okay people...
making glass beads is the new black tar heroin here at the Lyons' Den. I bought a new torch, more mandrels, some new tools and more glass. Crack, I tell you. I made six beads yesterday during Caleb's naptime and seven beads last night after the boys went to bed. I would show pictures of all of them, but "the good ones" were absconded with as soon as they were off the mandrel and cleaned. Keep in mind, the judge of the good ones is a four and a half year old.
The four on the left are from last night and the three on the right are from naptime.
Logan requested some bumpy ones so I made him some bumpy ones at naptime. They were, however, not bumpy enough for his fingers. I needed to "make them MORE bumpier" for his fingers. So the bedtime beads were an exercise in "more bumpier." At the moment I'm having trouble with the bumps melting into the surface more than I would like them to...hence alot of hearts and just plain dotted ones. Another problem I'm having is maintaining similarly sized dots. I won't even begin to tell you about trying to lay down an even trail of glass around the bead...UGH.
On the upside, the dragged hearts are MUCH easier to do now. The new nails-on-the-chalkboard feeling is trying to cut into the molten glass. I really want to make little flowers (similar to these or these) for little charms on my jewelry and mixed media projects. One way of achieving the flower petals is by cutting a band of glass into petals...eesh, my teeth hurt just typing out that sentence. I think another way to do the flowers is to just smoosh big (similarly sized) dots on the sides of the bead (...sigh...similarly sized...). I know it all comes with practice.
What happens when dots are poorly placed AND droopy? I put eyeballs on it and Logan names it, thinks up a life story for it, and loves it. As far as stages go, this is my FAVORITE so far. Fun for him, fun for me, even fun for Caleb and Lynn.
Mr. Alie-Star-Face (he's a colorful alien from planet Alien Star Head).
a.) My first attempt at a flower...I ran out of fuel at the last minute and then when I tried to finish it, thermal shock killed it. b.) Second stab at a heart bead (uh, pun intended...). c.) Second attempt at a flower...petals popped off here and there. So I decided to practice my dots...similarly sized but poorly spaced. I thought about trying to turn it into a fish, alas my eyeballs were tired so I put it to bed as a "more bumpier" bead for Logan. He turned it into a monster alien with no name or home planet. "He's a sad monster alien because he has five eyeballs and two of his arms fell off."
The four on the left are from last night and the three on the right are from naptime.
Logan requested some bumpy ones so I made him some bumpy ones at naptime. They were, however, not bumpy enough for his fingers. I needed to "make them MORE bumpier" for his fingers. So the bedtime beads were an exercise in "more bumpier." At the moment I'm having trouble with the bumps melting into the surface more than I would like them to...hence alot of hearts and just plain dotted ones. Another problem I'm having is maintaining similarly sized dots. I won't even begin to tell you about trying to lay down an even trail of glass around the bead...UGH.
On the upside, the dragged hearts are MUCH easier to do now. The new nails-on-the-chalkboard feeling is trying to cut into the molten glass. I really want to make little flowers (similar to these or these) for little charms on my jewelry and mixed media projects. One way of achieving the flower petals is by cutting a band of glass into petals...eesh, my teeth hurt just typing out that sentence. I think another way to do the flowers is to just smoosh big (similarly sized) dots on the sides of the bead (...sigh...similarly sized...). I know it all comes with practice.
What happens when dots are poorly placed AND droopy? I put eyeballs on it and Logan names it, thinks up a life story for it, and loves it. As far as stages go, this is my FAVORITE so far. Fun for him, fun for me, even fun for Caleb and Lynn.
Mr. Alie-Star-Face (he's a colorful alien from planet Alien Star Head).
a.) My first attempt at a flower...I ran out of fuel at the last minute and then when I tried to finish it, thermal shock killed it. b.) Second stab at a heart bead (uh, pun intended...). c.) Second attempt at a flower...petals popped off here and there. So I decided to practice my dots...similarly sized but poorly spaced. I thought about trying to turn it into a fish, alas my eyeballs were tired so I put it to bed as a "more bumpier" bead for Logan. He turned it into a monster alien with no name or home planet. "He's a sad monster alien because he has five eyeballs and two of his arms fell off."
posted by Amy at 8:13 AM
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