The
easiest multi-colored beads are bi colors and tri colors.
Bi-color - wind the starting
glass on to the mandrel. Wind the
second color right next to the first. Shape
as desired.
Tri-color
- wind the starting glass. Skip a
space and wind the other end. Put
the center in last. Shape as
desired.
For other multi-colored beads it is easiest if you pull stringer. Heat the end of a glass rod as you would to wrap a bead. Grab the tip of the hot glass with pliers and pull gently. It is easiest for me to pull down, but then the stringers turn out short. Keep the fat part of the glass rod in the flame so it will stay soft enough to pull. You can burn right through the thin part. The stringer can either be separated from the rod or left on it so that the rod can be used as a handle. The size of the stringer depends upon how fast you pull. Make all of the stringers that you want to use at once because you can’t stop in the middle of a bead to make stringer.
Use
the stringer to draw straight lines, zig-zag lines, large dots, small dots, dots
in dots, and spirals around the bead.
A
pick can be used to move the lines and dots.
Two
stringers can be heated and twisted together to form twisties, then the twisties
used to decorate the bead.
Slices
of milifiori can be pressed into the bead.
The
bead can be rolled in baking soda and heated several times to etch it and give
it a matte surface. Acid etching
can be done after the bead has cooled. Both
of these methods can hide bead release that has stuck to the bead while working
it.
Making Glass Beads - Shaping Glass Beads - Coloring Glass Beads