Lampwork Focal Bead- Floral Focal Floral Flower Glass Bead- Jewelry Supply by Sand and Surf buying Beads

About This Bead:
This beautiful bead has a shimmering blue background with layers of foliage and green leaves to give it depth. The Purple murrini flowers almost pop out of the bead. This bead is absolutely beautiful in person and perfect for a special jewelry piece. Mix it with gemstones, pearls and Swarovski crystals to create your own unique creation for yourself or as a gift. It will definitely get you a few compliments. It would look great as a pendant with maybe amethyst or jade beads and crystals to compliment it.
It measures 25mm long by 21mm wide.

A Little About The Lampworker
I've been making lampwork beads for 10 years and I love it. I am a member of ISGB, the International Society of Glass Beadmakers, and I am a self-representing artist P110. I also work in cloisonné and metalsmithing. Some of my cloisonné has been shown in Art Jewelry magazine and my beads have been in The Flow magazine. My studio is located in Navarre, Florida which is on the Panhandle near Pensacola.

A Little Bit About Lampwork
Lampworking is also known as flameworking or torchworking. It started about a thousand years ago. Artists used an oil lamp to melt a glass and wind it onto a mandrel (i.e. steel stringer) to make beads. Although the art form has been practiced since ancient times, it became widely practiced in Murano, Italy in the 14th century. Most artists today use torches that burn either propane or natural gas with pure oxygen.

How Long Does It Take to Make A Bead
My beads are individually designed and made. Each one is “painted” in the flame using small glass stringer and various lampwork tools. I tend to put lots of detail into my beads, and it is more difficult to create a realistic image of an object than it is an abstract bead or one created completely from frit or reactive glasses. So a focal bead can take two or more hours depending on the complexity of the design. Small beads such as the lentils can take 45 minutes to an hour. This does not include the time spent on annealing, cleaning and fabrication of a finished piece of jewelry, if applicable. The faster you go, the less quality control you have.

Glass Used For My Lampwork Beads
I use soft glass 104 COE. The best quality glass comes from Italy, same as Murano beads. Some special colors come from Germany. I like to experiment with different glass, but my favorite is Lauscha, especially the clear. Moretti and some of the CIM glasses are also favorites. I also like using heat reactive glass such as Double Helix for accents.

Annealing and Why It Is So Important
Annealing is the process of slowly cooling glass to relieve internal stress. I use a digitally temperature-controlled kiln and all of my beads are kiln annealed.
Annealing is critical to the strength and durability of glass. If glass is not properly annealed, buying it will retain many of the thermal stresses caused by quenching and significantly decrease the overall strength of the glass. Fiber blankets and flame annealing are not the same as kiln annealing.

The Difference Between Imported Beads and Artisan Beads
The difference between imports and artisan beads is quality. Inexpensive import beads are made of cheap glass. The raw material costs much less-- one-thirtieth to one-twentieth of Italian and German glass. Secondly, the beads are mass produced which means they lack quality control for each bead. Finally, no annealing process is applied which makes those beads very prone to cracking. You get what you pay for. If you want to make fine lasting jewelry, artisan beads are definitely a better choice.