Quote:
Originally Posted by theglasszone
BASIC STEPS FOR MAKING FLORAL ENCASED BEAD:
1. Wind base bead (dark seems to really make the bead in final form "pop").
2. Add "frit" or other, neutral decoration.
3. Encase in clear.
4. Add "vine" cane in twisted, random fashion.
5. Encase again in clear.
6. Add first "set" of lower-most petals, using "opaque" color; shape, crease, or pull out the tips for longer, thinner petals. Methods, depending on the type of flower being made, might be "dot", "stripe" or combination of the two. Add transparent color over opaque and melt in (not applicable in the case of the "striped cane" long, thin petals).
7. Encase again in clear.
8. Continue adding layers of petals, using appropriate method in step #6 above (dot, stripe or both), and encase in clear between each layer.
9. Add final petals (or in case of "daffodil" or "orchid", final "cup" or "beard", as I believe is called in the last, uppermost petal in the orchid. This would be the "dot" method, with some delicate "ruffles" possibly added with shaper method of choice, using either a pick or stringer).
10. Encase again in a final layer of clear.
11. Spot heat the center of the flower and use the stamen cane, clear stringer or tungsten pick to "plunge" into the center of the uppermost petal or center of the final cluster of petals.
12. Add a small "cap" of clear - atop the nipped stamen or over the plunged "hole" in the case of the petal cluster or orchid "beard".
13. Flame anneal and pop into kiln or crock pot with vermeculite.
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This is actually quite an advanced set of steps!
For a really basic encased floral, all you need is 1, (2, 4), 5, 6, 7, and 13. 2 and 4 are optional, too. I make flowers with just these 7 steps most of the time. The only change I would make to your steps is to add transparent colour to a petal *before* pulling a point in step 6 (thought that may have been what you meant). It's good for beginners to practice the 5- or 7-step basics for a while and get a good feel for the petal-melting and encasing. From there, the possibilities are endless!
Some other steps that could be thrown into the mix include adding CZs in the middle like Kim Fields, adding tiny black dots to the petals (several tiny ones for a lily, one bigger one for tulip or poppy) adding cane flowers (like free-run stamens with ribbon lines instead of round lines) or more ambitiously, murrine flowers. You can layer the transparent top-colours, of course, and you can crease the opaque or cup it with a blunt tool before adding transparent, or crease the whole petal after adding transparent for a different look. Either way, you can crease once in the centre or multiple times in a radius (see the top 2 petals in my 2nd orchid bead). You can add an "invisible stamen" if you want the flower to be plunged without a bubble - just use a clear stringer to plunge (make sure it's clean and unscummy!). Oh, and I usually plunge the centre of my petals and re-melt once to get a really crisp centre meeting. Dot-based petals can be in sets of 3, 4, 5... 6 is possible but it gets a little harder to bring them to a central point without squashing them all together. Some people like to cover the whole bead with flowers so the base peeks out in between, and others (like me) like to leave a lot of background showing as part of the composition. It's a matter of personal style - the glass will usually whisper what it wants to you to do!
Another step I like for the base is silver-leafing before adding frit and vines. You can do anything to your base cylinder, though - as organic or geometric as you want! One design tip would be if you have a busy multi-colour base, stick with bold one-colour flowers. If you make high-contrast flowers stick with a more neutral base. This was my partner's feedback to me after some of my latest colour experiments, anyway - YMMV!
Hope this is the sort of thing you were looking for.
Oh, and when I re-read this thread I noticed that I was accidentally very rude and didn't compliment SandyQ on her beautiful red and orange flower bead! I really meant to as it is lovely. I apologize for neglecting it!