365 Penguins Fan Art lampwork bead tutorial for Beads of Courage

These super cute beads were inspired by a book that I read with my children in January 2015 called 365 Penguins. It was written by Jean-Luc Fromental and illustrated by Joëlle Jolivet. Joëlle has very kindly given me permission to write a not for profit fan art tutorial to show how I make them so that others may also create them for Beads of Courage donations. With Christmas just around the corner I thought that now would be a great time to share.

Step 1: Wind a tube of black glass on to your mandrel.

Step 2: Use a roller or a hand held graphite marver to shape your tube into a bullet shape.

 

I'm using a CG bead roller BR9 small chunky oval  here.

Step 4: Press your bead between 2 heat proof surfaces to form a tab shape.

Step 5: Draw a rectangle using chunky white stringer.

Step 6: Fill in your rectangle shape with swipes of white glass.

Step 7: Heat the whole bead and press it again.

Step 7: Add 2 swipes of black glass to form the wings and a large dot to form the beak.

Step8: Heat your bead and it press flat again.

Step 9: Add 2 large dots of orange or blue glass.

Step 10: Spot heat the tips of the wings and rake the soft glass with a dental pick to create points. Repeat this process to shape the beak.

Step 11: Heat the feet and press your whole bead flat again. Spot heat one foot and use a dental pick to rake twice to create 3 "toes". Repeat this process for the other foot. Add two black dots of glass for the eyes.

Step 12: Add a large dot of white on top of  each black eye dot, then layer on a second dot of black. 

Heat and press for a final time. Heat the whole bead through well and then garage in your kiln.

 

Happy Penguin making, Jo  xx