Sep 29 2007
About My Beadmaking
To make beads, you take rods of glass, like those shown above, and melt them in a torch flame. Stainless steel welding rods are cut, dipped in a special release, and are used as supports. The supports are called MANDRELS. I store mine in sand filled coffee cans! Here’s a photo of my hands at work in the torch….
Beads sit in a hot kiln, and are gradually cooled to room temperature over the course of hours. This gradual cooling is called annealing. After annealing, beads are ready to come out of my kiln and be cleaned at this point. I clean all my beads by hand…..it takes a long time sometimes.
I have a studio in my garage, and I’ve been making beads since September of 2005…. well, that’s when I took my first class with Kate Fowle Meleney. After the class, my husband helped me to create a fire resistant studio in my garage. Take a look at BEFORE:
& AFTER:
Hi, Angela,
“Long time no see!” as my Dad would say.
I was just reading your blog and finding it quite interesting! How do you find time for everything? By the way, I love your beadwork…especially “evening”.
I understand that you met my daughter Krissy (Kristin) at the Kayata / Palmieri housewarming a few weeks ago. She told me all about your encounter and urged me to take a look at your website. And so…today I did.
Just wanted to say “Hi”, reconnect and let you know that you seem to be quite an accomplished woman! And your son, Sam is so cute! Krissy said that she had the opportunity to speak with him at the housewarming too and enjoyed him immensely!
Maybe we’ll talk again soon.
Have a great day!
Love,
Mary-Jeanne