Lampwork beads, when completed, come in two basic forms: ordinary beads and focal beads. Although anything but ordinary, by “ordinary bead” I mean beads that are intended to be used in numbers in a piece of jewelry, versus beads meant to be used as the single point of interest. Sometimes the lampwork artist makes ordinary beads to match the focal bead and sells them together both as a convenience for the jewelry maker, but also to provide suitable supporting elements to enhance the beauty of the focal bead.
Glass is a marvelous material to work with. The final bead can be smooth or bumpy, frosted or iridescent. The bead can show several colors in random or planned patterns, or be opaque to force the eye to consider the surface alone. Some glass looks like ivory, and some surface treatments leave a bead that looks like porcelain, stoneware or clay.
Some artists revel in the shiny surface and inner depth that can be achieved with glass by creating aquarium and tide pools in miniature. Other encase flowers in clear glass to allow the bloom to last forever inside a nearly invisible layer of protection.
Using frit to provide texture allows the lampwork artist to give their beads a different presence. Frosting the surface of the bead gives the color pattern a different look and feel. Some beads are created with both shiny and frosted sections to add interest to the bead.
Beyond the colors and surface treatment, there are dots. Many artists become extremely skilled at placing dots of glass on the surface of a bead. Then, the bead can be heated until the dots sink into the bead and it is smooth again, or the dots can be left as a raised texture. Dots of diminishing size can be piled on each other to create a spoke/star shape. These are usually built up perpendicular to the hole in the bead and make stunning beads, although I am not sure how I will ever use mine in a necklace.
Finally, shapes can be added to the surface of the bead and left in partial or full relief. This emphasizes the added figures and some lampwork artists have taken this technique as one they specialize in. Flowers, frogs, lizards and fish are common subjects treated in this manner. With their slender legs and frail petals reinforced by the bead, they are less subject to breakage and allow the artist work with delicacy.
I will soon take you on a tour of the different shapes and surface treatments of lampwork beads.
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