lampworking class

I am lucky enough to live near the creative quarter in Nottingham.  It's an area on the edge of the city centre, with a market place and lots of creative businesses, workshops and shops.  I took a lampworking class with Rosie of Bden Glass who also runs the shop which sells lots of different handmade goods.

It was a 2-hour one-to-one class.  I was a complete beginner so Rosie took me through all the equipment, her set-up and safety concerns.  

This is the torch.  It runs on a mixture of gas and oxygen.  I have forgotten which gas!  The silver pipe you can see is an extractor pipe which went out the window.

I made 4 beads.  They are formed on a steel mandrel which has been dipped in bead release.  I couldn't take any in-process pictures as it's very much a 2-hand job.  The beads are made using glass rods which are melted in the torch and wrapped around the mandrel.  The photos above show the beads when I'd made them.  They were plunged into annealing beads to cool down slowly, though you can use a kiln.  Rosie then cleaned them up for me over Christmas and I collected them last week.

This is the first bead I made.  A very simple one-colour bead.  As you can see, I didn't get it round!  There is a lot of skill involved in this technique and it's the kind of thing you need to perfect with lots of practice and experimentation.

This lovely marbled green bead was my second attempt and is actually round on one end!  Still slightly pointed at the other end, but better.

I made this bead from a transparent blue glass, then added opaque blue dots.  I'm very pleased with this one.  The dots aren't particularly even, but the shape is good.

This bead was made from clear glass and then rolled in frit (small pieces of glass) to create the confetti effect.  Unfortunately, it had an air bubble in it.  Rosie did warn me it might break... and it did!  I wasn't too upset though as I'd taken the class for the experience rather than the end product.  I'm going to book another session with her to have another practice, get some more tips and maybe try other techniques.  I'd definitely recommend this if you have a lampworker near you, it's great fun, if a little scary at first!