Back From Vacation and a Few Beadies

I just looked at the date I was last here and it's been too long that I last posted.  Wow !  Since that date, we have taken a short vacation and there was lots happening at home.   Ever find out when it's too hot that your AC is on the blink ?  Anyway, I did have a little torch time in there and even made a beaded braid while on the road during vacation.  No pics of the braid but I did manage some of the beadies posted below.

These two beads are called fire and ice. Taken from a freebie tutorial written up long ago (years) by Mrs. Booger's husband I believe.  I'll have to verify that one.  I never did make these beads until this month and it was pretty much fun.  The only thing I'll do differently next time is make the twistie much smaller.  I have a tendency of making larger diameter twisties.  lol !  Still, I really enjoy the colors in these beads.  Thanks to Mr. Booger !

This very large freeform pressed focal bead is a favorite of mine.  Just frit added to some transparent glass and some of it twisted about.  I do enjoy very much how it turned out !  I will play with this frit some more.  :)  You may see this bead in a beaded braid necklace.  

BIG SIGH HERE !  lol !  This bead is a "What not to do" bead !  lol !  I will show those beads when they happen.  lol !  This one is NOTHING like it started out to be.  Right off hand I don't remember the color I started with.  It was either black or cobalt blue.  Either way, I added some silver foil and other ingredients to the base and it still didn't turn out like I wanted.  So I did the "logical" thing - I mixed it all together, hid that mess with MORE glass !  Dark Ivory, silver foil and black.  Hmmmm, the bead only got bigger and uglier !  lol !   This is the result.  ICK !  Every bead maker has done this at one time or another and usually more than once and most will NOT show them in public.  I think, showing our "what not to do beads" only shows others we are not "know it all's" in this world of melting glass and are willing to experiment !  :)  I mean, experimenting is 90% of this craft/art and sooooo much fun !  lol ! 
  

My Etsy shop is open again now that we're back from vacation so if you so desire, take a few minutes and have a peak. 

Thanks much for coming by.  Please come back again sometime soon.  I'll be posting back on schedule once again.  :) 

Adding Elements to A Lampwork Bead

Today's post is all about making and adding a certain element to a lampwork bead called a twistie.  These are little pieces of art all on their own if you ask me.  Simple to make to some while a difficult undertaking to others.  They add yet another wonderful step in adding design to the glass bead.  Pictured just below are the twisties I've made so far this week.  I will be making more along with canes.  Canes, are yet another element and will be explored further at a later date.  :)
 

 

As you can see, they come in as many color combinations as one can think of !  The skies the limit as far as that goes as well as how many colors that can be added to a single twistie.  For the twisties pictured, I pretty much stayed with up to 4 colors.  The sizes you see here range from about 6" in length to a couple that are 20" in length.  Twisties are put together using a few different methods and they all work perfectly.  The paddle method, adding stinger to a rod of glass, attaching several rods together with a rubber band, etc.  Once all the colors are melted in, then you pull and "twist".  Depending on how much glass you've added, you can get a pretty long twistie !    

I'm sure there are video's on YouTube showing each method but since I rarely go to YouTube I can't connect to any here.  Sorry.  I would just do a search for lampwork twisties there.  

 

Now that the twisties are ready to use, it's time to add it to a bead.  The photo below shows a few ways twisties can be used in a bead.  Once again, the skies the limit as far as what can be done with these colorful addtions to a bead !  In the past, I made lots of beads for Beads Of Courage using bright, colorful twisties.  Below, the large one on top left is twistie cane encased.  The blue donut bead is a twistie melted on top, no encasing.  Bottom left is one for the BOC kids, twisties just melted into a white bead and eyes added.  The bell flower next to the dime is a red, yellow and orange twistie melted into a press to make the pretty little flower.  :)  So much more you can do too !

 

 

Making twisties to use can be very time consuming but well worth the effort to be sure !  And at the end of the torching day, if you have any tiny nibs of twistie left, you can add them to an "end of the day" bead and end up with a surprise that might be the best bead made all day !  lol ! 

 

Thanks so much for coming by.  I hope you come back again soon !