How to Make the Implosion/Petal Beads

[j2canoe]

I want to share how I make the Implosion/Petal beads like the ones below. The trick to these beads is PATIENCE and PRACTICE. They are not fast beads to make. Remember too that YOU control the glass, not the other way round. By varying the thickness of your layer of clear and the direction you hold the mandrel when melting your bead down, you can change the length of your petals and the shape of your bead. You can add or take away clear to also alter the shape. You can also change the look of your flower/implosion by altering the placement of your dots for each layer. The best way to learn these beads is to play with the elements and see what happens. Here are the instructions for my Bird of Paradise set: Sally (Cadia) has put together a Fabulous visual reference for these beads - the link is located here (it takes a few seconds to load - be patient):

http://flamingfools.com/Joan%20Implo...al%20Beads.pdf

First - pull stringers (about 1mm) of Ink Blue Pastel, Ink Blue transparent , Dk Aqua transparent and CIM Heffalump. And have a full rod of clear ready.
2. Make a very small disk bead (about two wraps) on the mandrel of the Ink Blue Transparent.
3. Place six dots of your Ink Blue Pastel equally around the disk and melt in.
4. Place dots of Ink Blue trans on top of these and melt in.
5. Place dots of Aqua trans on top of these and melt in.
6. Take your rod of clear and make one wrap over the dots around the disk and melt in - this will become your stamen.

(you will probably need to reshape your disk with a tool throughout this process - it doesn't have to be super-skinny - just fairly disk-y)

7. Take your Ink Blue Pastel and make 6 smallish dots on the right side of the disk halfway between the center of the disk and the mandrel and melt in.
8. Put dots of Aqua trans on top of these and melt in.
9. Put dots of the Ink Blue trans on top of these and melt in.
10. Make a smaller dot (tiny) on the extreme right side of these same dots of Heffalump and melt in.
11. Wrap the disk again with your rod of clear - but this time only cover the dots you just applied in steps 7-10. Your wrap will be on the right side of the bead where the dots are - not the whole bead. Melt in.
12. Make six more dots of your Ink Blue Pastel around the disk placing them between the dots you made last time. The dots you made in the last round should have spread into little petal-y looking ones - so these dots will go at their base toward the mandrel on the right. Melt in.
13. Cover these dots with the Ink Blue Trans and melt in
14. Cover these dots with the Aqua Trans and melt in.
15. Make another tiny dot on each with the Heffalump at the extreme right side of these dots and melt in.
16. Once again wrap with your clear - one wrap - only covering the dots you have just applied and melt in.

Whew!!! If you look again at the beads - it should help make the placement clearer.

17. Now heat the whole shebang up - not too hot or your petals will feather out, but enough so that the glass will flow- hold your mandrel perpendicular to your table while heating up to get the dots to do their thing. I usually heat the bead to just glowing and then remove it from the heat and hold it straight up (bead facing with the petals pointing directly toward the table - then on the next heat have the petals facing towards the ceiling, etc) until the glass stops moving. You have to shape the bead ends with a tool during this process -You have to do this many times until you get the petals as long as you want. Also remember to always turn the mandrel backwards and forwards throughout (from step one) to keep your dots from favoring one side or the other. You can add a little clear glass to either side over your other clear if you need to during the heating to make the shape pretty and make the ends go longer - but usually - if your clear wrap over each set of dots was thick enough, you don't need to. This bead you kind of just need to play with - it took me forever to figure it out and then once I realized that you have to hold the mandrel Straight up and down after giving it enough heat to allow the glass to move - the Lightbulb went off!!! You can make as many sets of petals as you want - just remember to wrap with the full rod of clear in between each set. I usually alternate the dot placement for each row, but you don't have to.

[blong2001]

Thank you! I look forward to trying these!

[Bobeche]

Those are beautiful, thanks!

[jknappcampbell]

Joan, it was gracious of you to share, thank you

[Rose Leslie]

They are beautiful. Awesome and more. Thank you for this.

[Mitosis Glass]

Those beads are gorgeous Joan! I know my first efforts will not be anywhere near what you've got. Thank you for sharing the tips!

[Pat]

Joan, your beads are beautiful. And sharing this tut for free is so awsome.

[j2canoe]

By playing with the placement of the dots and the thickness and placement of your clear wrap (think - wrap/implode/wrap/impode a bit/more dots/repeat) you can create all sorts of different designs. Here are some different examples - these all use the same technique - just play with it!!!!

[Silver Moon Lampwork]

Wow! Those are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing Joan.

[beybey]

Woo hoo. Thanks, Joan. I can't wait to try it out. I really appreciate it.

[Angie09]

Oh Joan ... I have always wanted to know how these are made (not that I have the patience to actually make one!!!) They are gorgeous!! Thank you for being so kind as to share this incredible information with us all!! (and say hi to your fat cat for me!! lol)

Angie

[chrissij]

Happy Dance!!

[GlassGalore]

OMG... they ARE implosions? I'm doomed. I am the queen of wonky implosions.

[kk5336]

Thank You, Joan, for sharing....that is soooo kind of you.

[rkoza]

Gorgeous beads!!
This is awesome...thanks so much for sharing!!

[alb6094]

Beautiful Joan, I just love these!

[Swirls]

Very pretty. Thanks for sharing.

Linda

[SilverRiverJewelry]

Oh my, thanks so much for sharing this! I drool over these beads every time I see them, they are just stunning! I am sure it will be years before I get it right but boy, am I going to have fun trying lol!

[GlassTorturer]

Thank you sooo much for sharing this information about your gorgeous beads! I can't wait to try! (and I do mean 'try')

Judy

[pgglass]

Thanks so very much for sharing. I've been trying to create these beads for a year and yours are gorgeous!!
Pam

[pgglass]

Hi Joan, I just read the tutorial and I'm a little confused about the dot placement at step #7. Could you please go over that part again for me. I think you're telling us to place the dots to the right and inbetween the previous dots. Is that correct?
thanks so very much again for explaining this technique to us and sharing photos of your beautiful bead work.
Pam

[essiemessy]

Thank you! Looking forward to some torch time to see how they turn out, now I know how.

[j2canoe]

Hi Pam - As you look down at your bead in Step 7 - you will see where the first row of petals are that you just wrapped. Step 7 actually begins your petals. Steps 1-6 are creating the "stamen" or base for your petals - these are the inner layer that transverses the bead itself. Step 7 will be your first row of petals and you can decide here whether you want to place your next row of dots directly over the other ones - or start the new dots in between (offset) from those. (You can also do both - make a couple of rows in-line and then stagger them for a couple of rows - it's really up to whatever you want to do). In this set - I chose to stagger the petal rows to make them look more like flowers - so as I looked down at the bead, I put the dot for the next row in-between (you are working on top of your clear wrap from before here so you just kind of "sight" where in-between is ). You'll see as you begin to make these beads that they are "backwards" - the dots you put down in Step 7 will then become the petals furthest to the left of the bead - each subsequent set of dots will move the petals toward the right. I hope this makes sense? You are building on top and slightly to the right of what you have just made.
Also - since these are implosions, you can get as fancy as you want. You can pull the petal dots/crease them/put little bubbles in them or at the very tip of them and just generally abuse them anyway you want before wrapping them with your clear. The possibilities are endless. I hope this clears it up for you some. As you begin to play with these beads, the directions will become very clear - I promise!! If you do something and it doesn't work - stop, look at the bead and visualize what it is you are wanting it to do - then use heat and gravity (and possibly some more clear) to make it do what you want!! Also - just as an aside - if things go awry - these beads make great owls and also look good smooshed!!

[maroli]

Thank you Joan for this precious tutorial ... I did not have time to try it presently but I will keep preciously this link

[ellabeads]

Beautiful beads!! Thank you for this tutorial Joan

[KFraley51]

Thank you for the tutorial, I would love to be able to make this style of bead. Those beads are beautiful. Does anyone else have any of their petal beads they would like to show.
Karen

[pgglass]

Hi Joan, Thanks, your explanation just clicked and now I fully understand what to do. I can't wait to get started. I've always loved the look of these beads and hopefully I will do your tutorial justice.
Pam

[glassygear]

Dear Joan,
these beads make my jaw drop open, and now that I know how its done, my mouth is still hanging open.
Thank you for sharing.

[Dreamscapes Studio]

GORGEOUS beads!!! I've been wondering about the method to these beads.

Thank you so very much for sharing!!!

Cheryl

[WildatHeart]

Originally Posted by j2canoe

if things go awry - these beads make great owls

?? Awry = owls ??