Tracemaille Jewellery: Making Lampwork beads with Rebecca Weddell

Today I attended a 2.5 hour session with Rebecca Weddell learning how to make lampwork beads at Surrey Jewellery School in Mayford, Woking.

Wow, it was great fun and I think I can safely say this will be another skill I will definitely be considering adding to my repertoire.

The day started with Rebecca introducing us to all the equipment

The hothead torch and our workbench, tools and supplies

A hothead torch, which was attached to our workbench to allow freehand use. A ceramic tile for placing any hot items onto. A range of different glass rods laid out for us to choose from and a number of mandrels with the ends dipped in a special silicone based bead release so that the beads don't stick to the metal.

Rebecca also went through all the safety stuff with us before we started (funny she found out I was a safety advisor after the session! lol) not that the safety issues weren't covered properly! he he

Overall during the day we made 5 beads each, I was most impressed that Rebecca managed to get us through that many beads during the session, which made it all the more rewarding to have so much to show for at the end.

We started with making stringers for use with a later spotted bead. This involved heating a glass rod carefully and then grasping the end and pulling it to a very thin stringy piece of glass. We then moved onto our first bead, using plain opaque glass. I chose green for my first bead.

This was my first bead

Rebecca taught us the technique of how to feed the molten glass end of the rod onto the mandrel. It all felt a bit strange at first, waving a glass rod around into the flame, heating up the glass carefully to ensure it didn't fracture and then turning the mandrel whilst still heating the glass and the mandrel.

Feeding the molten glass onto the mandrel

Like Rebecca said, like patting your head and rubbing your stomach both at the same time!! It soon came easy once you really start to lose yourself in the moment, I found myself poking my tongue out in concentration.

Once the bead was finished and cooled slightly, it was placed into a tub of perlite to cool further.

We then swiftly moved onto our second bead, using the clear glass rods to learn the difference between working with opaque and clear glass.

My second bead using clear glass

Then onto our third bead. using an external decoration using glass frit. This involved creating a clear glass bead base first and then heating it up and rolling it in the glass frit and then re-heating to incorporate the frit back into the bead.

Blue clear glass bead with added frit

Rapidly moving onto the fourth bead, phew this was great, loving every minute.

A clear glass bead with a pink frit.

Clear glass with pink frit

Finally the last bead. Using our stringers that we pulled at the beginning of our training to make our spotty beads. I had pulled a lilac opaque stringer and a purple clear stringer for my bead. I then picked an opaque pink glass for my bead and added my spots randomly and then again heated my bead turning it to melt the spots into the bead. This was my best bead so far and turned out really well.

The beads were all sat in the perlite, and then removed and if cool enough, could be placed into a bowl of water and the beads could then be removed from the mandrels using a firm grip with a pair of pliers.

Soaking the beads in water to enable them to be removed from the mandrel

The only bummer was that for our beads to be finished they have to be annealed in a kiln overnight to make the beads stronger and more durable, this means I have to wait a few more days before I can see the finished product.

My final bead

All in all an excellent day and with many thanks to Rebecca Weddell, who has her own studio and business in East Hoathly, East Sussex. Check out her website Rebecca Weddell Lampwork Beads or she has a Facebook page, Rebecca's Facebook Page.

The course was held at Julie Holt's studio in Mayford, Woking. Surrey Jewellery School.

I am definitely going to have a go at this again, I think maybe even invest in a starter kit! Watch this space