Baby Lampwork:)

So...one week in, and we can see our improvement over the course of 7
days. We fired up the kiln twice, and decided it wasn't worth it just
yet, so we're just using the fiber blanket for now.

I keep pulling out the beads we made 2-3 years ago, in our stolen
moments at the torch in my folks' basement. Wow. Compared to what we
made this week, those beads are insanely bad Its amazing what a bit
of reading (over and over) will do for your rudimentary skills.

So far, my focus has mostly been on learning what each glass can and
can't do...how it reacts to other glass, to different flames, etc.
Adam's has been on technique, since the basics seem to come naturally to
him. By Friday, I could make a pretty darn good basic bead, the donut
shape with good dimples. It took some trial and error, figuring out how
best to position my body, the torch, the glass rod, and the mandrel. It
turns out I'm a side winder--I need to look at what I'm doing from the
side in order to lay down a good, even footprint. After that, I can go
back to looking over the torch to do the decorating

Adam's big hurdle is prepping the bead properly for the fiber blanket,
and keeping his beads warm and rotating while working on them. He's
very impatient, and wants to be Done when he's done. I keep reminding
him...okay..nagging him...to keep the glass warm, and to follow the
steps for prepping the beads for the fiber blanket, but he's a stubborn
dude After working on a bead for half an hour yesterday, and finding
it cracked right down the center an hour later....he may have gotten the
point.

So...we've learned some important things. One, Candace cannot and
should not use opaline glass. It will boil, and it will burn. Nor
should she use most of the yellows, and one grass green. They strike or
burn, every time. Adam should not remove beads from the mandrels. They
will be unusable after leaving his hands. Adam should also not take
glass rods from the jar and thrust them directly into the flame. The
amount of shattered glass is growing by leaps and bounds

All in all, we're having a blast. Hopefully, our skills at the torch
will continue to improve, and someday, I'll post our first lampwork AD

Wanna see the beads?
http://flickr.com/photos/duet/

~Candace~ (who has found the color Powder Pink and wants to hoard about
a million pounds of it!!!)
http://duet.etsy.com

Candace -- I love, love , love frit beads. You are just making lots
of frit for my frit beads!!!

Adam is doing real well getting "round" down.

Becki

Some of those blue rounds in his pics are mine But yeah...he can
crank out the rounds like nobodies business--and the weird thing is that
when he starts, you'd think there's no way that bead will turn out round.

I'm digging the frit, too, layered with hair-thin stringer. Oh!
Stringer! I can pull stringer like a mad woman Nice long even
stringer, about 2-3mm wide. Yay me! LOL We're both having fun with
twisties, too, at least....making them. Using them....different story

~Candace~
http://duet.etsy.com


Beckibead wrote:
Candace -- I love, love , love frit beads. You are just making lots
of frit for my frit beads!!!

Adam is doing real well getting "round" down.

Becki

On May 29, 10:20 am, ~Candace~
wrote:
So...one week in, and we can see our improvement over the course of 7
days. We fired up the kiln twice, and decided it wasn't worth it just
yet, so we're just using the fiber blanket for now.

I keep pulling out the beads we made 2-3 years ago, in our stolen
moments at the torch in my folks' basement. Wow. Compared to what we
made this week, those beads are insanely bad Its amazing what a bit
of reading (over and over) will do for your rudimentary skills.

So far, my focus has mostly been on learning what each glass can and
can't do...how it reacts to other glass, to different flames, etc.
Adam's has been on technique, since the basics seem to come naturally to
him. By Friday, I could make a pretty darn good basic bead, the donut
shape with good dimples. It took some trial and error, figuring out how
best to position my body, the torch, the glass rod, and the mandrel. It
turns out I'm a side winder--I need to look at what I'm doing from the
side in order to lay down a good, even footprint. After that, I can go
back to looking over the torch to do the decorating

Adam's big hurdle is prepping the bead properly for the fiber blanket,
and keeping his beads warm and rotating while working on them. He's
very impatient, and wants to be Done when he's done. I keep reminding
him...okay..nagging him...to keep the glass warm, and to follow the
steps for prepping the beads for the fiber blanket, but he's a stubborn
dude After working on a bead for half an hour yesterday, and finding
it cracked right down the center an hour later....he may have gotten the
point.

So...we've learned some important things. One, Candace cannot and
should not use opaline glass. It will boil, and it will burn. Nor
should she use most of the yellows, and one grass green. They strike or
burn, every time. Adam should not remove beads from the mandrels. They
will be unusable after leaving his hands. Adam should also not take
glass rods from the jar and thrust them directly into the flame. The
amount of shattered glass is growing by leaps and bounds

All in all, we're having a blast. Hopefully, our skills at the torch
will continue to improve, and someday, I'll post our first lampwork AD

Wanna see the beads?http://flickr.com/photos/duet/

~Candace~ (who has found the color Powder Pink and wants to hoard about
a million pounds of it!!!)http://duet.etsy.com

wonderful smile i see a bright future for you both i liked your orange
focal bead best smile you both will improve keep having fun hugs to
you both and thanks for the idea for photos I going to make one too
lol free is always good ! I see your son is enjoying the sound of
music as well good for him lol Happy ness is a bead made by your own
two hands! Victoria

I can see you guys are having a wonderful time. The bottom of your
kiln can't be hot enough to bother those gas canisters. Though, if
you're going to stay with your hothead for a while, you might stop by
the nearest bottled gas dealer and see if you can get a bulk MAPP
tank. I had three at one point--I used my hothead for two years and
made some nice beads on it. When I got a minor, I sold two of the
MAPP tanks to another beadmaker in my area, so it's not a permanent
investment.

I found my first beads a while back and started carrying them to shows
with me. When people said, "Oh, I could never do this!," I'd pull out
my string of baby beads and show them what newbie beads look like.
That was until the sharp ends cut the string, anyway!

I'll be interested to see your progress in week 2, 3, 4, 5 .... 52!

Nolly

Oh we made it thru about 5 canisters and said screw it--we're getting a
tank And so we did. Its propane, but it'll do for now, while we are
getting the basics down. I kind of see it as levels--first we see what
we can do with this gas, then we see what can be done with that gas,
then we move up a step with the torch and add in an oxycon, and and and!
There are years and years of new explorations to be had

I just wish the roaches would leave us alone when we are out there at
night. Our whole neighborhood is populated by 2-3 inch cockroaches, and
having them on the walls, ceiling, and floor while we're in the garage
is disconcerting. Whoever isn't torching is on Roach Watch. Luckily,
the bulk of them stay in hiding until we go in for the night.

~Candace~
http://duet.etsy.com

wrote:
I can see you guys are having a wonderful time. The bottom of your
kiln can't be hot enough to bother those gas canisters. Though, if
you're going to stay with your hothead for a while, you might stop by
the nearest bottled gas dealer and see if you can get a bulk MAPP
tank. I had three at one point--I used my hothead for two years and
made some nice beads on it. When I got a minor, I sold two of the
MAPP tanks to another beadmaker in my area, so it's not a permanent
investment.

I found my first beads a while back and started carrying them to shows
with me. When people said, "Oh, I could never do this!," I'd pull out
my string of baby beads and show them what newbie beads look like.
That was until the sharp ends cut the string, anyway!

I'll be interested to see your progress in week 2, 3, 4, 5 .... 52!

Nolly

Will do, Cindy

~Candace~
http://duet.etsy.com


CindyB wrote:
I primarily lurk and drool over everyone's pretties. Some day, I'd
love to try lampwork but don't know anyone in my area to learn from
and too scared to try learning on my own. Plus, at the moment, the
cost is prohibitive.

So, Candace, I'm living vicariously through you. Please keep posting
your experiences and pictures. I'm loving it!

CindyB

Ah, Candace, what a long way you two come from that day we spent in your
mom's basement

I spent yesterday at the torch and actually made a round bead. I was so
frickin' proud of myself, I couldn't stand it g. Of the seven beads I
made, I managed to get each and every one off the mandrels, too.

So, okay, I haven't been around for quite a while, just dealing with
lots of family issues and major "hate my job" issues. But here I am,
catching up, seeing what other folks are up to.

Cheers,
Carla



~Candace~ wrote:
So...one week in, and we can see our improvement over the course of 7
days. We fired up the kiln twice, and decided it wasn't worth it just
yet, so we're just using the fiber blanket for now.

I keep pulling out the beads we made 2-3 years ago, in our stolen
moments at the torch in my folks' basement. Wow. Compared to what we
made this week, those beads are insanely bad Its amazing what a bit
of reading (over and over) will do for your rudimentary skills.

So far, my focus has mostly been on learning what each glass can and
can't do...how it reacts to other glass, to different flames, etc.
Adam's has been on technique, since the basics seem to come naturally to
him. By Friday, I could make a pretty darn good basic bead, the donut
shape with good dimples. It took some trial and error, figuring out how
best to position my body, the torch, the glass rod, and the mandrel. It
turns out I'm a side winder--I need to look at what I'm doing from the
side in order to lay down a good, even footprint. After that, I can go
back to looking over the torch to do the decorating

Adam's big hurdle is prepping the bead properly for the fiber blanket,
and keeping his beads warm and rotating while working on them. He's
very impatient, and wants to be Done when he's done. I keep reminding
him...okay..nagging him...to keep the glass warm, and to follow the
steps for prepping the beads for the fiber blanket, but he's a stubborn
dude After working on a bead for half an hour yesterday, and finding
it cracked right down the center an hour later....he may have gotten the
point.

So...we've learned some important things. One, Candace cannot and
should not use opaline glass. It will boil, and it will burn. Nor
should she use most of the yellows, and one grass green. They strike or
burn, every time. Adam should not remove beads from the mandrels. They
will be unusable after leaving his hands. Adam should also not take
glass rods from the jar and thrust them directly into the flame. The
amount of shattered glass is growing by leaps and bounds

All in all, we're having a blast. Hopefully, our skills at the torch
will continue to improve, and someday, I'll post our first lampwork AD

Wanna see the beads?
http://flickr.com/photos/duet/

~Candace~ (who has found the color Powder Pink and wants to hoard about
a million pounds of it!!!)
http://duet.etsy.com

Its thrilling isn't it, Carla? Week two has seen us progress from
"arrrgghh....I'll TRY to make a round freaking bead. It won't be round,
and I'll hate it, but I'll try..." to "Hey, lookit that, another round
bead." Its a wonderful feeling, to know we can get that simple round
bead with not a whole lot of effort now, and concentrate on decorating it

I'll have pics tomorrow of Week Two's efforts I think both of us have
found our first beads for the *must make these to sell--I enjoy making
them, I can do it well, and I have a billion ideas for the style* pile.

Have you roughed up your mandrels? We are still, after two weeks,
having to mess around with one particular size mandrel we have.

So...show me beads, m'lady! I wanna see

~Candace~ (who should have been working on orders tonight, but let two
migraines get the best of her today)
http://duet.etsy.com

Carla wrote:
Ah, Candace, what a long way you two come from that day we spent in your
mom's basement

I spent yesterday at the torch and actually made a round bead. I was so
frickin' proud of myself, I couldn't stand it g. Of the seven beads I
made, I managed to get each and every one off the mandrels, too.

So, okay, I haven't been around for quite a while, just dealing with
lots of family issues and major "hate my job" issues. But here I am,
catching up, seeing what other folks are up to.

Cheers,
Carla

YUCK ALERT

OK this sounds gross, but it might work. Squash the roaches (step on them,
beat them with a hammer, whatever), LET THEM LAY THERE... eventually it may
act as a repellent. I've done this with smaller roaches, and ants... it
seems like they finally get the idea that this is a bug kill zone and stay
away. Since I'm allergic to pesticides, it was an experiment born out of
desperation, and seems to work! I know some organic gardeners grind up bugs
and add water to the slush and use it as a pest spray... it seems to work
against the same kind of bugs ground up.

--
Karleen Page
Member International Jewelry Designers Guild (IJDG)
Vibrant Jewels web sto http://www.vibrantjewels.com/jewelry/welcome.htm
Vibrant Jewels JustBeads Auctions:
http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=21770
CLICK HERE to join myYahoo Group:
"~Candace~" wrote in message
. net...
Oh we made it thru about 5 canisters and said screw it--we're getting a
tank And so we did. Its propane, but it'll do for now, while we are
getting the basics down. I kind of see it as levels--first we see what we
can do with this gas, then we see what can be done with that gas, then we
move up a step with the torch and add in an oxycon, and and and! There are
years and years of new explorations to be had

I just wish the roaches would leave us alone when we are out there at
night. Our whole neighborhood is populated by 2-3 inch cockroaches, and
having them on the walls, ceiling, and floor while we're in the garage is
disconcerting. Whoever isn't torching is on Roach Watch. Luckily, the
bulk of them stay in hiding until we go in for the night.

~Candace~
http://duet.etsy.com

wrote:
I can see you guys are having a wonderful time. The bottom of your
kiln can't be hot enough to bother those gas canisters. Though, if
you're going to stay with your hothead for a while, you might stop by
the nearest bottled gas dealer and see if you can get a bulk MAPP
tank. I had three at one point--I used my hothead for two years and
made some nice beads on it. When I got a minor, I sold two of the
MAPP tanks to another beadmaker in my area, so it's not a permanent
investment.

I found my first beads a while back and started carrying them to shows
with me. When people said, "Oh, I could never do this!," I'd pull out
my string of baby beads and show them what newbie beads look like.
That was until the sharp ends cut the string, anyway!

I'll be interested to see your progress in week 2, 3, 4, 5 .... 52!

Nolly