Sadie's puffy heart tutorial

[SadiesJewels]

First a disclaimer ... I used someones hollow bead cd to discover the easy way to make hollow beads - the method is not my own (Jim Smirichs I believe - cannot spell his name but the method is his). I believe the covered core is someone elses i saw on a forum and that heart part is mine (that is what I would like to claim) but may have been previousl discovered by others so i lay no claim to its originality.

Here goes!

1. Make a simple thin barrel bead about 3/4" long - this one was not quite finished and need a bit more heating and marvering before it was done.
this ensures that you will not have to spend an age trying to clean out your hollow bead. Despite all the methods around, this I believe is the best method to prevent a tedious job! However, the barrel can be seen though a hollow bead. I have not found it to be disturbing to buying customers!!!

2. Add thin discs at each end being sure to keep each end warm to prevent cracking.


3. Keep building up the discs until they are tall enough that you believe they will bend and touch each other. Experience will tell you when - they need to be quite tall!


4.Marver the edges of the discs in from both directions until they touch.



5. Add extra glass around the seam to be sure it is sealed


6.Heat until everything is well rounded ... fill any gaps immediately and be careful to keep moving or you will burst your bubble!


7. Add extra glass at the shoulders if needed (mine usually do - to prevent pointy holes)!


8.Using a brass marver crease the center of the "to be heart".


9. Heat the bottom of the heart until glowing, attach your rod of glass and gently pull to form a point. I like the point to angle sideways, but the choice is yours.


10.Warm the heart well before placing in the kiln for annealing.

[SadiesJewels]

Hope someone finds this to be of use ... feel free to embellish the heart to your hearts desire. This is plain and simple but a steady seller for me as is!

Sadie

[earth*monkey]

Very nice!

[Deb Hopeful Journeys]

Thank you!

[Parrotise]

Thanks Sadie!

Vicki

[Margrieten]

Thank you very much!

[Marie C]

Thanks!!! I looooooove tutorials, especially the those with pictures. I just can't get enough knowledge. I WANT TO KNOW IT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT TO DOOOOO IT ALL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OK, enough silliness. Thanks, again, for your hard work and willingness to share. I'm going to make one of these this afternoon.

Warmly, Marie C

[SadiesJewels]

Everyone is very welcome ... no point in keeping information to oneself! Perhaps everyone who gives it a go would be kind enough to share their attempts here - good or bad. We might be able to help solve any problems you may have with the technique.

My disc building looks very feeble in the pictures here, but Tracy (Torch Temptress) on another thread "Great Tutorial not english" has a great non - English disc building demo which may be of use to those here. Hopefully Tracy won't mind me posting the link here too?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v5F7jwEJGY

Sadie

[CraftymissKim]

Thank you I will try this.

Thank you
Kim

[PaulaD]

Sadie That's beautiful!!

Paula

[Mustang Dawn]

Sadie,

It looks like fun. I'll give it a try next time at the torch

Thanks for sharing and have a great weekend, Dawn

[Starrr]

Nice Job with the tut! Thanks!

Edie

[SadiesJewels]

ooh ... it got five stars - thank you guys. That is sooo cool to me!

[Vicki B.]

I've been working on my hearts and hollows recently, and hadn't seen the tip about adding to the shoulders to help the holes stay nice. Can't wait to try it and see if it helps - sounds like a great idea!!

Thanks!

[comaki]

i don't know how many times i have attempted to make something similar.. and it not work...

but once i added the core to it, it shaped up beautifully.. yeah!!

thank you again..

[mynameislola]

Thanks so much for sharing, and with pics.......I need pics. Happy Hearts to all!

[DFS]

Sadie,
Thanks. This was very nice of you.


Joyce

[PixieFireBeads]

I really like this tutorial, Sadie.

First I tried making a heart by starting with the tube bead and then creating the hollow around it. I ended up liking the ensuing bead so much I couldn't force myself to try to alter it for fear of ruining the original bead.

So, I followed your directions again, omitting step #1 but following all the subsequent steps. I've created some hollow hearts I really love, here's one of them...



Now that I can make the heart without fear of collapsing my bead I'm going to try them again following the full instructions. I think it will look really cool to make them with an embellished tube and then create a clear heart over it.

Thank you so much for sharing your method with us!

[SadiesJewels]

You're all very welcome ... that's a really beautiful heart Ezzy - love it!

I originally tried using a different color bead for the inside which worked well, but I never fully explored decorating it. I think it could be very exciting - let's see when you're done!

Sadie

[marlabeads]

Hi Sadie,
Thanks for the wonderful tutorial! The puffy heart I tried this afternoon went into the kiln looking great.
I had never had much luck with hollows when trying to slant the winds for the body toward the center while winding - they would inevitably end up having gaps or start collapsing before I was through.

But the method you described for making the sides - stacking the winds THEN marverling them towards the center - worked perfectly!

Hoping to show you the finished heart in person!
Carol

[Megan]

I tried my hand at the hollow puffy heart.. Here are the results.. I need to work on getting thinner walls but I like the results and the bead is pretty large and non-hollow wise would probably have been too heavy to wear comfortably..



Thanks for your tutorial..

[SadiesJewels]

That's beautiful Megan ... and you did a perfect job on the ends too! That's the hard part I think.

[Megan]

Thanks. It did help adding a little extra glass on the sides.. It was almost there before that but I like a nice pucker..

I really think its easier to make the hollow one than to use the two round bead method and I think you get a much nicer result. Faster to do to at least for me.

[Storyteller Art]

Hey there, this is my very first post EVER! I just found this site last night and I have been obsessed with reading as much as I can, with a few trips to the garage to try something here or there. I just started beadmaking about a week or two ago with the little Flameworks kit from Hobby Lobby hehe... I have been making wire wrapped jewelry for a few months. Of course after I bought the kit I realized how limiting and almost useless it was for what I REALLY wanted to do! But I have had fun playing with it just learning the basics of how glass and lampworking goes until I can save up for bigger and better toys.

I loved reading this tut and seeing the results from people and had a thought since I've been reading almost constantly the past weeks about different techniques. One I read in a book and wanted to try was using a copper tube for the base of your bead. After reading this tut and letting it percolate in my brain while I dipped mandrels that technique came to mind in reference to this heart bead. I haven't tried it since I don't have any copper tubing but I'm wondering what prettiness might come from trying it... If I get a chance to pick some up and can pull off this bead with my limited tools and supplies I'll post my results but maybe someone who is more experienced and has the necessaries on hand could try it and let us know how it looks...

Thanks to everyone for all the amazing wonderful info I've already been absorbing! Hopefully I can contribute back soon!

Smooches,
Avi
Storyteller Art ~ Portraits, Art, Life

[SadiesJewels]

Welcome Avi!

Yes ... we'd all love to see variations, and the copper tubing may add something to it as well!

Sadie