A hollow tutorial please
 

We don't appear to have a hollow bead tutorial.
Would anyone be so kind and point me in the right direction please???Thanks Fiona;-)

There's a whole lot of good info in this thread:

http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=18081

http://www.rejiquar.com/HowtoGlassBeads/2rounds.html

http://andiesglass.wetcanvas.com//andies_glass_013.htm

Thanks !

I know this thread is old but figured I'd update the link to Andie's tutorial:

http://www.andiesglass.com/andies_glass_013.htm

Thank you for updating the thread. I missed it the first time around!

Miss Kate

I did a couple with that method tonight and am keeping my fingers crossed that they look as awesome when they come out of the kiln as they did when they went in. It's only my second attempt at them but I was really excited when I saw them form up tonight. Made my husband laugh. :)

I have a words only tut with final outcome pics on my website. Im not sure what kind of hollow you are lookin for.

CandyAnn has a Hollow ideo on youtube

I make hollows by winding two disks side by side - not too far apart or the final bead won't have puckers on the ends. When the disks are as big as I want I heat them gently and nudge them towards each other then seal them together by pinching the seam lightly with tweezers. Then I heat it slowly in the cooler part of the flame until it melts together and starts puffing up. As I do this, I look for any holes and patch them. I continue heating and turning until it is nicely shaped and then pop it in the kiln...

I want to add that stiffer glass - transparent especially - is easier to work with when making hollows! I've gotten to where I can make a pretty decent hollow with soft glass like dark silver plum but it's really difficult and they rarely come out nicely rounded. I personally love Caliente and Bullseye for hollows. Lauscha transparents are nice too.

This set was made with one of the Lauscha purples.

http://www.heavenly-gifts.com/ebay/images/IMG_2778.jpg

wow laurie!! I have a hard time blowing shards with DSP!!! Nevermind create holows with it! Those beads are to die for!

Thank you Jaci!!! I like working on all sorts of beads but I always come back to hollows. I've been hooked on them ever since I made my first one! :-D

Here's one I came across that looks easy to understand, lots of pics and good directions.
Isin Glass Design

Going to give 'er a go tomorrow. If they don't turn out too horrible, I'll post a few pics.

Laurie Nessel has a great one. You have to scroll to the bottom of the page and its called blow hose assembly tutorial. I learnt how to make hollow beads using this tut.
http://www.laurienessel.com/News.htm

Perhaps you would like to try my Hollow bead technique ...

This is the basic technique for my hollows:



And then I have an additional technique



Both in my Etsy shop


More to follow hopefully :)

There are lots of good options mentioned here, I will add my two books, maybe you even have one and just forgot about this chapter! Glass Bead Workshop and Making Glass Beads each have ten tutorials and one in each book is about making hollow beads with the Puffy Mandrel (my DH makes them!). There is definitely more than one way to skin a cat! Jeri

Here's the best one of the batch that i made yesterday. It's pretty large, too, about the size of a peach pit.


I used the "make 2 beds and build them u p into discs then seal with 1 wrap of glass" method.

That bead looks great!