Galaxy Bead Tutorial

[Veebee]

I'll write it up proper like, with photos and everything, but in the meantime I hope this will do! Here is how I made this:


I recommend that you read these instructions all the way through before you begin, just so you know what you will need at what point!
Please ensure you work safely. Wear eye protection and take care when using your torch. You will be using silver, so ensure you have good ventilation. If you are on a Hot Head you will need to be able to safely cover up the holes, so either construct a collar out of foil or use one of those super protective oven gloves!
You will need the following supplies:
Dipped Mandrels
Graphite marver (torch mounted or separate)
Transparent glass for a stabilising layer
Opaque red glass. I strongly recommend Effetre Purple red (438)
Extremely thin clear stringer (commercial stringers are way too thick, we need hair thin so you may wish to pull these in advance)
Silver foil (if you only have leaf you will need to double it up as it won't be thick enough to create the effect
A tool for creating twists on the bead. (You can use thicker stringer or create a tool by pulling the end of a clear rod to a point.)
Super clear glass for encasement. For example Effetre Crystal Clear 006.

That's all you need. Got everything ready? Then let's get started!

1. First we are going to create a thin stabilising layer of transparent glass Warm your mandrel and the rod of transparent. I am using some scummy old clear, it will be completely covered up so you can use whatever you like. Wrap the glass thinly around the mandrel to create a thin tube, marver to make it even thinner!
2. Using your choice of red create a layer over the clear to form a neat barrel. I would suggest that you get your ends as neat as you can at this stage as there won't really be an opportunity to add more glass to the ends later (however you can if you wish, you might want plain ends to your bead, or perhaps some Silvered ivory, it's completely up to you! But for the sake of this first simple bead I'm recommending neatness )
Top Tip! Reds that have a tendency to strike in the flame and go a bit streaky will add wonderful dimension to your finished bead!
3. Now, take your hair thin stringer and lay some streaks and blobs around your bead. Less is definitely more here, so don't overdo it! Melt in and reshape if necessary.
4. Heat the bead enough to pick up the silver and roll it around to completely cover the outside of the bead. Don't be stingy here, the silver could do with wrapping around a couple of times or you won't get the desired effect! Burnish thoroughly by rubbing the bead on your marver.
5. Get the bead back  into the flame and completely burn away the silver.  You will start to see little dots appear, yep, these are your stars! Marver  to reshape if necessary.
6. Spot heat an area on the bead and use your stringer / twist tool to make a twisted spiral on the surface of the bead. Do this in different spots all around the bead, making sure to twist in some of those little streaks of clear for best effect. If you are on a Hot Head, the bead will start to show signs of reduction, which is nothing to worry about! When you are happy, melt back to smooth and marver to both reshape the bead and cool the surface. (If you want to add plain colour to the ends, or any other decoration such as silvered ivory stringer you should do that during this stage) You should already start to see some colour appear!
Top Tip! I have found that using a graphite marver helps to draw the silver to the surface.
7. Once the surface of the bead is cool switch to a reduction flame (less oxygen) Hold the bead in the bushy yellow flame and roll it around until it goes really shiny, but not for too long, you don't want it to get too hot! See how the shiny has a few slightly different coloured patches? Yay! Oh, some glass colours won't go really shiny, but if you have been generous with the silver it shouldn't really matter.
8. Switch back to a neutral flame. Take your encasement rod and start to heat it. Here comes the important part!  While it is heating, gently waft the bead in and out of the flame behind the rod. The aim is to burn off some of the surface reduction but not too much. You want to retain the " bloom" of the oil slick colours but lose the ultra shinyness. If you feel you have lost too much of the colour don't fret, you can usually follow step 7 to cool and reduce again. And if it hasn't gone really shiny originally you won't need to do step 8, you can skip straight to 9!
9. Encase your bead, being careful to keep it away from the heat as far as you can (treat it like silver glass, because that's kind of what you've made!) so you don't lose the light surface reduction.
10. Once encased you can really abuse your bead with heat! Get it nice and hot to melt that encasement in properly, then reshape as necessary.
You are done! Don't admire it for too long before popping it into the kiln or blanket/bubbles!
So, there you are, you have turned your plain old red bead into a magical blue and gold galaxy. Now you can try varying the shape, try streaks of different colours, vary the amount of clear stringer, whatever you like.

[Pixiedebs]

Thank you.   Fab tut and very generous.

Debs xxx

[June]

Thanks for sharing, Vicki, it's a lovely bead 

[awrylemming]

Huge thanks Vicki - off to ramp up 

[alchemist]

Oh that was quick   ...thanks for sharing how to make this beautiful bead 

[febgirl]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge, will give it a good sooooon

[Veebee]

Thank you all!
It's my first tutorial so please feel free to let me know if anything seems wrong 

I've learned so much from so many people's generous hints and tips it's nice to be able to give something back 

[The Tartan Trout]

Looking forward to trying it...but not tonight...well done you

[Dragonfire Glass]

nice one Vicki 

[Magpie]

Looking forward to trying it...but not tonight...well done you

Me too...

[Angie]

Thanks, I'm going to try that tomorrow.

[cbeadies]

Thank you for sharing so generously. I think I will print it out, must get a bit organised and put things together in a file or something.
Hope to have a go at it before long.  

[awrylemming]

I have a couple in the kiln - if they're halfway decent I'll post them tomorrow.  Thanks for the lovely clear and concise instructions 

[afina]

Thank you, this looks great. Will try it tomorrow!

[Veebee]

You are welcome, I'm looking forward to seeing the results