Moving on from "round" beads

Starting out, beadmakers focus on round beads and learning to work with gravity to make that perfect roundness happen. Then it's on to pressing beads in a brass press shaped like a lentil, button, or nugget. So what follows? usually it's doing sculptural work with the taffy like hot glass. This opens up a whole new realm of possibilities! I'm adding some pictures of my forays into sculptural glass but I have many more ideas yet to try.....

This is Gaia glass.

This is an experimental oddlot no longer available.

This is Terra, no longer available.

This is newly released Aurae.

This is an experimental oddlot no longer available.

95% of the glass sold is imported from Europe- Italy and Germany. But in the past 2 years American glassmakers have begun producing silver laden glass that has zoomed in popularity despite its' high price- $100 a pound!! Glass composition is all about chemistry and silver is one metal that reacts to heating and cooling cycles as well as increased propane to produce some incredible and unpredictable colors. Double Helix is the big name here with new colors introduced every few months.

The heartbreaker is that many named glasses have one release and if you don't manage to "invest" in some of it initially ,you miss out. Some glass formulas they can't seem to replicate. The price goes up way past $100/lb. for the rare glass.....

Here is part of my glass supply. I must have over 200 colors. I use transparent and also opaque glass. These cost about $40 a pound. But I also have been "investing" in silver laden glass that is $100 a pound. Almost all glass colors are imported from Italy and Germany but now a few American glass makers have started up.

This is my lampworking space, AFTER cleaning up all the dozens of rods, stringers and tools. This is one artistic endeavor that needs lots of gear! I work with a 2 fuel torch that uses tanked propane and oxygen supplied by an oxygen generator.

This is the "before" picture. When the used rods get this deep I'm forced to clean up and put away. I sometimes use brass tools for pressing beads into a lentil or square nugget shape. You can see one set with the wooden handles facing up.