Jewellery Design: Glass Beads

Do you know those jewellery pieces that are made with beautiful coloured glass beads? These beads are handmade and each glass bead is unique. Making these beads is a discovery with new techniques, colours and shapes emerging all the time. Glass firing is a form of glass processing, where a burner is used to melt coloured or clear glass with rods or tubes. Once melted, the glass is shaped with movement, tools and (very limited) blowing. Although this art form was practiced in ancient Syria as early as the first century B.C., it only became widely known in the 14th century through glasswork made in Venice.

Group course - All levels

Learn during this course how to shape glass into beads. You will do so by heating coloured glass rods, using a burner to heat a glass rod until it begins to soften. The soft glass is wrapped around a mandrel and melted off the glass rod. These steps are repeated until there is enough glass wrapped around the mandrel. A mandrel is a metal rod with a release agent. By turning it, the bead becomes round under the influence of gravity. When the shape and size are right, the bead can be decorated. Dots, stripes, flowers, anything is possible. After the bead has cooled, the mandrel can be removed. Where the mandrel used to be, there is now the bead hole.

Teachers

Nancy Roeters

Nancy Roeters

Nancy Roeters is a goldsmith in Schiedam and works with glass, gold, silver and other metals. She also works with silver clay. You might know Nancy as an enthusiastic sports teacher with a preference for fun and tough workouts. With the many years of working experience at other sportclubs fun is guaranteed!