Shards

This past week I decided to try my hand at shards again. The dismal results from my first attempts notwithstanding - I think I've finally figured it out! :) For those of you that don't know - shards are made by wrapping glass around the end of a hollow tube, blowing until you get something that resembles a lightbulb, then shattering the bulb and using the bits on your bead.

So far, the recipe I've liked the most is ivory glass wrapped in silver foil, burnished in, then rolled in aion powder. This makes a nice organic webbed effect!

The most important lesson I learned doing this is to heat the bead, not the shard! Applying heat to just the shard instantly melts it down to nothing! Sometimes doing it wrong is the best way to learn to do it right. :)

I'm off to the torch to see what lessons I can learn the hard way today! Have a fantabulous Monday!!