Glass Beads

Glass beads are some of the most interesting beads that you can buy. Coming in more shapes, sizes and colors than you can imagine, glass beads range from relatively inexpensive, mass-produced items to pricey, one-of-a-kind handmade beads.

Glass beads can make a wonderful accent on a necklace or other piece of jewelry, or many glass beads can be used to make a harmonious piece.

How Are Glass Beads Made?

Before we delve into the fun part, using glass beads in our projects, it is worth taking a moment to look at the history of glass beads.

Humans have been making glass beads for many thousands of years, and they have been used as currency as well as an art form. Glass itself was devised by the Egyptians and Romans. It is made of quartz sand, soda or potash, and lime. When warm, glass can be molded into all sorts of amazing shapes, including glass beads.

There are many techniques for making glass beads. Some of the most popular are:

• Blown-glass beads: A tube is covered with molten glass and the bead maker blows into the tube and turns it over a heat source to make the bead the required size and shape.
• Wound glass beads: A metal wire is used to wind the molten glass around.
• Lampwork glass beads: A popular do-it-yourself bead-making technique, lampwork involves a wound glass bead technique using a lamp as the heat source.
• Swarovski: Leaded glass beads cut on a special machine.
• Chevron: A popular Venetian style of bead made by forming a zigzag pattern in a block of glass.
• Millefiori: Layers of glass are fused, cut, and shaped to make all sorts of designs on the bead itself, such as flowers and dots.
• Mosaic: Another bead involving fused glass, this time from glass canes, which are long rods of colored glass.

Making Your Own Glass Beads

If you want to try your hand at making your own glass beads, you can get the supplies to make lampwork beads in the comfort of your own home. It basically involves a torch, a metal wire (often called a madrel rod) and glass rods of different colors.

You prepare the rod by coating the end with a release compound, so that your bead will come off the wire. Allow it to dry overnight before making your bead.

Once you’re properly attired in safety glasses and have a clean work surface free of flammable things, you can turn your torch on high. Heat the coated end of your wire just until it changes color, then heat a glass rod until it makes a molten ball of glass.

Hold your rod below the flame and heat the ball until it falls off onto the rod. You can continue this process by dripping more glass on the rod. you’ll need to rotate it as you drip to make the bead round.

It’s a relatively easy process but getting it right takes a lot of practice, and there are many cool techniques you can learn for making your own glass beads with dots, flowers, other objects and different colors. If you can find someone in your area who teaches bead making classes, this is the best way to learn. For more general information on making lampwork beads, visit Sundance Art Glass.

Buying Glass Beads

As mentioned earlier, glass beads come in a variety of qualities and price ranges. you can buy bulk packages of multi-colored, mass-produced glass beads at your local craft store for a couple of dollars per package ranging in size from 30 to 100 beads or so, depending on the size of the individual beads.

This is a great way to learn about glass beads and find out if you like working with them. On the other hand, handmade lampwork beads can cost anywhere from 10 cents each for small, basic beads to $40 and up for ornate, bumpy beads that take a lot of time and technique to master.

Swarovski beads, which are delicate, beautiful, and come in shapes from teardrops to cones to shaped charms and rounds, likewise run the gamut on pricing. Depending on the size and the amount of beads you order, you could pay between 20 cents and $1.50 or so a bead. It’s no surprise, then, that a necklace made of nothing but Swarovski is a pretty pricey proposition. Sometimes you can find particular colors or styles on sale, or you can search out wholesalers who can give you a better price.

Sources for Glass Beads

In addition to your local bead shop, there are a ton of places online to buy glass beads. Here are just a few to give you an idea of the variety of glass beads that are out there:

• Bead Room has a great selection of vintage glass beads, Czech beads, lampwork beads, Swarovski and seed beads.
• Harlequin Beads is the place to find a huge variety of Swarovski crystals.
• Mother Beads has a good selection of affordable lampwork beads.
• Check out Bead Giant for bulk glass beads at wholesale prices.

Using Glass Beads

Glass beads can be heavy; too heavy to use exclusively in a beaded jewelry project unless you have a strong body that can support a lot of weight. They are wonderful to use as accents on pieces made with seed beads, or small glass beads can be used to make a full project.

Lampwork beads are wonderful as pendants used alone or with other, less ostentatious beads to make a necklace. Once you get your hands on some glass beads, you’ll find it difficult to run out of ideas for using them. They are versatile, usually inexpensive and a lot of fun to work with.

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