Frosty Tutorial

[Melodie]

Hello all, I had posted this tutorial on a couple different forums last year and thought I would add it here as well. I hope you enjoy!

This is a basic tutorial for beginners who might like to make a snowperson for Christmas. I don’t show how to decorate your Frosty since I believe that is personal to each artist. I like to give you the basics; you provide your own voice. But … I would really love to see how you do decorate them.

Melodie

Photo #1. Make a large bead for the base of the snowman. Try to center as much as possible. Now make a smaller bead fairly close to the first, this will be the head. Do not forget to keep splashing the larger bead with heat. Since they are close together the larger bead will get some of the heat while applying the smaller bead but you still want to be careful. However, do not apply enough heat to lose the centering of the large bead. Now center the smaller bead.




Photo #2. Start applying heat to the middle-bottom of the larger bead. I marked the spot where you should apply the heat.




Photo #3. When it turns transparent (you want the glass to be movable) rotate the mandrel so the large bead is at the top. The hot glass will move down and touch the smaller bead. Turn the mandrel back to a horizontal position and continue to heat the joint to make sure it is fully fused. If you heat it too much the indention will be lost so be very careful in this step. It will fuse together about half way but just use a sharp thin blade (I use a window scraper with a single edge razor blade) to give more definition to the indention if needed.




Photo #4. Add a wrap of glass to the bottom of the large bead and melt in. This will give you the extra glass back that shifted towards the smaller bead and give you a nice snowball bottom. If you lost your pucker and this didn’t help to get it back then simply heat the bottom (and only the very bottom) and stand straight up. Be careful to not over do this step, you want a pucker … not a saggy bottom.




Photo #5. A finished snowman! Decorate your Frosty however you wish.




Photo#6. My Frosty

[FlameDancer]

VERY, very cool! I really want to try this Thanks so much for posting the tut!

[Beadbug]

Bery nice. Thanks for sharing.

[NLC Beads]

Sweet! Looks like with some more accessorizing, he could be a S'more-man, too!

[kandice]

Awesome - thank you for the tutorial!!

[GiGiC]

I just found this tutorial yesterday and made my first frosty! Thanks so much for sharing.

[volkanokaren]

THANKS !!!! I am now in the Christmas spirit to create

Karen
Volkano Exotik

[briarpatch]

Originally Posted by FlameDancer

VERY, very cool! I really want to try this Thanks so much for posting the tut!

Thanks for the lession. I am going to try this. I am very new at this, but love it.

[Melodie]

Wow ... Can't believe you all found this after three years. Glad to hear it will be helpful. Would love to see some pics.

[infinitecharms]

Great tutorial. He is an adorable frosty.

[nancyinvermont]

Oh wow, I have been wishing for a snow man tutorial because I tried to make one and he ended up in a big blob! Thanks so much for putting this here....I just found you after all this time!

Nancy

[Little Brushy]

Thanks for the snowman tut. I've made a few of them since finding your tut. My DD looked at the last one though and told me his hat looked like an Egyptian turban. I think I need hat practice!

Thanks again.

Beth

[Carols Glass]

This is such a great tutorial. I've been struggling with making them and this should make it so much easier, thank you. I love your frosty, too .

[nancyinvermont]

I tried this and it was so much better than whatever i was doing. But I couldn't get the hats right. The first two attempts are shown below incorporated in my Christmas Exchange bead sets. I can't wait to get back on the torch and try this some more. Thanks so much for the "Frosty" Tutorial!!!





Nancy

[Melodie]

Thanks everyone!

Nancy, those are great first Frosty's. You really have the body shape down perfect.

I'll see if I can do something today to add to this tutorial on how to make the hat similar to mine. Hopefully I can get it posted sometime tomorrow. It really isn't hard, just another bead only this one you marver into a cone.

[nancyinvermont]

Thank you, Melodie! i would love to know how to get the hat shape a little better. Frosties are such cute little things!! Can't wait to try again.

Nancy

[Melodie]

Instructions for creating Frosty’s hat.

I took a shortcut and am only showing the head of the Frosty instead of the whole thing.

1. After making the head and body add a smaller bead above the head for the hat. The more distance you leave between the head and hat the larger hat bead you will need to create. Once you do a couple you’ll be able to judge better how large of a hat bead to make. If you make one too large it will go too far down on the head so it’s better to error on the side of too small.




2. Heat the hat bead until transparent then tilt the mandrel so the molten glass starts moving toward the head bead. Keep turning the mandrel at all times. When it reaches the head bead focus the heat to the joint. You don’t want the head bead to get too hot to where it moves so don’t overdo this step. You will have a pointed end at the top of the hat but that’s exactly what you want.



3. Marver the hat into a cone.



4. At this point I would add the eyes if they are to be poked. I then added a small bead over the pointed end to make the puff ball. If you lose the definition of this smaller bead use a sharp edge to get it back. I also used a ribbon cane to make the brim of the hat. For those that don't know - a ribbon cane is simply a glob of hot glass mashed flat and then pulled like a stringer.



5. The final step would be to poke dimples in the puff ball and to add the ridges to the brim. I add ridges by barely heating the flat cane and then indent it with the knife. Don’t heat the cane too much! Just a splash of heat is all it takes.



Hope this helps!

[nancyinvermont]

Hi Melodie, that is such a cute hat!!! Pretty color too. Thank you so much for taking the time to put all this down for me. I really appreciate it!

Nancy

[Nitadee]

This is just wonderful!!! Here are a couple of mine, and yes, even a penguin as they are sooooooooo close!!! And next.....a stocking cap, I LOVE IT!!! Thanks so much!
Nita

[Little Brushy]

Melodie,
Thanks so much for adding the info on the hat. I will give that a try next time I sit at the torch. I have really enjoyed making the little snowmen.

Beth

[Gayetha]

I just discovered this lovely tutorial - many thanks ! The hat is so clever too. I think I can use this technique for lots of other things too. It is very generous of you to share the techniques!

[Melodie]

Thank you all soooo much! I'm thrilled the tutorial is helping people.

Nitadee ... Sorry I missed seeing your beads earlier, I LOVE them. Great job!

[SunDoorBeads]

Ditto here on the discovery!!! It is too cold here in South Florida right now so I have been in the mood to try "snow beings" I can't wait to try this tut and make some "fake" snowmen- kinda ironic Snowmen outta molten glass- Shhhh don't tell Frosty

[BeadMaven]

I don't know how I missed this either but thanks! Very cute tut!

[*ShirlAnn*]

To Nitadee Glass,
Your pictures are a little blurry. I use Picasa 3 to clean mine up with. It's by Google and it's FREE!!! You might want to try it. I love it. You can straighten your pictures, crop them, lighten, darken, make them sharper, and lots of other stuff.
Shirl