Starlight Designs Lampwork Beads and Jewelry

This tutorial shows the techniques I use in creating my floral 3-in-one beads as shown in the above photo. I would appreciate it if you would use the technique in your own designs, but refrain from copying the style of my beads.

Step 1: Make your base bead

The base bead is the center portion of the 3-in-1 bead. In this example, I am creating a simple transparent aqua based bead with copper green dots, that I melted in.

Start by making a fairly large bead, roughly 15 mm. wide or larger. Decorate and finish the bead the way you like with the design melted in. If you want any raised designs on the bead, you will have to add them after the final bead is shaped.

Step 2: Add spacers on either side of the base bead
Use a thick stringer to create your spacers. Start your footprint small, and carefully get as close as you can to the base bead without touching it. Leave about 1/8" or so between the base bead and your stringer. Put a small spacer on each side of the base bead and heat them up *slowly* to round them up, making sure to *NOT* let them touch the base base.


Step 3: Add twisty or other decoration to your spacer beads

Next, add your complex twisted cane or decorate your spacers in some other design. Keep in mind that the marvering you will be doing may distort the design you create. I have found that round dots on the spacers don't work very well.

After you have added your design, slowly melt them in. Tip: If you add twisties, start and end them on same corresponding spots on your finished bead, so that the "ugly" sides are on the same side of the whole bead. See photo at right.

The key to making this 3in-1 bead work is to NOT let the spacers touch the base bead until you are finished rounding everything up. It may take some practice. If the spacers touch the base bead prematurely, then your bead will go caterwompus (thanks, Laurie for that word!) and it won't come out the way you want it to.

Step 4: Begin marvering spacers toward the base bead
	After you have both spacers nice and round, then you can very gently begin marvering your spacers at an angle. This does two things: It will shape your spacers similar to a bead cap shape and this will touch your spacer to the base bead. Now is when you want that to happen.

Make sure you heat up the joints where the spacers touch the base bead several times,letting them cool in between, so that these do not come apart later. Try to get both ends shaped in a similar bead cap type shape, but it is not critical. If one end winds up looking larger than the other, then the bead should be used in an upright fashion, like for a pendant, with the larger end on the bottom. If the bead ends match closely, then the bead could be used horizontally in a beading design.

Step 5: Add your finishing touches
	Here I am adding a goldstone stringer on both ends of the bead, but you can use twisted stringer or dots, or do something different. This would also be the point where you would add any other decorations to your overall bead.

I used a marver to straighted up the edge on the goldstone stringer. Be sure to heat up your final decorations so that they don't pop off later.

In closing, I just want to suggest you get creative with adding beads to your base bead. You could use just one spacer on just one side, or go the other direction and add more than two. You could try shaping them differently as well. Play with them, have fun! There are all kinds of possibilities!