28-29 Oct 2016 - A Journey into Glass Beadmaking - Rebecca Weddell

A Journey into Glass Beadmaking with Rebecca Weddell

28-29 October 2016 (Friday-Saturday)

Rebecca Weddell is a UK-based glass beadmaker with several years’ experience of teaching, demonstrating and writing about this captivating art, who first got ‘hooked’ here at Creative Glass when she took her first venture into beadmaking over a decade ago.

On this two-day journey into making your own lampwork glass beads you will learn about the equipment and skills necessary to melt and shape glass in the torch flame, and begin to expand your creative horizons with a progressive range of decorative techniques.  Topics will include:

·        Introduction to the equipment and associated health and safety considerations

·        Characteristics of a lampwork glass bead and the materials and tools needed to make them

·        The importance of annealing

·        Behaviour of glass in the flame, and how to make it work for you

·        Pulling stringers

·        Winding the glass and creating different bead shapes

·        Surface decoration from the straightforward to the sublime

·        Discussion on some of the nuts and bolts of setting up your own hot glass studio

Throughout the class Rebecca will give you insights into the strategies which in her own beadmaking journey have made those ‘tricky’ bits less tricky! 

Students will find this a fun, full-on, highly rewarding class in which they will discover and develop their sense of artistic adventure to create unique lampwork glass beads.

Additional Information
No prior skills required. All required lampworking tools and equipment will be provided for use throughout the workshop. Complimentary lunch and refreshments will be provided on both days.