How to know when to say "Uncle"? - Page 2

Kevin Kluth · #31 2011-02-02, 8:02am

What everyone said- even the most basic, one color bead, executed well looks GORGEOUS! Try to concentrate on the basics, limit yourself to one or maybe 2 colors, and you will eventually get the hang of it!

yellowbird · #32 2011-02-02, 9:12am

Not sure if anyone else has suggested this but
make five or six beads on every mandrel.
do this 10 time. then do it again.
don't worry about what they look like just get the motion
Before you start to wind the glass on
back your fingers up so you will have more forward motion.
just make spacer beads.
Kristina Logan does this in her classes and it is a wonderful exercise

Porcupinez · #33 2011-02-02, 9:23am

My first week of making things looked horrible. I work about 6 hours each day, spend time working on a new thing everyday and everyday improves. I also spend hours at night memorizing tutorials so that I can try them in the shop the next day, I also am very hard on myself when it comes to developing clean craft which comes along with spending and taking time to figure out timing and heat control, how molten glass moves, and coordination that comes along with spinning glass at the same time. You just have to stick in there and push yourself and give yourself time to do it. Have you thought about taking a beginning class?

Cody_ABR · #34 2011-02-02, 9:30am

It takes a second to learn! Don't give up! If you are about ready to throw in the towel, then that means you are getting CLOSE!

don't stop!

ben david · #35 2011-02-06, 3:34am

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSimi115

I do stained glass and fusing and I've been holding off on lampworking. Now I took the leap. I WOULD love to be able to make a few Pandora type beads to give as gifts and to wear myself.

Stained glass stays where you put it, and fusing is largely a hands-off process once you load the kiln.

Hot glass does not wait, or stay where you put it = much harder to master.

I am getting into lampwork from furnace glassblowing. It took the better part of 2 years before my blown glass vessels were reasonably round and symmetrical - a moment's hesitation and gravity does its work. In contrast, I had no problem making lovely pottery on a wheel - because the clay mostly stays where you put it.

So don't compare this to your other glass experiences. You are exploring other qualities of this fascinating material! Because hot work requires constant motion, it will take more time to get a good result.

The upside is that the zen-like focus on the glass is really relaxing, and can lead you into a creative "zone". Don't give up!

PerfectDeb · #36 2011-02-06, 3:48am

took me about an hour to make a round bead, i was so chuffed with myself

took me about a year to do anything else

skippystretch · #37 2011-02-06, 4:14am

I bought passing the flame, and processed through each page and technique until I could produce the sample. Took quite awhile, but got to understand the molten glass and the mandrel. But then I am a book worm and find book instruction superior. So that said, 1 page at a time, and you will be amazed at what you accomplish. Don't give up.

FourTailsLampwork · #38 2011-02-06, 6:23am

What everyone has said. As for the mandrels, stay with 3/32. 3/16 are a little too big to work with when you are learning, and believe it or not, bigger-holed beads are harder than regular ones.

Muscle memory does take a while to learn! I had to learn without classes, too, and I had BOXES of wonkies. Start small, work up to Pandoras!

Part of the issue may be that you have a goal in mind, namely, a gift. Glass is funny stuff, and you have to be a little Zen to work it, especially at first. When you start, pay attention to every step--the glow of the glass when you heat the gather, the tension as it touches the mandrel and you begin to twirl the mandrel aaway from you, the feel of the mandrel with glass on it, the way that the glass moves as it gets hot .... Make some gathers on the tip of your rod and deliberately let them drop onto your (heat-proof) table top, and see how the glass "feels" as it begins to droop.

I think if you refocus onto the PROCESS, not the PRODUCT, that your learning curve may speed up

IF it oesn't, you will still have had much more fun and you will be making better beads.

dianeconroy · #39 2011-02-10, 5:24pm

Chris, just wondering how things were going, hoping you have kept on trying.

truegem · #40 2011-02-11, 1:58am

Never say Uncle if you are passionate about something.

Holly · #41 2011-02-11, 4:27pm

I'd have gone nuts if I had tried to make 100 round beads in a row.

I think we all learn differently and for me it was less "practice" and more "play". I goofed around and had fun and eventually the basics just came to me. I'm still learning "basic" stuff after 8 years.
It took me months to get a feel for glass but once it "took" I was hooked. Go easy and have fun!

Kym · #42 2011-02-11, 5:15pm

yeah, Holly, I think the same is true for me. I spent most of the first year just %$^&ing around with the glass. I am not a patient person so the idea of making 20 round beads would have me going nuts. I just played a lot and wasted glass. It was fun! LOL

Kym

yellowbird · #43 2011-02-12, 7:51am

with Kristina's method you don't try to make round beads.
It is one wrap and you are done.
you don't even try to make it round . It is all about the winding motion.

Fine Folly Glassworks · #44 2011-02-12, 8:32am

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSimi115

I'm been trying on and off for about 5 days to learn how to make beads. Not doing well at all. Don't exactly know what the problem is. How do I know if I'm not "cut out" for this?

Chris

When I first started I was told to limit myself to one or two colors, and to practice wrapping glass evenly on a mandrel and bringing it to round until I was consistent. If the first wrap is wonky and uneven along the edge then dunk the mandrel in a pot of water and start another. You usually can't correct a bad footprint as a Newbie. Using clear stringers to start might be of help to see the footprint you are laying better.

I would encourage you to select two colors, and make 30 spacer beads in one color on a smaller sized mandrel, then go to the other color and do it, and so on. This is because glass handles differently based on color (and Mfr.).

If you hate the practice and the challenge of it you probably won't progress and will frustrate yourself silly in misery - so enjoy the failures and learn from them and you will surely join the family!

essiemessy · #45 2011-02-12, 4:59pm

As a newbie myself (been at it since mid-october, averaging about 6 hours a week), I've found that the combo of the 'process over product'; and just having FUN work for me. I've made nothing perfect, or even remotely close to it, but I'm having a ball all the way, and working out what was to be learned from each session.
My stringers are still shameful, my beads are average, but every now and then I come up with a little gem which makes my soul dance

And I still wake up in the night with some great idea about what my next project will be.
If you've got glass on the brain on any given hour of the day, it is worth persevering. You never know - one day you'll be famous for your lampwork

carolinesbeads · #46 2011-02-12, 5:47pm

Ok if you are not loving your torch time then quit. If you love being at the torch but are disappointed with your beads be kind to yourself and accept that it takes time to be good at anything.

2 mistakes I made when starting was that I didn't melt a large enough gather of glass to wind on my mandrel as a result the glass got too cool towards the end and I had alot of sperm shaped beads. Second mistake is to spin the mandrel too fast once you have all your glass on to make it round. Extra tip: a wonky bead going into a press will yield a wonky bead coming out!

Holly · #47 2011-02-12, 8:42pm

I want to add that I didn't much like torching when I first started. I felt obligated to do it because my Mom bought me a Hothead kit and I thought I should at least make her a few little beads for her generosity. It took a few months of goofing around before I caught the bug. Now I'm glad I stuck to it even though I didn't like it at first. I never even made those "few little beads" for Mom. I got too involved experimenting. Eventually Mom got lots of beads from me that I could never have imagined making when I first started out.

You never know where this will take you!

janetcameron · #48 2011-02-13, 3:09am

I have been doing this for about 5 years - can only do a couple of hours each weekend day. I have put myself in the Intermediate Gallery. Every time I do beads I still practice getting the glass on the rod and working on getting nice edges. You get decent on one thing and then try the next new technique and work on it - if there is something you can't do come back to it after a couple of months and try again. I'm working on stringer control now - my New Year's resolution. It's an ongoing process. I agree that the more classes you can do the better.