Glitzy Glass Studio - glass, beads, lampwork, boro beads

Lampwork is a truly ancient art that has been practiced by many over hundreds and thousands of years. The basic process today involves an artist who melts glass rods or strips in a torch to create a glass scultpture or bead. An artist that works in this manner is called a lampworker.

There are many types of glass and techniques. For the sake of time and space, I will break down the main two types of glass.

Soft Glass - Moretti, Bullseye, Lauscha and a bundle of other glasses fall into this category. The term soft glass does not mean that the glass actually feels soft - it mainly refers to the temperature that the glass reaches it's melting point. Soft glass comes in a rainbow of colors - a bit like having a box of crayons in glass! It is easily melted in a torch.

My personal favorite for the beginning lampworker is Bullseye, as the
colors are more consistent and the glass is a bit "stiffer" in the
torch, giving the beginning lampworker more time to work the glass.
Each class of soft glass has it's own COE (coefficiency of expansion), this is a very technical area and should be studied carefully if you are planning on becoming a glass artist.

It is very important that the artist anneal beads made with soft glass. Many of the beads made in China, Japan and other areas are made with soft glass - however, the difference between these imported soft glass beads and the true artist made lampwork bead is that the former is not annealed.

In the first section of this forum we talked about soft glass, the next class we will discuss is "hard" glass - known as borosilicate, boro or
pyrex glass. This glass is expensive and hard to work in the torch,
as the temperatures need to be greatly increased to reach a melting point.

"Hard Glass" made in the US by the famous Corning Museum of Glass Design. Boro glass comes in many colors - but lends itself to more earthy tones. It is a complicated glass for the artist to use, as it can change from batch to batch. Many different effects can be attained by working the glass in different areas in the torch.

Boro glass is an excellent glass to use in designs that may be "abused" a bit. As in soft glass the artist should anneal (see annealing post)the work. At this time, most of the boro glass beads are Artist Made Lampwork and not usually available in the imported bead category - however lately the market has been offering boro beads from Japan - unfortunately these beads are not of the highest quality and are not annealed.

Annealing is the process where the bead is placed in a kiln after being worked in the flame and slowly brought down to room temperature. This removes the stress that is created in the bead by working the glass in the torch.

Beads that are not annealed can break easily (and unexpectedly) days or years after they are made. Unannealed beads do not lend themselves for use in designs like bracelets that are worn on the wrist and are subject to a bit of daily abuse. They also can ruin a designers reputation as the beads tend to crack.