Beading Q And A: Lampworking (7/6/2011)

BeadGal answers:

This looks like it would be a great site for you to learn from:

http://www.lampworktutorials.com/

BeadGal answers:

Yes, if you are used to working soft glass. Normally the bottle glass would be broken or cut in narrow pieces so the glass will fit in the flame for preheating and heating without having cold parts to shatter.

However, if you were planning on using more than one color of bottle, you will probably run into the problem of compatibility – glass sold for lampworking (or fusing) is supplied with matching COE’s like 96 or 103 and there is no guarantee that two bottles have Expansions that will work together – you might find that on cooling they split or show breaks inside the glass.

Http://users.ticnet.com/mikefirth/glosothr.htm#COMPAT

BeadGal answers:

Here’s the advice I found:

The best kiln for beads and small PMC work is probably a Paragon kiln. There is the blue bird which is quite small, but there is a slightly larger SC2 with an option of having a bead door if you want to anneal flameworked glass beads.

The SC2 has a digital controller, and the size is the best for PMC as larger kilns have a fluctuation in temperature which sometimes results in melting of pieces. The price is about £600 and plugs into an ordinary 3 pin socket. There are many uk retailers. I think www.warm-glass.co.uk has them for sale on their website (an excellent resource for dichroic glass too).

BeadGal answers:

Try Daisy Chain Jewellery – they offer jewellery making workshops. The lovely lady who runs it, Jo, can be found at www.daisychainjewellery.co.uk. She has some connections to lampwork bead makers, and she writes for a bead or jewellery making mag! She should be able to help you, even if she doesn’t offer lampworking classes herself.

BeadGal answers:

I would recommend 2 things.

First, get involved (or at least lurk) on some of the lampworking forums online. There is scads of information, tutorials, sometimes even videos, and people who are passionate about lampworking and willing to help out newcomers to the craft. These are the top 4 that I know:

1. Wet Canvas
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=89

2. Lampwork ETC
http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/

3. International Society of Glass Beadmakers
http://www.isgb.org/forum/

4. Hot Glass Forum
http://www.glassline.net/forums/index.php

Second, try to find someone that can teach you. I know that you said there were no classes in your area, but there may be a lampworker nearby. I am not sure where you live, but if there are any bead, craft, art, or glass stores around, you might talk to the managers and see if they know of anyone nearby who practices lampworking. Someone may be willing to give you a one-on-one lesson, even if they don’t “teach.”

Also do an internet search for your region and lampworkers (or lampworker OR lampworking) to find any regional guilds or societies. They may be able to point you to someone that lives reasonably close to you.

Lampworking really is one of those things that is best done the first time with someone who knows what they are doing. You may be OK with books and videos, but if you can find someone that can help you out the first time, you’ll benefit a lot from it.