Hi!
I had an email request recently for some help making a starfish bead on a mandrel. Bear in mind that I haven't actually made any starfish on a mandrel, they have all been offhand. I did want to share with everyone though, my response to the request in case it helps someone else too.
I guess this is a pretty all-purpose pictorial because you could make sideways hanging star beads out of it too, and whatever else your imagination can come up with.
First, here is the picture I sent, after that I have the email message it accompanied. Have fun!
Please notice that the mandrel is off-center in the tab. This allows for symmetrical placement of the arms. If the mandrel were running dead center, it would impede the arm placement.
I have made offhand starfish before, but I've never tried one on a mandrel. I've put together a little pictorial for you and I'm attaching it to this email.
As far as tips go, if you look at real starfish, they generally have a simple, repetitive pattern on their surface. If you are going for realism, I suggest building the center and the arms out of all one color, smoothing them out, then heating just the front-facing surface hot enough to cover it with frit. Get a relatively deep pile of frit, heat the face of the starfish to glowing, then press the whole thing into the pile of frit so it covers all over. Melt it in sloooowwwlly because you want it to smooth out and blend, but you don't want to lose the definition or shape of the arms.
However, if you are going for something more whimsical, you could decorate them with stringers and silver and raised flowers and all sorts of things. The final look is up to you but I hope I've helped out at least with the technical aspect of building the base of the starfish.
Good luck to you!
Simple Starfish Pictorial on a mandrel
