Glass Discs (continued)

What I started to talk about in yesterday's blog, before I got distracted by insulators for communication wires (which is apparently a huge topic, there are websites and chat rooms and magazines and trade shows) is that I tried making glass discs myself after seeing these ones on the cover of the November/December 2007 issue of Step by Step Beads, which I picked up from one of the vendors at the Toronto Bead Society meeting this past month.

(Notice that one of the discs in the photo above looks like the turquoise hydro insulator in France, see how I made the connection??)

The basic idea is that you make some twisted stringers and then layer colours and types of glass together to make discs, using the twisties to give a playful edge to some of the more colourful ones. The magazine very kindly posted the artist's how-to instructions on their website for people like me to download, which was most helpful.

I didn't do too badly, for the first time out, but I definitely need more practice. As you can see from the photo, some of them are more triangular shaped than round and I melted in the twistie too much on a couple. Mine are not quite as consistently layered or disc shaped as the magazine photo but look a little lumpier and amateurish. In general, they are not as nice as the ones made for the magazine by Kerry Bogert, but unlike me, she's probably done it more than once, so I'm not worried. I definitely had fun making them and can't wait to try again!!

As with so many other things in life, practice is a big part of getting the desired result when it comes to lampwork.