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Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Glass Headpins!

Coming a little bit later today (as soon as I figure out how to use imovie - or when I give up and send it my sis in law) a little demo on how to make lampwork glass headpins. You can make these on pretty much any type of wire - so long as it's not coated. The ones below are made with copper wire. I'll polish them up later with a steel pad.

Ok, I'm back - The video is awful - truly. I had to completely remove the sound as the noise from my vent hood was unbearable, and I still need to spend time learning how to use imovie. I don't however have time for that today :-)

I think you can get a pretty good idea though of how to make them.  Newbie lampworkers - this is a fun project to try out!  Please be aware though that metals can give off noxious fumes when melted. Please be careful, and ensure that you have adequate ventilation.

I've used a transparent base coloured glass, along with some frit mixes. I have a huge selection of val cox, and glass diversions frits. The blue frit mix that I used in this video was made by spiral dance glass - I don't believe she is in business any longer.

And check out the mess of my lampworking table! Yes, that is actually how I work most of the time. I only clean it when it starts to interfere with my productivity. I cannot work on a completely clean table. I lose all inspiration. I need everything out and on the table to be truly inspired. Colours that I wouldn't think to put together look great when you see shattered masses of glass fallen on the table. :-)

I will be hosting the lampworking happy hour tomorrow as Dwyn is away studying with Lucio - I'll demo these then if anyone is interested.



3 comments:

Cindy Lietz, Polymer Clay Tutor said...

Wow! So beautiful! I find lamp working to be a bit if a mystery. At least the glass part of it. I've made my own copper and silver wire headpins with a small torch, but never ventured into working with glass. It looks exciting and scary!

Jen said...

This is great! I was wondering how this was done. Now I can't wait to get to my torch and try it. Great work! have you ever done them with sterling silver wire? I ask because I wonder if the pickling process to get the fire scale off would hurt the glass. Hmmmm... I must experiment. LOL! Thanks for posting this.
I wish you many happy torch filled days!

Left Brook Beads said...

FANTASTIC!!! And I'm so glad my table is like yours!!! Makes me feel better. Great video and love reading your comments. Made me smile.
Joan @ Left Brook Beads