Lunar Bead Tutorial

[pierces*designs]

I will post pics in a bit, but it is really self-explanatory.

There are a few ways to make them, but I will cover one way.

Make a large barrel bead in black or cobalt or any other color you want for the sky. Make a second smaller bead in dark ivory and melt them so they become one. Shape this bead up how you want it, but you are going to squeeze it flat, so keep that in mind.

Wrap the black and ivory bead in either silver foil or leaf and burnish well. Each gives a slightly different look. Foil will give very noticable stars in the black sky, whereas leaf gives a more colorful look to the ivory.

take the burnished bead into the flame and burn off the silver. You can add meteors to the sky by trailing different colored transparents across the silvered black. You can make the lunar lanscape different by trailing different colors across the bottom.

Squich the bead flat, making sure to leave enough glass on both sides of the mandrel so it does not crack.

Now, for the moon. Take a yellow or black stringer and touch it to the sky and make a small dot and melt in flat.

Voila. A lunar bead.

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[Kevan]

It's a really very lovely bead and I don't mean to nitpik, however - if that is the lunar landscape in the foreground...what's the moon doing in the sky? Shouldn't there be an earth up there???

[pierces*designs]

ROFL. You and I think alike. I had the same mental arguement with myself, but the landscape looks like the moon and the big white thing? Maybe it's a star.

[Kevan]

Maybe it's gone nova!

[JavaGirlBT]

Put a drop of transparent blue on the moon and it's the earth.

I find that if you use foil and encase in clear, then burn off the foil under the encasement, you get a really starry look.

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[thewildbunny]

Awesome Tut! Thanks.

[NLC Beads]

I wannit. :D Very cool, thanks for sharing!

[greenesh]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! =D>
There are many, many moons in our solar system alone.
So, imagine yourself on one of Jupiter or Saturn's moon's, looking at another moon in the starry sky! :)
Shirley

[EmtSue]

Thanks for the tut!
I had every intention of making one of these, but an unfortunate and rather strange chain of events lead me to a burn on my thumb from the torch that cut my night short.
But I'll be making one of these in the morning.

[Kevan]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! =D>
There are many, many moons in our solar system alone.
So, imagine yourself on one of Jupiter or Saturn's moon's, looking at another moon in the starry sky! :)
Shirley


Not to nitpick, but there are no moons within eyesite of the moon. :razz:

I think it might be a comet headed right for the moon!!

[Jupiter]

Lovely bead, great tut
Thank you :)
Judith

[pierces*designs]

Those who try post pics! I'd love to see them.

Oh, and if anyone has the Vetrofond slate blue, try the sky in that color. It is fabulous!

[Phoenix]

Put a drop of transparent blue on the moon and it's the earth.

I find that if you use foil and encase in clear, then burn off the foil under the encasement, you get a really starry look.

20196

I'm trying to follow because I love the starry look- how does it burn off if it's under the encasement?

[JavaGirlBT]

You encase the silver while keeping it silver - does that make sense? - then you heat the whole bead until it's really hot and the silver will heat up and melt under the encasement, leaving little dots that look like stars. I hope that explains it.


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[WhiskerWood]

I love making these lunar style beads, this is the first one I made and I love it!
I call this particular style Harvest Moon.

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[Phoenix]

You encase the silver while keeping it silver - does that make sense? - then you heat the whole bead until it's really hot and the silver will heat up and melt under the encasement, leaving little dots that look like stars. I hope that explains it.


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It does- thanks!

[Lara]

Lovely everyone.

[pierces*designs]

I love making these lunar style beads, this is the first one I made and I love it!
I call this particular style Harvest Moon.

31595

Awesome! It is defintely the color of the harvest moon too!

[playswithfire104]

Can't wait to try this out.

[Anne Ricketts]

This looks like fun, I think I'll try it today with some ideas I got going in my head! Thanks for the tut!! \\:D/

[sleekbeads]

I think we need an actual list of base colors that this will work with.
What base colors of soft glass work in the same way as black does, with silver foil?
Anyone have a master list?
Also... Kevan, you are cracking me up.... "I don't mean to nitpick"... BUT!
LOL... too funny!

Joanna :)

[pierces*designs]

Sky base colors:

Vetrofond Slate Blue
Black
Cobalt
Lapis

(feel free to add)

[JavaGirlBT]

Ink blue!

[Passing Glass]

This is a great tutorial, thank you! I've often wondered how to get the landscape/sky look to a bead and spacebeads are my favorites. I have several techniques for spacebeads gathered up, but this one is different than all of them. And the tip about encaseing and then burning off the silver is super. Now, if I can just figure out how to encase silver foil while leaving it silver I'll be in good shape. :lol:

:love:,
Dan

[Retta]

It's a really very lovely bead and I don't mean to nitpik, however - if that is the lunar landscape in the foreground...what's the moon doing in the sky? Shouldn't there be an earth up there???

LOL I had that same thought before I even read that you said it.

Cool bead no matter what tho!

[Heather/Ericaceae]

You could be looking at a moon from another moon orbiting one of the many planets that has multiple moons. Not necessarily OUR moon! :) -H.

[Retta]

You could be looking at a moon from another moon orbiting one of the many planets that has multiple moons. Not necessarily OUR moon! :) -H.

I know, it was just my first thought. :)

I have an awesome lunar bead from Nicole and it has a moon on each side, one is a regular moon and one red moon. I love it!

I will definately have to play around with moon beads soon, I am inspired.

[JJ Blue]

Those are so cool, thank you for sharing.



I am a Luna-tic. I have always been a city girl. I grew up in Northern Alberta. I thought everyone saw the Northern lights and the sun was up until 11:oo pm in the summer.

It was not until I moved to "rural" arizona - well at least a neighbourhood that does not have street lights.. that the moon looked so cool, you see crescent moons and harvest moons. Your cycles start lining up with the lunuar cycles. Has anyone read the Red Tent?

I need some good summer Chic-Lit books, any suggestions?

I am ready to write a novel on the ins and outs of the bead business, aka
The Devil Wears Prada,

That honesty just came out, I was not refering to anyone.

I am sorry but I do have a fair for the dramatic, and the comedy.

Does anybody even get my humour?

It is a Gilda Radner thing! Does anyone here know who she was,

If its not one thing its another...

I did not mean to highjack this post, ... please excuse my lunacy...

j

[newmoondesign]

Hi Debbie! This is the first time I've cruised around in LE, nice place! Cool to see you here and I love this tut...I'll have to give it a try!

Dana :)

[Retta]

J, I know of Gilda...

Not sure about the "Devil wears Prada" comment... ;)

I used to life in the country, I loved seeing all the stars and the "Fingernail" moons. I really do feel myself "in tune" with the lunar cycles, never heard of the book but I will sure check it out :)

[pierces*designs]

Those are so cool, thank you for sharing.



I am a Luna-tic. I have always been a city girl. I grew up in Northern Alberta. I thought everyone saw the Northern lights and the sun was up until 11:oo pm in the summer.

It was not until I moved to "rural" arizona - well at least a neighbourhood that does not have street lights.. that the moon looked so cool, you see crescent moons and harvest moons. Your cycles start lining up with the lunuar cycles. Has anyone read the Red Tent?

I need some good summer Chic-Lit books, any suggestions?

I am ready to write a novel on the ins and outs of the bead business, aka
The Devil Wears Prada,

That honesty just came out, I was not refering to anyone.

I am sorry but I do have a fair for the dramatic, and the comedy.

Does anybody even get my humour?

It is a Gilda Radner thing! Does anyone here know who she was,

If its not one thing its another...

I did not mean to highjack this post, ... please excuse my lunacy...

j


Gilda Radner..Heck I WAS Rosanne Rosanna Dana! (Hair and all LOL)

Welcome! :)

[pierces*designs]

Hi Debbie! This is the first time I've cruised around in LE, nice place! Cool to see you here and I love this tut...I'll have to give it a try!

Dana :)


Hey Dana! Good to see you here! My soul-sister. 5 more days till our Birthdays!!

Let's see a moonbead, baby!

[JJ Blue]

The Devil Wears Prada - great book, is about the Cruella da Ville of the Fashion Publishing - Anna Wintour, Hellen Gurley Brown, all rolled into one.

She is evil. With the drama our industry now, I think of things in terms of movies and laugh.

It's a Gilda Ratner thing.. well I am Canadian, and spent many years in Toronto, and those who know me, know I am very funny.

I also have a pretty optimistic was of trying to deal with life.

Right now, my 20 year old cousin is in ICU. He is as bright as can be and is entering third year university. He has a rare form of MD, he is at the stage where his lungs are not working. Between that and having a neice and nephew in Israel, and a big job interview tommorow,


It is always something, I sure hope I don't have a big piece of snot hanging out of my nose during my interview.


I'd better get to bed, so I don't look and sound like shit tommorow..

[pierces*designs]

Hugs and prayers to your cousin JJ. (((hugs))) He will be in my thoughts.

Good luck on the interview!!

[lunesse]

As the resident LUNY, I wholeheartedly approve! Whisker, what is that ring around your amber moon? Is that silver too?

[Darelyn]

Thanks for a great tutorial, Debbie! I can't wait to try these. I assume this is a similar process for creating the beach scene beads?

[pierces*designs]

I would assume so Darelyn! I haven't tried those.

I'd love to see pics of any that anyone creates!

[lldesigns]

Here goes...

I'm a real newbie (torching for about a week) so please don't laugh, well, at least not too hard.

Debbie I love your lunar bead and it really inspired me but it was obviously way too advanced for someone like me who is still trying to get the footprint right. But never being one to back down from a challenge - here it is! It's lopsided, the colors are crooked and I didn't have any white for the moon so it looks more like a sun but I was really excited to see what would come out.

I'm actually not completely disgusted with it - EXCEPT - what the heck happened to the ivory half!!!??? I mean...Blech...It's a hideous dull gray!

I used silver foil and it burned into the black half really nicely - lots of little "stars." So what's the deal with the other half? :confused:

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[pierces*designs]

Laurie, great bead!

I think maybe it was silver leaf and not foil you used? Also, whether you use dark or light ivory makes a difference. Not good or bad, just different.

Looks like you got it down though!

[CaptElaine]

I thought you said we could use either silver leaf or silver foil? I'm not getting 'stars' at all just this scummy grey looking under tone, whether I encase it or I don't. Any further tips on how to get the silver to melt? I heated it last night till I saw it bubbling.. still no 'stars'. I LOVE the look of the beads and would really like to figure out how to make them. TIA for the help and for the tutorial.

[Phoenix]

Elaine - are you usig a hothead? I had a lot of trouble getting that with my hothead- when I went to a mini cc it worked on the first try

[lldesigns]

Laurie, great bead!

I think maybe it was silver leaf and not foil you used? Also, whether you use dark or light ivory makes a difference. Not good or bad, just different.

Looks like you got it down though!


Debbie - I went back and checked to be sure - it's silver foil.

The ivory was just labeled "Ivory" not light or dark. If I had to guess I would say light.

Weird how something will work fine on one color and not on another...I obviously still have a lot to learn.

[CaptElaine]

Elaine - are you usig a hothead? I had a lot of trouble getting that with my hothead- when I went to a mini cc it worked on the first try
I'm on a Minor Burner ... I've tried transparent Black and Intense Blue neither one causes stars.

[pierces*designs]

You did get stars on the black half. That is the only place I usually get stars.

With the ivory, are you using effettre (moretti) dark or light ivory? Dark gives more color variations usually.

You can take some different colors and drizzle or trail them over the ivory before you wrap it in the silver and that will give you variations on the bottom half. Try transparents or reactive colors like Copper green.

[pierces*designs]

I'm on a Minor Burner ... I've tried transparent Black and Intense Blue neither one causes stars.

OK I just saw this.

Burnish on the silver really well before heating it. To burnish you roll the silver onto bead and rub it real smooth all around. Then heat it till you see the silver disappear. Let the bead cool slightly the reintroduce back into the flame. I think that is when I see the stars appear.

I'll have to try it again tonight and note what I am doing.

[CaptElaine]

I'll try that tonight... here's a picture of my lunar bead ... the two spots you see are NOT a spots they're a reflection of a light over the bead. Unfortunately, the scummy grey undercolor doesn't show up at all on any of the pictures I take.
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Let me make sure I've got the steps right,

1. Lay down black and ivory
2. Round up and smash into the desired shape
3. Heat to glowing orange, roll in silver
4. Use burnishing tool to rub the silver into the bead
5. Re-heat bead until silver disappears (?) (this is the missing piece maybe, the silver never disappears for me...)
6. Allow bead to cool
7. Re-heat bead and spots should appear
8. Cool bead and apply dot for moon

Please correct anything I have wrong... Otherwise I'm going to try again and try to get the silver to disappear

[JavaGirlBT]

Are you using .999 fine silver?

[CaptElaine]

I am using Silver leaf or it could be foil that my instructor gave me a sample of at my private lesson... she had shown me how to pull silvered ivory stringer, and I have used it for that. I assume it is .999 silver, but I'm not certain. I have some PMC laying about, could I roll out my own silver using that? It's .999 Silver for sure.

[JavaGirlBT]

OK I just wanted to be sure you weren't using fake silver leaf from the craft store. Cause that would just get scummy.

[pierces*designs]

Just felt like bumping this up for those who might not have seen it before

[pierces*designs]

Here is a newer one:

http://www.piercesdesigns.com/images/lampwork/focals/starrynight1.jpg

[squid]

that is beautiful, Deb!

[pierces*designs]

One additional tip I can add to the original tut is to not burnish the silver. Just wrap it on well. When I burnish it in I get greyish stuff not stars.

[ekkc]

Gorgeous, Debbie! I am going to have to try it out. Thanks!

[scootrgrl]

ok...first attempt at lunar moon bead, excuse the crappy pics.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e207/scootrgrl/IMGP7145lunarbead1.jpg

And for those of you that say you can't see the moon from the moon, here's one of a view of earth from the moon

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e207/scootrgrl/IMGP7151moonlookingatearthbead3.jpg

I tried the cobalt and tried adding some texture to the moon part but it didn't work out too good...I'll try again on the weekend.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e207/scootrgrl/IMGP7146bluelunarbead2.jpg

I was trying to just simulate the milky way with coloured stars...oh...minus the fingerprint in the photo...lol Not as many stars as I wanted but I'll try it again

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e207/scootrgrl/IMGP7154milkywaybead4.jpg

Janet

[pierces*designs]

You did Awesome!!

[scootrgrl]

You did Awesome!!

Thanks but OOOPSSS...sorry for the huge photos....I should have previewed them first...doh!

Janet

[cakelady]

Debbie thanks for the tortorial. When I get back to work, silver will be on the top of the list. Thanks

[oftenred]

I am new to beadmaking...about one month...and this tutorial was great and really allowed me to "copy" and make some wonderful beads for a beginer...thanks again for it and everybody else that added their input.

[Cherine Perrin]

Very cool tut Debbie. I gonna have to try this too!

[MerryFool]

Neat stuff, Debbie!
I'm going to have to try this out... :D

[Phoenix Dreams Studio]

Thanks a lot for sharing, Debbie. I'll have to see if I can make it happen with my Hot Head.

[pierces*designs]

Bump

[Beadanna]

Thanks Debbie. I forgot about this - and why I made an effort to get hold of some slate blue. :lol:

[NLC Beads]

Awesome - I've been playing with this one for a while now and completely forgot it was a Debbie tutorial. *facepalm* Thanks for sharing this, it's a great design - I love it etched.

I used silver foil, and silvered ivory for the moon.
http://www.nlcbeads.com/gallery/xLunarMoonscape.jpg

[carrieb]

I tried this out yesterday and it's a pretty cool tutorial. Debbie, thank-you for sharing it. I'll have to fool around with it more but so far I like my first results. I used foil & leaf and the the upper left corner bead I used a little of both. CarrieB

[GlassGalore]

Marking to come back and try this soon!

[Mitosis Glass]

Very cool beads, thank you for sharing!

[pierces*designs]

You guys rock!!

[Rose Leslie]

Going to try this tomorrow. Sounds like it is going to be fun. Thank you Debbi for the tut. IT looks like it is going to be some awesome glass reaction.

[emoon]

Awesome - I've been playing with this one for a while now and completely forgot it was a Debbie tutorial. *facepalm* Thanks for sharing this, it's a great design - I love it etched.

I used silver foil, and silvered ivory for the moon.
http://www.nlcbeads.com/gallery/xLunarMoonscape.jpg


REALLY Nice bead!!

And JJ, the Red Tent was a wonderful book!!

[hjlacey]

am trying this tonight! thanks a few years down the road :)

[emoon]

I did a couple. They aren't great but I get the idea, and I had fun playing with it! I think the sky needds to be bigger and I used a moon-making formula from Melanie Hazen... I hope to do mo' better ones soon!! Thanks for sharing this.


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