Rainbow Spiral "S-Clasp"- the REVEAL

Hello friends!

Well I have dipped my toes into the pool of glass and metals. Now mind you this is just the beginning. Staci was kind enough to walk me through some of the tools I would need to do some simple soldering and metal work.I have only collected a few pieces, but this is the start.

I was actually inspired by make this new clasp by a design I was creating :D I needed a clasp and I was going to use one of my FAVORITE Spiral "S-Clasps" from Staci, but then I had the idea to make one with GLASS on it! I came up with this idea as I was laying out my design on my bead mat before bed. I scribbled down the idea and then went to sleep. 

So upon waking I had to try out my new idea! I was pretty certain it would work. I actually took step-by-step photos and think maybe I might turn this into a tutorial. For now I will just fill you in with some of the steps so you can really appreciate the process :)(you know how I love my process!) I even did a short VIDEO of the glass part of this process. You really can't see the detail, but I had some friends tell me I needed to do a video of me lampworking ;) Luckily I jerry rigged my broken tripod enough to do a quick video. 

So here we go...

So first you need to "draw a bead" with some copper wire.

Then it has to be wired up to work the glass onto them. 

 

Here is the video of me putting the glass on the wire :D

Here are all of the glass pins waiting to be made into clasps. Aren't they PRETTY?! They are like my little soldiers <3 p="p">

Next the clasps have to be bent into shape.

Hammered....

The run of claps waiting to be patinated.

Cleaned.

Patinated.

Dried.

Buffed(like the boob shot? Lol. I had to rest the camera under my chin and on my chest to get both hands in the photo!)

Lacquered(twice. This takes 2 hours to dry each time).

Drying.

FINISHED!

Just a really cool shot of my table while I was working. It was very picturesque so I had to click a pic.

Here is the link to my quick Cleaning, Patinaing and Coating Copper Wire Tutorial!

I can't wait to show you the BEADS and DESIGNS I am working on for which I made the clasps! :D I will also be getting some of the finished clasps up in my shop soon!

See you soon!

xo Genea

The Cost of Quality- Why are Lampwork Beads so "Expensive"?

Hello friends!

People always want to know why lampwork beads are so "expensive" so I thought I would do a post on the reasons why my beads are priced the way they are. So what you may know or not know is that I only sell my first quality beads. I do NOT sell "seconds"(beads that have imperfections). I do this because I believe in excellent quality lampwork beads.

As I was cleaning my recent run of "Weeny Dings" it occured  to me that I should show you the process that my beads go through before they are up in the shop for sale. 

So let's take a look at some "Wing Dings" and "Weeny Dings" to see the process.....

Here you can see the different sizes of "Weeny Dings" and "Wing Dings".

When I go to make Weeny Dings I need to make MANY of them just to get a few that are the right size. Each glass has a different viscosity(the softness or stiffness of the glass). So some glasses are very difficult to get even due to their texture. So say I want at least 2 passing beads in the standard Weeny Ding size. I will have to make about 15 beads to make sure to cover that amount. That is pretty crazy odds! Each Weeny Ding and Wing Ding are hand shaped and too much or too little pressure can be disastrous!

So first the beads are removed from the mandrels to be cleaned. You can see here that this Weeny Ding broke off the mandrel even before cleaning. When I make them I make 3 beads on a mandrel at a time, so sometimes they cool too quickly and break off as I am working on them.

Next the are put in a bowl of water and cleaned with my electric dremmel to remove the bead release from inside of the hole. You can see the bead release in the photo above of the broken Weeny Ding.

After the beads are cleaned they are put into piles by color. 

 EVERY ONE of my beads is "Break Checked". This means that I actually try to break my beads. In this blurry photo you can see that I check my wing dings by grasping them on either side of the wings and then put force on them to see if I can crack them apart. If they stay together they "pass" their first test. Most do, but some don't.

Next each one is inspected by looking at the bead on the front side, and back side to see if the wings are even. As you can see in this photo the wings are uneven. One side is larger and the other side is smaller.

Here you can see the piles of Weeny Dings that passed and failed. Crazy odds huh? Almost equal passes and fails. At the moment the "passes" mean the wing dings wings are even.

Next the "passing" Weeny Dings are put into lines by size from smallest to largest for their next test.

This next test they are separated into "standard" sized Weeny Dings. Some are too small "micro dings" and some are larger than Weeny Dings, but smaller than Wing Dings. These are separated out and put into a pile for later. When I accumulate enough I will sell them in BIG discounted lots. I did my first sale like this just a week or so ago on my facebook fan page.

Next the passing Weeny Dings are arranged into a set all similar in size. The beads are then tied up and tagged ready for sale.

 I hope this post has helped you to understand some of the process of quality control in lampwork beads and given you a better appreciation of the art form. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

xo Genea