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Jomsborg |
My search for beads that looked sufficiently Viking for my persona led me to take a class on glass bead-making at the Ann Arbor Art Center. I was surprised to find it is relatively easy and inexpensive to make glass beads. Start-up equipment costs around $100 for a set-up that will enable you to make many mistakes and many more beautiful beads.
Glass is an unusual material that has no truly solid state. When heated, glass expands slightly and becomes softer. Glass also tends to form a ball when heated, making it ideally suited to producing beads. When you roll some glass from a rod onto a mandrel and heat it in a torch flame, it quickly forms a round, even ball. This is what makes it such an excellent material for making beads, as our ancestors discovered thousands of years ago.
A main concern when making glass beads is to change the temperature of the glass slowly to avoid breakage. Once the beads are made, it is important to cool them slowly, to avoid cracking them. Finished beads under 1/2” in diameter are placed in between two fiber blankets, to retard heat loss. Larger beads need to be annealed, in a bead kiln. For this article, I am going to concentrate on the construction of smaller beads, since a bead kiln is a major expense.
Another potential problem is that different types of glass are not compatible in bead-making, as they have different coefficients of expansion--i.e., they expand and contract at different rates. This increases the likelihood of the bead cracking during the cooling process. When purchasing glass for bead-making, it is most convenient to purchase the same brand of glass. Or, at least, keep your stock of different types of glass separate.
For a bare-bones bead-making kit, you will need:
Bead Mandrels are stainless steel sticks used to form beads. They come in two sizes, depending on the size of beads (and the center holes in them) you want to make. I recommend getting 24 mandrels to start.
A Bead Mandrel Holder keeps the mandrels upright while they are drying. A wooden block with holes drilled into it works well (in a pinch Styrofoam can be used).
Bead Reamers are used to scrape out the extra bead separator remaining in your beads once they are removed from the mandrels. They can also be used to sand off rough glass edges.
Real pipe cleaners (not the craft kind) work fairly well to clean out the bead cores.
Bead Separator is a clay-like liquid that helps the formed bead come off the mandrel.
A Fiber Blanket approximately 1” thick (not asbestos) is used to help the beads cool slowly so they won't crack. You need two equal-sized pieces.
Glass Rods are most often used because their shape lends itself to easy bead-making. Moretti is a brand name of glass that comes in 1/4” wide rods. It is easier to work with than other types of glass because it softens at a lower temperature. There are many different varieties of glass rod--transparent colors, opaque colors, clear glass with a colored core, etc.
A Heat-Proof Surface, such as a stove and counter mat, will protect your work surface.
The Hot Head Torch is especially designed for bead-making with a small MAPP gas canister--a safer and simpler set-up than is usually used for glass-working. The benefits of the Hot Head Torch is that its design sucks air into the flame area, allowing the torch to burn hotter than it would with a regular tip. The hotter flame also helps to preserve the colors of glass from getting muddy.
A Jar of Cold Water, such as a plastic peanut butter jar with a plastic lid. The cold water is for immersing/cooling metal tools. Or sometimes, it's for burned fingers.
A Lighter with a flint and striker like you probably used in high school chemistry class.
MAPP Gas is a blend of fuels that burns hotter than propane. It comes in small 1 pound canisters and is available at hardware stores.
Pliers are useful for pulling beads off mandrels. And also for holding hot tools or pulling stringer.
A Rubber Jar Gripper can be used to hold the beads while trying to get them off the mandrels.
Safety Glasses are a necessity. (There are also special glass-workers' safety glasses with lenses coated with didymium that cut down on glare.)
A Scrubby Pad like you would use for nonstick cookware. That's the minimalist kit. It's also fun to have:
A Bead Rake is a little metal tool that looks a lot like a dentist's tool. It has two pointy ends, one of which is at a 90 degree angle. It is used to make designs on the hot glass, either by poking it into the glass or drawing it across the surface. This is one tool that, when heated too much, goes into your water jar to cool off.
A Graphite Paddle is slab of graphite mounted on a handle that looks a lot like a mini-popsicle. It is used to shape beads--for cylinders, double cones, etc.
A Marver is a graphite block used to shape beads.
A Dual Purpose Marver comes with one smooth side and one grooved side, for texturing beads.
A Mille-Marver comes with a base so that you can attach it to your torch head. The mille-marver and its shelf heat up. You can use the shelf to pre-heat small pieces (stringer, millefiori), and the marver does not cool your bead when you use it for shaping.
Scissors can also be used to snip and poke hot glass for different effects.
Onto the bead-making process. Find a place to work that has good ventilation and a sturdy work surface. Also, be sure it's a place where flying shards of glass won't bother you (do you really think they'll vacuum out of the carpet?). It's not a good idea to choose a room inhabited by other people. Since you'll be working with an open flame, do the obvious safety checks--wear close-fitting clothes made of cotton or other natural materials, tie back long hair, remove any flammable or volatile substances from the area, etc.
Here's how to make a simple round glass bead:
First, coat your bead mandrels with bead separator and put them in your holder to dry for 20 minutes. If you start working before the bead separator is dry, it does not work.
While waiting for the mandrels to dry, set up your equipment on a heat-proof pad. Set up your torch. (Don't store the torch head on the gas canister. It's tempting, but don't do it.) Make sure the gas canister is secured and will not tip over (kits are available to hang it from the edge of a table--lowering it to a convenient height). Open a window and turn on a fan.
Put on your safety glasses (rapidly heating glass can shatter).
Make sure you've pointed the tip of the torch away from you. Then turn the gas on low and light your torch. Once it's lit, turn up the flame so that there is about 1” blue flame in the center of the torch flame. This will ensure that the flame is hot enough. If it is not hot enough, it will not be easy to work with the glass.
Bring the tip of the glass rod into the flame about 1” above the blue flame center. Keep moving the rod back and forth as you heat it. You will quickly learn how much you have to move it to keep it from shattering. Also, it is a good idea to roll the glass rod back and forth between your fingers so that the end twirls a bit. When it gets hot, this will keep the heated glass from glopping to the floor.
| 6. When the glass rod begins to ball up at the end, heat your bead mandrel in the flame above the glass rod. Keep rolling the glass rod between your fingers. When the mandrel is hot, wind the glass from the rod onto the heated mandrel. The glass should easily stick and flow onto the mandrel. (Like solder, the glass moves to the hotter area.) |  |
| 7. Now that you have glass on the mandrel, you must also start twirling the mandrel to keep the bead even. This is more challenging, as you must also keep the glass from flowing up or down the mandrel. Watch the glass--it will run tend to run to the floor. The trick is to keep everything moving in the flame. Work quickly here. |  |
| 9. When the bead is the size you want, slowly pull the glass rod away, leaving the bead on the mandrel. Twirl the bead in the flame to keep the shape an even ball (“fire-polishing”). |  |
Remove the mandrel from the flame. Look at it in dull light (a shadow works) to see if it is still red-hot. Once it is not red-hot, put it in between fiber blankets to cool. If you put it in the fiber blankets too soon, the bead sticks and picks up the fibers.
In between beads, or anytime you do not have glass in the flame, turn the flame off. This conserves fuel and keeps the room cooler. If you notice your gas canister getting sweaty and cold to the touch, it is probably running low, or needs a break.
Cool the bead for a half-hour in the fiber blankets. More time is no problem.
Using a pair of pliers to hold the mandrel, and a rubber jar gripper to hold the bead, pull the bead off the mandrel using a twisting motion. It may be helpful to soak the bead and mandrel in water first. If the bead is very stubborn, you can try soaking it in water overnight.
Clean the bead separator from the inside of the beads using a bead reamer. Clean the bead separator off the mandrel with water and a dish scrubby.
When picking up, assume everything is hot before touching it, especially your torch.
There are many variations and ways to use color and texture in making glass beads. One easy way is to combine different colors of glass in the same bead--swirls, stripes, or blocks of color. Another way is by using stringer. Stringer is glass rod that has been stretched very thin.
| To make stringer, you put the center of a glass rod into the flame until it heats up. When the glass is hot enough, slowly and steadily pull it apart. If done correctly, the hot glass pulls into a very thin rod. Handle it carefully as stringer is very delicate. With stringer you can make different patterns on beads. Slowly touching stringer to a hot bead and pulling it away will produce dots. Slowly winding it or laying it on a bead will produce stripes. You can create spider-web patterns by laying on stringer stripes and then running through them with your bead rake. Stringer spiralled down the outside of a bead produces a candy-cane effect. Making stringer requires no tools, just practice. |  |
It is also fun to experiment with shapes in bead-making. Once you've mastered simple round beads, try oval beads, cylindrical beads, square and rectangular beads, even heart-shaped or sculptural beads. A graphite paddle or marver is handy for squishing the hot glass in one direction or another.
Supplies can be obtained from:
HOT HEAD GLASS
7711 North Kenneth Skokie, IL 60076
(800) FIRED-UP or (800) 347-3387 (847) 933-0350
or try a web search for one of many, many suppliers available.
Two books which I have found to be very helpful are:
You Can Make Glass Beads! by Cindy Jenkins
This book covers the basics of glass bead-making with clear explanations and line drawings.
Making Glass Beads by Cindy Jenkins
This book covers the same territory as the first, but includes color photographs instead of line drawings. It also goes into more detail about advanced bead-making techniques such as gold and silver foil beads, using and making millefiori, and even has a section on basic jewelry-making.
Good Luck !
Please note: While every effort has been made to give accurate
instructions, the author will not accept any liability for any resulting injury,
damage or loss to either person or property whether direct or consequential and
howsoever arising.