Picture Yourself Making Jewelry and Beading

Working with Wire and Beads Chapter 1

“Be an artist everyday, unique, complex, one of a kind.”

By Laura Villanyi, handmade glass bead artist

Basics of making glass beads:

Take a rod of glass and gradually introduce it to a 1500-degree flame that is oxygen and propane fed.

Heat the desired amount of glass until it is molten and then transfer it onto a specially coated stainless
steel rod.

While continuously turning it, form the molten glass into a round ball shape.

At this point, you have made a basic bead, but this is also the point where changing the shape or
layering color and texture make the bead truly your own.

Still turning the rod, take the glass out of the heat and let it slowly cool down until the glass is no longer
moving. Place the bead into an annealing kiln at 950 degrees and let the kiln slowly reduce in temperature
for eight hours until the bead is cool enough to remove from the rod and clean.