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How Are Lampwork Beads Made? |
 To create glass beads, lampworkers melt narrow rods of glass with the flame of a torch.
The molten glass is wound around a mandrel, a thin length of stainless steel. The space occupied by the mandrel becomes a hole through the bead when the bed is slipped away. Turning the mandrel and holding it in different positions allows gravity to help the bead take form, but tools are also used to push and pull glass beads into shape. Lampworking is a skill that takes a great deal of practice and patience. A lampwork bead artist understands the glass and the torch, and must learn how much heat it takes for glass to flow, how much heat can be applied to a bead that's already shaped before it becomes molten again and loses shape, when to add decorative elements and how different colors of glass interact with each other.
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