This Page Last Update: November 06, 2005.

Kuglar Clear

Recently Arrow Springs introduced a line of Moretti compatible Kuglar clear rods.  Here are some beads I made.  I am happy to report that I did not encounter any problems with beads cracking and the casings are very clear.  The glass melts fast too.  I received the large diameter (about 9mm) rods which are great for encasing.

Left to right: over lavender blue, white, and gold pink, encasing of splinter dichroic, over red and splinter dichroic, over Lauscha steel blue and raku.

Bullseye Luster Glass

Bullseye introduced a new luster line a few months ago.  I played with it but was not entirely happy with the result.  After consulting with Bullseye, I was told to make the bead in neutral flame, reduce it slightly.  Well now every bead I made developed beautiful Luster.  Here are some beads I made.  I used the new colors including uranium, brandy, copper green, and green.

Press Bead the Old Fashioned Way

My friend Elisabeth brought me some heavy duty bead presses she won on Ebay in Germany.  These presses are about 2 feet long and weight 5 lbs each. They in no way resemble the Corina or Cattwalk presses I use for my regular pressed beads.  So the other day, I thought it would be fun to try one.  I had to make this little heart charm with the press on the floor and used my foot to press it into shape.  It took over 20 minutes to make it.  I am sure there is a easier way but it eluded me.  Suggestions anyone? :)

Reichenbach Glass Shards

My good friend and long time customer came to visit and brought me a suitcase full of glass goodies.  Among them are glass shards of many colors with names like sky blue, water, opal green, opal turquoise, and many others.  To test the colors, we made lots of dichroic leaf beads and one raku.  Some I encased 23k gold foil and palladium.  

Lentil Slides

I am very excited about a off mandrel lentil tool I purchased.  It allows me to create lentil shaped slide pendants.  With practice I was able to conquer my apprehension about accidentally dropping the hot glass onto my lap.

Being reversible, it is a great way to showcase dichroic. Here are two I made showing both sides.  Having made the loop on 1/4" mandrel means it can be put on a chain or a ribbon.  I added silver dots onto the 2nd pendant to simulate galaxy.

   Raku and Dichroic

Everyday I try different combinations of glass in hope of discovering something truly exciting.  Well I am happy to say that I am currently hooked on making lentil beads with both dichroic and the magical raku frit.  Based on wispy transparent cobalt, this bead resembles Hobble picture of galactic clouds.  I used Corina's extra large (1-1/2" diameter) lentil press. It sure took a lot of glass but I love the result even with the little dent caused by bursted glass bubble.  Look for beads similar to this in my Ebay store soon.

Beth Olson's Butterfly Murrini

I was thrilled to have won this beautiful murrini cane from Beth Olson.  Her murrini canes have been used by many glass artists.  My challenges were to firstly cut the slices so that the image remains intact.  Unfortunately in the process I wasted quite a bit of this precious cane.  The second challenge is to apply the cane onto the bead and not get it shattered by the torch heat.  After many attempts.  Here is a bead with two slices.  Aren't the details amazing?

Magic Frit
Right now a lot of bead makers are playing with a frit named Raku Jitterbug or Opal Rainbow.  It is in fact Reichenbach R108 from Germany.  Beads made with this frit display colors range from purple to blue.  It likes heat and sudden cooling.  I don't think I have been successful in coaxing out all the colors yet.  So there will be many sessions of experimentations ahead.  Here are some focal beads made with this frit.   The mauve purple bead is based on the new and old Lauscha purple with copper leaf wrap, the heart bead is Gaffer veiled cane spot cased, and the leaf bead is also based on hand pulled Gaffer cane wrapped with silver foil:

Uses for Large Mandrels
Slider Beads
I made a toggle sized bead with my 1/2" diameter mandrel and slider beads using 1/4" diameter stainless steel chopsticks.  These slide smoothly on a thick chain like this 6mm omega chain.

PMC Applications
Recently I enrolled in a precious metal clay class in UC Davis.  It was fun setting my dichroic cabs into the clay but I was looking for an application which is difficult to execute with traditional silversmith.  I want to line the slider beads I made with the large mandrels.  My first attempts failed because the bead collapsed in the high kiln temperature.  But with the support of vermiculite it worked.  Here are the result.  These are very rough and have not been polished or patina with liver of sulfate.   If only I have more time in the day so that I can explore it further.

  Adventures in Murrini 
I enrolled in a murrini making class in UC Davis about 3 years ago and gained a lot of great techniques but had to put them on hold because I didn't want to install a glory hole.

Since then, I have made a few simple flower canes using my torch but really wanted to make canes with more detail.  Therefore I was really excited to read about making murrini using a glass kiln in a recent issue of Glass Crafters Magazine.

 A hummingbird murrini.  I really stressed when pulling this cane and was only able to salvage a few slices.