A very good exercise to do when you're starting out is to do Heather Trimlett's 40-Bead Project. You can find it here:
http://www.heathertrimlett.com/40-bead-project/ or here:
https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...1-0-5-2012.pdf.
You'll need two contrasting colors of glass but you won't need tools for this project, it's just heat and gravity.
Here's the Soda Lime Times article about it:
https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...ad-Project.pdf. You'll see my turquoise and ivory beads in the article--they look pretty gawdawful to me now, but the project really did help me improve my skills.