Experiment Round 2: A Personal Reflection

Having picked up the mandrel and torch only once before, I wasn’t expecting a sudden mastery of bead making skills; upon starting our second experiment, I realized this was probably a good call. Producing fewer and lesser quality beads, the second experiment left me at a loss- Perhaps my prior efficiency was beginners luck? One thing is for certain, the learning curve of bead making is something not to be underestimated.

The following images are some beads created in Experiment 2:

Spiral Designed  Bead

Through applying white molten glass (from a stringer) to a blue base in lines while spinning the mandrel, I was able to create the effect of a spiralling pattern (much like a typical hard candy mint).

Blue and White Eye Bead

 Taking note of colour, design, and shape of a traditional Viking design found within one of our sources, I used a deep yellow colour as the base material for this bead. After shaping both ends with a tweezer-like tool (thus creating the flattened ends of the beads), I applied white dots, followed by overlaying blue dots. In order to make sure the white dots remained visible when covered by the blue dots, I melted the white stringer for a slightly longer period of time. This allowed for the molten glass to accumulate as a larger ball at the end of the stringer before dropping onto the yellow base colour.

Green and Clear Bead

This bead was created by the layering of a green base with a clear topcoat of molten glass. Even distribution of both glass types proved somewhat challenging, as the drooping of the molten glass onto one side of the mandrel (despite frequent spinning) pulled the green glass into the clear glass, making their distinction less uniform throughout the bead.

Blue Bead (a)

Blue Bead (b)

This basic bead was created through the use of a glass rod purchased for the soul purpose of its distinct colour, which closely matches the simple blue beads produced by the Vikings. As one may be able to tell, this bead is rather asymmetrical; thicker on one side, it likely should have been kept in the heat of the torch for a few more minutes to redistribute the molten glass before hardening.

Melon Bead

This was my first attempt at a Melon shaped bead. Made of a white base with blue and yellow dots, this bead proved challenging to keep uniformly shaped extensions. Through pressing a wire-like tool into the sides of a normally formed bead, one must anticipate where the tool will be placed next by taking into account how deep the tool is being pressed, and thus where the molten glass is being displaced.