Process - Beads
Processes
A hand-blown glass bead is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. Vibrant colors fire-polished to a shiny surface or tumbled for days in a rock-tumbler to give a soft, sand-blasted appearance make up Lisa's beads. The finished product of a shiny or tumbled bead takes considerable amount of glass, time and patience as you'll see below.
After the beads are cool, Lisa then has to pick which beads are bead-worthy. Sometimes the holes in the beads close up from too much torch heat. Sometimes there is an imperfection like a bubble, scratch or uneven surface. It is estimated that about 50-60% of the original bead is actually usable for jewelry after all the steps are complete.