Twistie cored focal bead with hearts

I tend to make these beads on 4mm mandrels, turns out they are great as a center piece for beaded kumihimo type bracelets.

Equipment and glass that I've used:

• round cavity graphite bead roller
• graphite paddle
• steel dental pick
• parallel mashers
• clear glass
• CiM Marachino
• Effetre white commercial stringer
• goldstone ribbon twistie cane
• fine black stringer

Step 1
Make a tube bead out of clear or pale transparent glass that fits the cavity on your 1 size down from the size you would like to make.

Step 2
Encase your clear core with a layer of CiM Maracshino.

Step 3
Melt the Maraschino glass in and round off the edges in your graphite roller.

Step 4
Wrap a spiral of twistie cane around your Maraschino Core. I've used a black edged goldstone ribbon twistie here but you can use whatever twistie cane you like to make best.

Step 5
Wrap a second spiral of twistie cane around your core bead laying it between the wraps of the first spiral.

Step 6
Melt in your twistie wraps carefully and marver them in smooth with a graphite paddle.

Step 7
Spot heat your bead and make some twists with a fine black stringer to add interest.

Step 8
Encase your bead with a layer of clear glass. I have used Effetre 006 clear here.

Step 9
Melt in your encasing layer and smooth off your bead in the roller cavity.

Step 10
Add more clear glass at the edges and around the centre of your bead. By doing this you are ensuring that you will make neat puckered bead holes and are bulking out your bead to fill the next size up cavity in your roller.

Step 11
Melt in your clear glass and shape your bead in your roller.

Step 12
Add 4 or 5 largish white dots close to the bead holes on both sides of your bead and melt them in flat

Step 13
Add large dots of CiM Maraschino over your white dots and melt them in flat.

Step14
Spot heat each dot in turn and rake your dots into hearts using a dental pick.

Step 15
Repeat the heating and raking process on the other side of your bead.

Step 16
Slowly melt your bead smooth again and shape in your roller cavity.

Step 17
Pull some extra fine white stringer, I heat the end of the commercial stringer and anchor it to the end of my mandrel to pull out fine stringer as I need it.

Step 18
Wrap the fine stringer randomly around the centre of your bead and melt it smooth.

Step 19
Heat your bead until glowing and then press it in a parallel press or handheld mashers.

Step 20
Flame polish away any chill marks created when you pressed your bead and pop it in your kiln to anneal.

Have a great day, Jolene x

My Etsy and My eBay
and Frit N Chips lampwork supplies.

52 little things week 36 and 37

I am playing catch up with my 52 week project in September, my kiln has been out of action and had to go in for repair which meant no beads...

I had planned to make bright yellow beads this month as it is International Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and so here are my bold bright zingy sunny yellow beads for Week 36 and 37.

Hopefully they will go down a treat with the Beads of Courage kids.

I've also written a little tutorial showing how to make a gold and black flat cane to use for creating the Awareness Ribbon detail - you can find it on my blog here

http://kitzbitzartglass.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/gold-ribbon-beads-special-tutorial-for.html

Have a super week
Jolene xx

52 little things week 35

Not surprisingly my week 35 52 little things bead for Beads of Courage UK this week is ocean themed. I've been on a sea side kick over the past couple of weeks, and I've completely fallen in love with a heart press that I recently bought second hand. It's the 3mm puffy heart from www.beadpress.com

This special heart has a wee baby octopus on the front and a starfish on the back too.


Jolene xx