Stripes, and dots, and swirls.... oh, my!

I got some more time to play yesterday and here are the results.

I decided that I am either not ready for sculptured work yet, or I don't have the right tools yet. 

 So, I practiced Dots and Swirls.

I started the day making a simple dot bead. 

 It was a great way to "warm" up!

Then, it was on to stripes. 

These beads start with a royal blue base bead.

  Then, I placed 4 white dots around the equator of each bead.  Before the dots could melt in to the bead, I placed  a layer of Clear glass over the whole bead.

 When the clear glass melted in, the white dots formed stripes.

Then, I moved on to make a pair of 'triangle' beads.  

The base bead on each of these is red. 

The Blue dots were supposed to form triangles under the clear glass when it melted in. 

I am not sure that it did, and I will need to try some more of these to get them right. 

But I will say this, They Match!

My final bead for the day was a bit more complicated.  I actually made two of these beads, but one cracked while I was cooling it.

This bead started as a red tapered barrel bead.

I then took stringers (narrow rods of glass) in white, blue and milky white and wrapped them around the glass.

I let them melt into the bead, then I squished the bead.

I heated the bead to allow me to use a tool to drag the colors as you see them here.  Then I added the three clear dots on top.

I want to work on all of these techniques more and more!  I am having a great time.

Tomorrow, I'll show you some of the great way I have found to "wear" my beads.

Blessings,

Beth