Lampworking or Flameworking, same difference really!
It basically is the art of making glass beads using a flame. That’s it! But definitely not that easy…A lot of dexterity, experience and patience goes into that craft. An eye for colour is also required if you want to excell at it. Any one can melt glass on a rod but the result might not be to everyone’s taste! lol
Here’s a very quick and simple tutorial to give you an idea of what is involved :
you will need :

* a rod of glass, pick your favorite color!
* a mandrel dipped in bead release
* a lampworking torch and oxygen concentrator or hothead
* a kiln or even a fibre blanket will do for now
* protective glasses with didymium lenses
* a bit of water handy would be great in case you need to cool off your glass rod

Here’s how to:
* Get your torch going…
* fibre blanket or vermiculite close on hand
* dipped mandrel in your left hand
* glass rod of your choice in your right hand
* warm up your mandrel in the flame
* introduce your glass rod as well and wait a few seconds to form a mini glass ball
* then simply wrap the glass (direction : away from you) on the dipped bit of the mandrel
* make it as thick or as thin as you want, turn it over and over in the flame to spread evenly the glass and to smooth it out.
* and…that’s about it, pop your bead into the kiln/vermiculite/fibre blanket. and there you are, you created your first glass bead! There on the picture you can see the flamboyant bead (very hot) on the mandrel in her left hand.

Of course this is a VERY basic step-by-step. There’s a lot of health and safety issues involved that I strongly recomend you look into if you’re serious about getting started, as well as how to use the torch and so on. And really tere is nothing like being taught by a pro. However, a great read for beginners and pros is ‘Passing the flame’ by Corina Tettinger. Brilliant step-by-step and photographs for bead enthusiasts.

I have taken a lampwork course a while back now and I loved it! I’do love to set up my own studio; actually saving up for that one!

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