Wavey Bead Tutorial

[zen-mom]

I am hooked! I have 6 in the kiln now. The hardest part so far has been trying not to make the disks so big! I like big plate size disks...

[zen-mom]

These were fun!!

[alb6094]

Gorgeous Donna!

[zen-mom]

Thank you Astrid! =)

[Ladypainter]

I've been fascinated with this tutorial since I first came across it. Still building my skills, so these are nowhere near the quality of the others posted in this thread... but I'm happy to have something that's post-able!

Devardi mulit-color rod core with Moretti clear.



Flipping the rod 180:

[Speedslug]

Very pretty Lisa.

[KJohn]

bump

[sofie@]

i wanna try this bead bud i dont have boroglass,can somebody tell me wat collors of softglass i can use?? what collors are very nice with this bead? foto;s?

[KJohn]

These beads are hard to do in soft glass, I find that you have to go VERY slowly or you don't get the effects. Some folks have had some success with twisties/canes or silver glass. You would have to experiment in any case, post photos if you like!

[yessysbeads]

Glad I stumbled on this thread. So many pretties. Gonna try this with soft glass, just gotta figure out how to do a disk bead first lol

[Beatrix]

I was taught this technique in person before I was this tutorial, but I had never tried using a solid disk with clear petals. I'll have to give that a shot, but in the meantime I made this bead. I need to work on applying equal amounts of glass to both sides, but in this case it actually worked out. Makes it look to me like a lotus flower with leaves.

[siberdogmom]

Simply gorgeous work!

[Roxyhart]

Originally Posted by rckeyes

I would like to add that I do not claim to have developed this technique. There are other ways to make a wavey bead. This is how I do it.

1. Start by making a disk about 1 inch in diameter. For this Tutorial I used SS5.

TIP: - Try to make your disk layers as skinny as possible. More layers will add to the depth of the bead and make your end result that much more interesting. I try to have atleast 5 layers or more in the disk.





2. Next, using a 6mm clear rod place a fairly large dot on the disk (does not matter which side you start on).

TIP: - Hold your mandrel perpendicular to the flame so that the disk is parrallel with the flame. Once you place your dot pull your rod toward the flame and flame cut just above the disk. (See Picture)



Place another dot the same size directly opposite of the first one.



Now place another dot inbetween the first two.

TIP: - DO NOT - touch the mandrel with the dots.
DO NOT - Let the dots touch each other.
Make your dots as large as possible without doing the above.



3. Perform the above procedure on the other side of the disk placing the dots inbetween the ones on the other side.

TIP: - These clear dots (When melted) will travel across the face of the bead creating the wave pattern. The larger the dot, the farther across the face it will travel.




TIP: - When placing dots on the face of the disk, wait for a second before pulling it towards the flame to flame cut. This will ultimatly leave more glass where you placed the dot.

4. Your next step is to melt everything down into a bead.




TIP: - When you first begin to melt down your wavey bead start by melting the tips of the dots where you flame cut them. After these are all melted down and even with the edge of the disk you can get more aggressive with the melt down.





Here is a pic before encasing it with clear



Here is a pic after encasing it with clear




Here is another example using a 3 color twistie.

1. Make your disk.





2. Apply your dots.




3. Melt it all down.



Before encasing.



After Encasing.



Final TIP: - Soft glass moves much different than Boro. Soft glass users will want to slow down the melt down. You may have to pull it out of the flame and let it cool for a few seconds, pull it out of the flame and let it cool for a few seconds, pull it out of the flame and let it cool for a few seconds, You get the idea. If you are using soft glass and you end up with a big blob and dont get that unmistakable wave pattern then your prorobably melting to fast!

I hope this helps some of the people out there that have struggled with this technique. Please post your questions and your pics.

Happy melting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fabulous! Thank you! I am going to give this a go.

[Pastino]

Wow!!! I am a newbie just starting out. Thank you for the great tutorial.

[Junebead]

Very cool. Thanks. Very good tutorial.

[cyvonneh]

Originally Posted by rckeyes

I would like to add that I do not claim to have developed this technique. There are other ways to make a wavey bead. This is how I do it.

1. Start by making a disk about 1 inch in diameter. For this Tutorial I used SS5.

TIP: - Try to make your disk layers as skinny as possible. More layers will add to the depth of the bead and make your end result that much more interesting. I try to have atleast 5 layers or more in the disk.





2. Next, using a 6mm clear rod place a fairly large dot on the disk (does not matter which side you start on).

TIP: - Hold your mandrel perpendicular to the flame so that the disk is parrallel with the flame. Once you place your dot pull your rod toward the flame and flame cut just above the disk. (See Picture)



Place another dot the same size directly opposite of the first one.



Now place another dot inbetween the first two.

TIP: - DO NOT - touch the mandrel with the dots.
DO NOT - Let the dots touch each other.
Make your dots as large as possible without doing the above.



3. Perform the above procedure on the other side of the disk placing the dots inbetween the ones on the other side.

TIP: - These clear dots (When melted) will travel across the face of the bead creating the wave pattern. The larger the dot, the farther across the face it will travel.




TIP: - When placing dots on the face of the disk, wait for a second before pulling it towards the flame to flame cut. This will ultimatly leave more glass where you placed the dot.

4. Your next step is to melt everything down into a bead.




TIP: - When you first begin to melt down your wavey bead start by melting the tips of the dots where you flame cut them. After these are all melted down and even with the edge of the disk you can get more aggressive with the melt down.





Here is a pic before encasing it with clear



Here is a pic after encasing it with clear




Here is another example using a 3 color twistie.

1. Make your disk.





2. Apply your dots.




3. Melt it all down.



Before encasing.



After Encasing.



Final TIP: - Soft glass moves much different than Boro. Soft glass users will want to slow down the melt down. You may have to pull it out of the flame and let it cool for a few seconds, pull it out of the flame and let it cool for a few seconds, pull it out of the flame and let it cool for a few seconds, You get the idea. If you are using soft glass and you end up with a big blob and dont get that unmistakable wave pattern then your prorobably melting to fast!

I hope this helps some of the people out there that have struggled with this technique. Please post your questions and your pics.

Happy melting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awesome tutorial - I must try this - Thanks!

[rckeyes]

Howdy folks,
Its been years since I've been here. I`m glad to see this thread still at the top.

[onehotmini]

Those beads are stunning! Sometimes lampworking seems like a magic show - you can't imagine how a look is achieved but once you see how it's done, you can't wait to give it a shot and hope to dazzle others. Thanks for the great tutorial - I see waves in my future.

[mickeyjs.art@outlook.com]

That is very interesting

[Olorin]

Thanks for the great tutorial
I have two questions.
You married two different COE 33 (Boro) and 104 (soft glass)
If I guess correctly
SS5 - COE 33 (Boro)
Clear - COE 104 (soft glass)
1. Actually this COE incompatible and we will get a cracks, isn't it?
2. Can I change COE glass: colour glass disk will be soft (104) and clear will Boro (33)?

[Speedslug]

Originally Posted by Olorin

Thanks for the great tutorial
I have two questions.
You married two different COE 33 (Boro) and 104 (soft glass)
If I guess correctly
SS5 - COE 33 (Boro)
Clear - COE 104 (soft glass)
1. Actually this COE incompatible and we will get a cracks, isn't it?
2. Can I change COE glass: colour glass disk will be soft (104) and clear will Boro (33)?

I think you are mistakenly assuming that the two types of glass are mixed together in one bead.

I believe Rob Keyes mentioned the two types of glass because of their different melting characteristics.

Boro will be stiffer and won't turn into the 'runny blob' that the follow on posts mention had happened to others working with soft glass because they were letting the bead get too hot when melting the clear glass and Keyes was just pointing out that the technique can work with soft glass but you have to be really slow with melting the clear.

Soft glass is all about heat control.

But to answer your question directly; yes.
That much soft glass over that much boro would likely always be a time bomb waiting to shatter unless you had a annealing program that ran for days or weeks to cool down slow enough to allow the stress to even out.


ETA: That's my opinion and worth what you paid for it.

[KJohn]

Phil is correct, mixing coe's 33 and 104 is a complete disaster always! For this tutorial, the beads are boro clear & color. There are also suggestions for 104 beads, since it melts so much faster it might destroy the wave design.

I love this thread. I tried it with boro once and the beads were so massive......but soft glass was hard to do. I still think I should try it again with twisties or something. These wave beads are the reason I started lampworking to begin with! They were so beautiful. Kinda funny that I do everything but. LOL

[Olorin]

Originally Posted by KJohn

For this tutorial, the beads are boro clear & color.

I'm not sure, see post #1 tutorial

Originally Posted by rckeyes

Final TIP: - Soft glass moves much different than Boro. Soft glass users will want to slow down the melt down. You may have to pull it out of the flame and let it cool for a few seconds, pull it out of the flame and let it cool for a few seconds, pull it out of the flame and let it cool for a few seconds, You get the idea. If you are using soft glass and you end up with a big blob and dont get that unmistakable wave pattern then your prorobably melting to fast!

[Speedslug]

I spent some twenty minutes going over that initial post number one looking for evidence that he was laying soft glass over boro and I could not find anything other than the end statement about having to exercise extreme heat control if you are going to use soft glass for this tutorial.

An experienced lampworker "might" be able to create this bead with soft 104 glass over Bullseye 96 glass but it simply will not work with borosilicate and soft glass.

It's a really old thread but you could try sending a Private Message (PM) to the writer and see if you can get an answer from him.

Often, threads this old don't get followed after so long so he may not know about your question.

That is if he is even still connected to LE in his email link to his PM folder.

[KJohn]

no, it's all boro & clear coe 33. Not mixed.
The tip was for soft glass, if you wanted to try this technique with soft glass as it is...well, softer. So it moves much differently than boro, etc....

I wish I could use boro clear, that stuff is awesome but sadly not.

[sofinn]

Thank you, what a good tutorial.

[Sofin]

I went straight out to practice, The first cracked the second one I was pretty proud of. Thank you for the tut.

[LaughnSandy]

This helps a ton! I haven’t used boro yet but will order some tomorrow! Thank you for the great picture tutorial!

[LaughnSandy]

Beautiful beads! Very encouraging for this new bead maker!

[rckeyes]

Wow, I cant believe this thread is still cookin along after all these years. Thank you everyone for the kind comments.