Lampwork Glass Beads, Playing With Fire

It seems everyone has an opinion about raised bumps on beads. Do you like the feel of them, the fact that they add texture to your beads? Or do you prefer the smooth look and feel of the glass a...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2023/09/bumps-and-bobbles-and-whorls.html

 Good golly, I have not been blogging much! Just popping in now to say my torch is back up and running after being on hiatus for a couple of months. I've started out with some fancy silver-cor...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2022/10/torch-time-again.html

Support Spindle Bowls    Sometimes it's just time to blog about something new.     But  what to talk about? The blazing heat? Where I     should live? Getting old? Nah~ let's tal...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2022/07/isinglass-design-makes-pottery.html

I have been asked off and on if I could make a little flat bit of glass with an indentation in it for- sort of like a worry stone. The short answer? I had tried and not been happy with the result...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2022/01/making-glass-worry-stones.html

I've been telling myself (and a few other people) that I really need to figure out how to use a lathe and make my own spindle sticks for a while now. I am venturing down that road (with a bit...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2021/12/my-own-spindle-sticks.html

 I really expected that this would have a more interesting name than the 'wagon wheel' effect . Anyway~ see how it looks like the whorl is reversing directions while it's spinning around? Not tr...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2021/05/a-special-whorl-video-showing-wagon.html

 So... I'm sure many, if not all of y'all bead makers, have some frit mixes lying around. Back when I first started to make beads, I didn't use frit. And it was in the old 'dinosaur' days before...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2021/04/im-sure-many-if-not-all-of-yall-bead.html

It's time to talk about whorls again! For the last several years I have been making handmade glass whorls that are used for Viking style spinning. Slowly but surely, things keep moving along. F...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2021/04/viking-inspired-whorl-ideas-new-glass.html

So... Roc day (Distaff day, the day after epiphany) has come and gone. This is a special day for spinners, the time for the women to get back to work after the 12 days of Christmas have passed (...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2021/02/wool-felting-in-plastic-bag.html

Here's a little something I've never thought to do~ write up a wee bio for public consumption. So here's a bit of information I think folks might find interesting about me and my work. Work, yo...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-short-story-about-birth-of-glass-felt.html

Just a wee post to show off some of my handmade glass whorls, because I fear I have made a few too many. And of course I want to make more! These are based on historical whorls found in various ...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2020/11/medieval-and-viking-style-glass-whorls.html

Time to make a suminagashi video with a few examples of interesting things I have learned! The video in all its glory can be found on youtube (it's called  The Suminagashi Movie ), with captio...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2020/04/suminagashi-video.html

Little lampwork glass bottles are quite a lot of fun to make over a torch- when everything goes according to plan! Because I know these can be used for some very special purposes, I tried to kee...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2020/03/glass-bottles-lampwork-tips.html

Several weeks ago, I was delighted to take a suminagashi workshop at my local library. What, you might ask, is suminagashi? Well, suminagashi means 'floating ink'-it's the Japanese art of making...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2020/02/suminagashi-tracking-it-down.html

Fish with murrini eyes and decorative murrini accents Today, when I was getting ready for a bit of torch fun, I threw out this sentence~ 'I'm just going to make a few murrini.' The response?...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2019/08/murano-murrini-millefiori-and-other.html

REMOVING A STUCK BEAD FROM A MANDREL Here's what I have found works particularly well for removing long, thin glass beads from a mandrel (a tip from my book 'Reflections, the Diary of a Gl...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2019/08/removing-stuck-lampwork-bead-from.html

See Spot Well, I have little, if anything new to say about lampwork glass fish, except I make them. A lot of them! Sea life is always a fun theme. Most of my fish styles only exist in my lam...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2019/07/lampwork-glass-fish-beads-and-other.html

The other day, I had the good fortune to meet someone who had been gifted a glass bead spindle from my etsy shop. She had some questions about things that I had never thought about, so here are...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2019/06/medieval-glass-bead-spindle-special-tips.html

People are so interested in learning to make hollow glass beads on the end of a hollow mandrel or small blow pipe- myself included! Thanks to a wonderful bead making buddy, I was shown a way to ...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2019/03/making-blown-glass-beads-with-video-link.html

Well, I finally did it! After many requests and loads of questions from folks, I have written down everything I know about curving glass tube beads my way, which is in the kiln! If you look at ...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2019/02/lampwork-glass-curved-bead-tutorial.html

Here's the paypal 'shipnow' link (though it looks like they've renamed it). I'm putting it up here because I'm tired of having to look around the web and find it each and every time I need it! ...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2018/12/paypal-shipnow-link.html

Here’s a rundown of the enamels I use for making lampwork glass beads, such as it is. I don’t actually use all that many colors. I have tried a few others, but these are the ones I’v...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2018/11/using-enamels-in-lampwork-beads.html

What’s so free about free shipping?! Recently, etsy has been having a sweepstakes with a big prize and all you have to do to be registered in the drawing is to have free shipping in your sh...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2018/10/free-shipping-or-not.html

Over the years, I have sent a lot of tutorials in to magazines to be published, often at their request. I've decided to try fixing up a few of them to be sold on etsy- new and revised by me! W...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2018/10/lampwork-glass-bead-tutorials.html

Over the years (many) I have made a LOT of lampwork glass leaves. They are pretty quick and can be a good way to try out new colors and combinations. When someone buys something online, they are...

http://isinglassdesign.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-glass-leaf-project-blowing-in-wind.html