New Beads!!

I was able to get some time at my torch over the weekend, I was fresh from my tuition at Mango beads in Devon and raring to go. I had some lessons on controlling the heat and placing dots. Its a bit like patting your head and rubbing your tummy. Not too hot, not too big !! I think I have found that spot that allows me to make use of my new found skills. I am still drawn to bright colours so I love these orange and white spotty ones, I might just stick with making spotty ones for ever!!!

I have tried to practice dot layering. If you put on a dot melt it in, then put another on top the first dot spreads. Glass doesn't really mix together so there should be clear lines between the colours. The bead on the left (above) is quite reasonable and you can see the yellow dot has been turned into a heart. The next bead was fine until I used ivory in the middle, that tends to spread too much and the spots are not defined. The third bead has the base colour bleeding over the top of the heart. Last bead is better but the colour is not very inspiring.

The lot above are the ones that I made at the weekend. The one on the far right is a demo bead made by Manda at Mango beads, its what I aspire to make!!!!