In one of the earlier videos, I mentioned that I had already scheduled a bead class for this semester. Well, yesterday was the day and video 8 for the video per day experiment is below:

The bead class was fun and frustrating and fun. Fun because I love melting glass and seeing what happens, frustrating because I am out of practice, and fun because I decided to let go of my frustration and enjoy the time that I had. Since the morning video was so short, I decided to add additional videos later in the day.

Shooting the video below was not like me at all! I had no idea what to expect when I unwrapped the beads. One reason for that is that I had never used the cooling beads previously. Without annealing (heating in a kiln followed by a slow reduction in temperature), beads have a nasty habit of cracking. Knowing this and knowing that my beads had only that insulating blanket to protect them from the extreme cold meant they probably cooled much too fast. Beyond that, I knew that the beads were not going to impress anyone…

I talk a bit about the beads that I made and show some good examples of glass beads made by Corina Tettinger.

Many places offer introductory lamp work classes like the one that I went to today at Delphi Glass. These classes allow one to try out bead making without investing in equipment. I have taken several full-length classes at the Lorton Workhouse Arts Center and William Holland School of Lapidary. Restrictions by our HOA and insurance company prevent me from having the equipment in our home so I have been unable to practice for several years. Taking this class was a fun way to dip my toes back in for a little bit and take advantage of the resources available here in Lansing.

See more on the Video Per Day Experiment in my introductory post.