In the most recent issue of "The Glass Bead," which is a quarterly publication of the International Society of Glass Bead Makers, or ISGB, there is a wonderful tutorial written by Margie Shanahan on how to make a Calla Lily Bead. The tutorial is well written and illustrated.
I decided that this project, a calla lily bead, would be my next challenge on the torch. For whatever reason, I didn't take the magazine downstairs with me as I began to torch. I had read the tutorial and looked at all the pictures, right? Taking the magazine down would not be necessary, right?
Wrong. I did visualize and follow the steps in the tutorial. The problem was two fold, 1) I used a hollow mandrel and 2) I skipped steps 3 & 4. Ooops! Luckily, since I used a hollow mandrel, when my flower collapsed because I had skipped steps 3 & 4, I was able to save the bead and blow a simple vessel from the molten glass. Cool!
I do like the vessel, but it wasn't a calla lily.
All right, next day, take the magazine down and refer to it as I torched. This time, I still used the wrong type of mandrel. I used a hollow mandrel with a small hole in it for blowing hollow beads. oooops! One quick save with a dot of glass over the hole, just in case I missed a step again, but this time, it formed. I made a calla lily bead. Take a look at it! It's in my Etsy shop now. I added some crystals and seed beads and strung it on a choker. Love it! Thank you, Margie Shanahan for sharing this bead!
At last, my vessel became a bead!
4 comments:
OH! Both these pieces are absolutely gorgeous! :)
That's a yummy blue vessel, Mallory-- the colors are sooo pretty in that picture! The lily turned out very nicely, too!
That's amazing that you created this! And you're also going to start working with clay? Will be fun to see your work in both mediums!
Cindy
www.sweetbeadstudio.com
These are really pretty love the blue vessel...I better open my magazine.
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