see what it will not do.... Rotate mandrel to slow and what results, rotate mandrel to fast and watch diameter grow.... Hold mandrel with one or the other end up or down and see what glob does...

Hot glass is like a fluid, in space it tends to want to form a perfect circle.... But captive on mandrel it is influenced by gravity and rotational forces ... After you spend a while (maybe a hour) watching how glass moves and flow and how you can push it around with tools you will have better under standing on how to form a bead..... Yes its is a sacrifice to the glass gods to waste that small bit of glass but you will learn more just playing with the glob for a while and you will be making better shaped beads almost immediately, because you have learned about the fluid dynamics of the hot glass without the pressure to make the perfect bead....

Also there is a lot of argument about heated crockpots... its never been proven that heating vermiculite is a positive... I just use a coffee can and it works just fine..... And it only takes a hour or two to cool in vermiculite then you can pull them out....

Dale

[fannydotson]

Thanks Dale. That is a great idea! I have enough glass to play with. That is what it is for, right. I'm off to blob away!

[clan tabby]

My first glass mantra was - keep the mandrel level, keep the mandrel level ..... What Dale said - hot glass acts like a fluid & gravity is in charge. If the mandrel is off of horizontal, the glass is going to move toward the down pointing side. In the not-too-distant future, you will use this property of gravity & hot glass constantly for forming beads, but with intent & direction. Right now it's important to - keep the mandrel level - for a nicely shaped round. I thought I would never get used to it, but after a short time you won't even have to think about it any more.

It's great you & your husband are starting out together. Have fun!

Nancie

[j2canoe]

Hi Fanny! Your beads look better than my first ones did! It's so addictive! There is nothing like the thrill of creating! I used a crockpot before I got my kiln. I had good luck with setting it on high and leaving it on while I was making beads and then for about an hour after putting the last bead in. Not too many cracked and most are still around today. I found that I had the best luck when I kept the beads kind of smallish - not larger than about 3/4inch. I like your choice of colors! Have fun with all of the different types of glasses! There is a ton of information here on this website and also at (can I say it here?) WetCanvas.com Both have helped me tremendously!

[fannydotson]

Originally Posted by j2canoe

Hi Fanny! Your beads look better than my first ones did! It's so addictive! There is nothing like the thrill of creating! I used a crockpot before I got my kiln. I had good luck with setting it on high and leaving it on while I was making beads and then for about an hour after putting the last bead in. Not too many cracked and most are still around today. I found that I had the best luck when I kept the beads kind of smallish - not larger than about 3/4inch. I like your choice of colors! Have fun with all of the different types of glasses! There is a ton of information here on this website and also at (can I say it here?) WetCanvas.com Both have helped me tremendously!

Your not the only person to mention the other site. Thanks for the support!!!
I made three more this morning. One small purple. It is much better than the first ones. One more doughnut shaped green one. It is just a little off. And one teal with green dots. I even made an attempt at raking...he he he! Will post pics later.

[Diane (clarus)]

WC is ok; I learned a lot there when I first started, but LE is where the best and most info is gathered. Torchbugs is also excellent.

I think WC is where there's a great thread that IIRC is called "The one tip that made the difference" or something like that. It's a compilation of tips that were what made the biggest difference in beadmaker's own techniques. The one that I took to heart was from Val Cox, and it's along the lines of what Dale just told you - just spend time melting the ends of rods. See how each color works in the flame. Opaques are softer than transparents. But some opaques are stiffer than others. That's one of the basics that's good to get to know. It also teaches you to use gravity to your advantage. That's the basis for Jim Smircich's techniques - he's a master beadmaker who uses gravity to his advantage and does some amazing things. He has a great set of DVDs available.

Also, to echo the comments on your studio - please work on the ventilation. You need to get those fumes out of there, not just blow them around into the rest of your house. I know you're excited - believe me, I've been there, done that! But you need to be safe.

Have fun!

-Diane

[Doolollies]

Dale is right because it is very helpful to "droop" around and wind different colors because a lot of them have different viscosities. Some are really runny and some are real stiff and you will get the feel. My AH HA moment came when someone posted to let the glass droop to even out the footprint AND you CAN NOT round it out IN THE FLAME...and I was twirling like a mad woman in the flame and found all you have to do is remove it from the flame turn it slowly and tip it back and forth while looking long ways down the mandrel. If it cools too much give it some heat. Fannie dear...your life will never be the same. Have fun.

[j2canoe]

Some great advice here! My holy grail when I first started were those beautiful "doughnut" beads with those puckered ends!!!! I admired everyone's and tried and tried to make it myself - but to no avail. Finally, (after much reading of threads) the AHA! moment happened. The easiest way to do these is to make a small "footprint" of a couple of rounds of glass (I make mine side by side for an average bead) and then round this out and let it cool or set up just until it is not glowing (You don't want it to be molten when you do the next step. Then wrap your "footprint" in the middle (make a disc of glass) about 3 or so times as high as your "footprint" is wide. Then rotate the bead slowly as the disc settles onto your footprint. It should create your puckered ends. You can add more glass in the same fashion if it is not to the shape that you want yet. Might as well practice this while trying out the different types of glass too!

[rverk47]

congratulations and have fun with it!

[CelesteK]

All those great ideas you get for making beads--write them down. I started a notebook with ideas I want to try. I have another "recipe book" of ideas that worked out well and I want to remember how to do them again. When I cease to fear the camera I'm going to mount pictures next to each recipe.

Celeste

[deirdreschaneman]

Congratulations! I still have my very first bead...a lopsided white mess that cracked on one side because I admired it too long before sticking it in the vermiculite. But in a lot of ways, that sad little bead is one of the most important things I ever did in my life because it set me down the path to the most rewarding work I've ever done in my life. Enjoy your new torch and the wonderful journey ahead!

[Rose]

I cooled my beads in vermiculite for several years, and always batch annealed them. Most of them made it. I had a teacher tell us once that we shouldn't peek for 20 minutes. That's for small to medium sized beads. It seemed to work. When you are just starting to make beads and aren't selling anything this is great way to go.

[ElementalsDesign]

Welcome Fanny.. to the wonderful world of addiction to glass (and, at least in my case, flame ;}
I think it's about time someone set up a 12 step program just for us.

Pretty sure it would go something like this:

1) Listen to what Dale had to say.. or get Smircich's DVDs (or both!)

2) Figure out what you're going to sell to be able to afford a digitally controlled kiln (I ended up selling my Kerr '999' burnout kiln and long arm centrifuge :} ..talk about an addiction!

3) Read and study everything you can find.. especially books, dvds and online tutorials and threads.. there are even a bunch of cool clips on youtube.com. Take classes if you can (I wish I could but for now am just glad I'm used to learning stuff on my own from books etc. because I haven't the $$)

4) Everyone here will tell you (and still say it to themselves you'll find) again and again and again.. The golden rule is: "practice, practice, practice!" ('PPP')

5)

..here I'm going to defer to them what know a whole lot more than I do.. maybe I should even start a new thread...

There are SO many accomplished artists and lampworkers here on LE..

Would anyone be willing to work on a list ie: 12 steps for newly addicted lampworkers? Please?
(serious here, even if most of what I type is a bit tongue in cheek?)

Rachel the firekat

[fannydotson]

Originally Posted by RCB23

Welcome Fanny.. to the wonderful world of addiction to glass (and, at least in my case, flame ;}
I think it's about time someone set up a 12 step program just for us.

Pretty sure it would go something like this:

1) Listen to what Dale had to say.. or get Smircich's DVDs (or both!)

2) Figure out what you're going to sell to be able to afford a digitally controlled kiln (I ended up selling my Kerr '999' burnout kiln and long arm centrifuge :} ..talk about an addiction!

3) Read and study everything you can find.. especially books, dvds and online tutorials and threads.. there are even a bunch of cool clips on youtube.com. Take classes if you can (I wish I could but for now am just glad I'm used to learning stuff on my own from books etc. because I haven't the $$)

4) Everyone here will tell you (and still say it to themselves you'll find) again and again and again.. The golden rule is: "practice, practice, practice!" ('PPP')

5)

..here I'm going to defer to them what know a whole lot more than I do.. maybe I should even start a new thread...

There are SO many accomplished artists and lampworkers here on LE..

Would anyone be willing to work on a list ie: 12 steps for newly addicted lampworkers? Please?
(serious here, even if most of what I type is a bit tongue in cheek?)

Rachel the firekat

Thanks for the advice. Starting a 12 Steps thread is a great idea! I'll read it!

[ElementalsDesign]

Originally Posted by fannydotson

Thanks for the advice. Starting a 12 Steps thread is a great idea! I'll read it!

Me too.. maybe I'd better get to it, huh? (me)