For the new beader: Order of things to practice...

[lynn's lampwork]

If you were to tell a new beader WHAT to practice first, second, third, etc, what would you tell them?

"This is what you should master first....then this.... and then this.....". What would be important for them to learn in the very beginning....

Also, how long did it take for each of YOU to MASTER those techniques...

Thanks for your responses....I was just doing my own little survey!
Lynn

[Lisi]

Single color spacers! Yep, boring I know, but you can get to know the characteristic of how each color behaves in the flame, plus practice getting nice holes and evenly rounding them out.

I don't really remember how long it took to get it, but the more torch time you put in the faster you're going to see yourself improve. I would definitely try to play for 2-4 hours at a time, and at least 3 days a week. But of course, that depends on what else you gotta do in your life! My daughter is a teenager, and was homeschooled, so aside from that and working full time, I scrammed to get that "ME" time.

Now I do it full time and as a "job", so I torch 6-8 hours a day, and 4-5 days a week. Going to try for more! :rolleyes:

[FiredDesires]

The laying down of a good footprint is number 1...it becomes the basis for all good looking beads. 2. Keep your bead turning and centered, only stop when adding more glass or decorating. 3. Insure an even heat base while working your bead (flash the bead entirely every so often) 4. Pay attention to heat base stages (the glow), knowing these help with pulling stringer, when to decorate or to put away your bead. 5. Work cooler or further out in the flame, most beadmakers work with way too hot of flame in the beginning, if glass gets too hot, it's too hard to control. Have patience and practice, practice.

I had most of this down within the first couple months, hours upon hours at the torch, but have to say it was "an eternity of a" couple months for the trial and error that I endured.

Great thread AND first post by the way, welcome to LE.
Catharine

[Cosmo]

When I teach, I have students make plain, solid colored round beads for a couple hours. I have them make several black beads, several white beads, and several clear beads. Reading heat is one of the most important things to learn, and those three colors all show heat differently.

[OSD]

I'm still at the practicing stage, but I thought I would share something I do.

First I make a round bead. Okay, try to. :-P Then I try do a stringer control exercise on the bead. Melt that in, then I might do it again. Then I put some dots on the bead. Then, maybe, I try twisting or poking dots or raking or encasing or all of the above. Then, if I think it is salvagable, I try to get it back into round before stopping. Then I start again with a new bead.

I was doing at least a couple of these every session for a while there. I didn't end up with pretty beads doing it but I got a bunch of practice in, which was the point. Then I would stop and play for a while with whatever caught my fancy.

I had to quit lampworking in the summer (had a baby) but I'm hoping to get back to it soon and I expect I'll continue with this practice. I'm also planning to pretty methodically work through different things as I get better with the basics. I have Corina's stringer control DVD, Passing the Flame, and the Dots book, so I have lots (and lots and lots) of instructions to follow.