Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Embossed Lampwork Beads - A Mini-Tutorial and Eye Candy!

You've seen them - you love them - embossed lampwork beads!  They are fun to make.  The tools are fun to buy and use!  Really fun to buy... These are some embossed lampwork beads that I recently made. 


There are many places you can get "embossing tools" I'm sure, but two that I know of are Arrow Springs and Leonardo Lampwork. You aren't limited to using "lampwork" tools, you can use any brass tools that won't stick to the glass, like ceramic clay brass molds.

 Arrow Springs Wave Press


Leonardo Lampwork Lollipop Press

The blue bead was made with sky blue glass and white enamel - a really great effect for a winter bead.  The skull was simply pressed into a bead and would make a great earring bead!

It's pretty easy to use an embossing tool, I won't go picture by picture, but I'll explain it to you.  Make a base bead.  For my beads, I used a Zoozii bead press to make a lentil-shaped bead.  When you are happy with the bead shape, heat one side of the bead.  Make sure not to heat the bead too much or the bead will get out of shape.  Place the bead on your torch-mounted marver (if you have one, if not, use your graphite marver) and press the tool into the heated side of the bead.  This is trial-and-error - make sure you don't heat too much or press too hard.  Take it out of the flame, and make sure you like your press.  If you don't, heat the bead up and shape it again.  When you're happy with the press, turn the bead over the repeat (if you want the design to be on both sides), making sure not to heat the bead too much or you'll lose the design on the first side!


 You can also make cute little headpins using the embossing tools!  There are many things you can do with them, your imagination will help you!

Donna Millard is a bead artist who uses embossing tools to make amazing beads, and she embellishes them with patina. These beads are gorgeous!


Genea Crivello-Knable is another bead artist who uses embossing tools on her beads!

In this case, these gorgeous beads were made with baking soda and the embossing tool.  These are so fantastic and beachy!


I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial/eye candy post!  You can see that you can really add many elements to your lampwork beads to make them stand out! 



9 comments :

  1. I love empossing too and I won't miss the great tools of Leonardo Lampwork! Thanks for the eye candy! Hugs, Doris

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have been noticing them more lately and you gals are doing a great job with them. Thanks for showcasing them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. As a "non-lampworker", it's always interesting to read about how you lovely glass artists create your pretties (not that I need MORE reason to buy). Thanks for sharing, Sue.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you thank you thank you!! I have been wanting to find some of these since the first time I saw them :) I can't wait to try some!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have used your embossed headpins and have loved the results. Thanks for the post. Now I understand more about how these beauties were made.

    ReplyDelete
  6. First place I visit at an estate sale is the basement or even nick nacks made of brass to press in hot glass. The tool I use to emboss my headpins are intended for leather.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great post Sue, thanks for using my beads! I love love making embossed beads and the hunt is on every day looking for new tools to use.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh SUE!!!! they are all so gorgeous and amazing!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Beautiful beads! Some look like candy! Love the look. Thanks for telling us more about them!

    ReplyDelete

We would love to hear what you have to say, please leave a comment.