Lampwork Beads

The term lampwork comes from the original practice of using oil lamps to heat the cold glass and coil it on a mandrel (some sort of stick) to make a bead.  Glass beads are also made by blowing, press molding and other techniques, each of which is used to create a shape with a hole in it to be used as a bead.

The glass is the critical feature of lampworked beads.  Each and every bead is hand made.  Each and every component of the bead is hand made, such that few artists will even offer to duplicate a bead.

Glass is chemistry.  Glass is composed, at it's most basic, of silica combined with soda oxide in the form of soda ash and calcium oxide in the form of lime carbonates. This soda-lime or soft glass is most often used by lampworkers - typically called Effere, formerly called Moretti, it is manufactured in Italy and available all over the world.  Recently other glass manufacturers, Bullesye and Spectrum, have developed soft glass.  Each has their own unique colors which make them attractive to the lampwork artist. 

Glass color is the result of chemical processes which oxides are added to the clear glass.  The magic of lampwork is the reaction of the colors to the heat and the mix of oxygen and propane and their reaction to each other as well as any additional inclusions such as copper or silver foil.

Of course there is much more to the creation of each bead, but the decisions the artist makes each step along the way, from what type of glass they use for the bead to how they mix the fuel to the particular color mix of that particular cane of glass made that particular day by that manufacturer.  Sometimes the positron of the sun, moon and stars comes into play as well.  The end result is that each and every lampwork bead is individual and no two will ever be exactly alike.