Take One Reflection

This is my reflection on our first glass bead making session. This was not my first time making beads, I had actually gone in September on my own to take a class. This was great, because it meant that I already had the basic knowledge of what we were going to be doing. But, because this time I was actually going with this project on my mind, I was able to noticed and reflect on things that I was not able to the first time.

Clockwise: Square bead (black with white and blue eye designs); Stringer attempt (black & white); Segmented with collar bead (white and purple); Round bead (blue with white dots); 'Flower' bead (black); Segmented bead (broken) (blue & clear)

One of the things that really stood out to me was that the beads making process is very time consuming and requires a lot of patience. First you have to make sure the glass rod is heated properly, which takes time, then once the glass is on the mandrel it takes time for the shape to come together. If you try and rush it, the glass can shatter and the shape and design can be affected. Even the simplest bead shape takes time and patience. I did find myself rushing, and I believe that shows in my beads - they were not as good as they could have been. Because of the time involved in shaping each bead, it can also be very tiring, especially for the hand and arm. I found that I was resting my arm on the table a lot and had to switch hands frequently.

Segmented with collar

I tried many different shapes and designs this time around, to try and practice my technique. I attempted these shapes: round, cylinder, segmented, segmented with collar, ‘flower’, triangle, square, and rectangle.

I also attempted to do some designs on the beads, mostly consisting of dots, and creating eye designs - which is having a dot within a dot. When it comes to designs of any kind, from dots to lines, it takes a steady hand, and there is not a lot of room for mistake (if you want to make a ‘perfect’ design).

Cylinder with eye design and sticking-up dots

Not all of them made it through the cooling process, as you can see some shattered when they were cooling (above the clear and blue segmented bead was made as one bead, the bead broke in two parts when cooling). This happens when the outside of the glass cools too fast. There is a process called annealing, which the Vikings practiced, where the bead is cooled at a very slow rate. The Vikings did this process by keeping the glass beads on the edge of the furnace. Today the beads are put in a kiln. We do not have access to a kiln though, so we cannot replicate this process. Instead we use a fiberglass blanket, but that does not always insure a slow cooling process.

I also attempted to make my own stringer (below) made of two colors. This is done by heating two colors and pressing them together. You press until you have a 'ball' of glass, then take it out of the flame and slowly pull one side. The glass should stretch apart - almost like melted cheese but the 'string' is firmer. As you can see from my attempt, it broke before it stretched very far.

Attempted stringer

In all, this experience was really great. It allowed me to further practice my bead making techniques and I was able to reflect on some of the struggles I had - mainly with patience :) I look forward to the next experiment, and making more beads.