All About Lampwork Glass ~ Scarlet-Impressions' Blog

Through Fire and Flame
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Introduction to Lampwork - Part Three

Published: 11-12-2011 10:40am
Posted In: All About Lampwork Glass
There are many techniques in lampworking that a glass artist may mention when talking about their beads, knowing what techniques have been used is benifical to understanding the lampworking process and the quality of the beads. This list is by no means comprihensive but will give you an insight to the more common techniques and how they should look. Encasing - Sometimes called casing this technique is often done with clear glass over a decorated bead. A bead is made and then the lampworker adds a layer of clear glass to the bead in order to magnify the decoration. This however isn't limited to clear glass on decorated beads. Encasing is the com... » Read More

Introduction to Lampwork - Part Two

Published: 11-11-2011 05:26am
Posted In: All About Lampwork Glass
Lampworking is the art of melting glass in a controlled way to form a shape. The most commom product of lampworking is beads. Part two of this introduction to lampwork is all about the common terminology that you will generally see in lampwork bead listings. Annealing - The most important part of the process after making the beads. Glass is very susceptible to thermal shock and needs to be cooled slowly to remove any stress in the glass that may cause it to break. Annealing is done in a kiln and beads go from the torch flame into a pre-heated kiln. After a lampworker has finished a session the kiln is then programmed to hold the temperatu... » Read More

Introduction to Lampwork Part One

Published: 11-09-2011 02:40pm
Posted In: All About Lampwork Glass
Thanks to the growing popularity of lampwork, most people, especially jewellery artisans, have now heard of lampworking. Also thanks to the jewellery artists out there including lampwork beads in their designs glass beads in general have risen in popularity as an affordable alternative to using gemstones with more scope for colour, texture and patterning. There are so many different things to consider when looking at lampwork beads, this series of blog posts have been written to help you understand the different terms you are likely to see in a lampwork bead listing, and things to look out for if you are buying beads and want to make sure you a... » Read More
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