NZGBA – New Zealand Glass Bead Artists

Bead exchange Jelly Fish Bead   

Not all of us followed the rules and chose to submit different beads. I went a different way, as I was going to be making 18 beads I chose a technique I needed to practise. Like I always say to my students lampworking is just like playing golf it’s a game of averages, the more you practise the higher your average gets sometimes you get a hole in one, and sometimes out of the blue for no reason you slice it and if it all goes wrong you end up melting a hole in the carpet or setting the cat on fire. Luckily I survived all the scenarios while trying to get jelly fish 100% perfect. Those who received my ‘getting into it’ beads will see I had a long way to go before my average got to a level I was happy with. The skills I learnt will be applicable to each step of jellyfish design, namely:

• Striped cane for the tentacles, I learnt that the core needs to have relatively thick stripes of white alternating with clear. If they are too fine then when the bead is melted back into shape they dissipate and disappear
• I also learnt to cap the tentacles with at least 2 – 3 mm of white and prepare one striped cane with a white tip for each jelly as it’s near impossible to do this while keeping your bead warm, I cut my striped cane into three sections and capped each section
• Ensure you have a thick layer of clear in which to plunge your jelly fish cane. If you don’t have a thick layer, the tip of your jelly fish cane tends to pick up the background colour and your jelly looks like it has swum into the floor
• Heat only the section in which you are plunging your jelly fish, if the whole bead is hot then the cane will mis-shape your bead and in the slice moments will tear your bead release away from the mandrel
• To start the jelly fish cap you plunge just the white tip into the hot clear glass. Wait 4 seconds, then continue plunging with the remaining striped cane and the white will mushroom over the top of the striped cane, voila you have a jelly fish