How to make a bead...

The first ingredient the Happy Bead Maker. That's me sitting in a tree.

Here is my little work station, nothing fancy, just a basic little set up on my screened in Lanai in Hawaii. I have a beautiful view of the city lights at night which is when I do most of my work.

To make a happy bead (Bob Ross for Beads) I start with a long glass rod and slowly begin to heat the rod over the torch. If I heat it too fast the glass will explode; too slow and well it's slow and it won't melt properly. The bead size is determined by how much glass I heat into a ball on the end of the long stick of glass. 

Once I have all of the glass I want I take a long stainless steel wand (mandrel) that is covered in a special bead release (so the glass will not stick to the mandrel) and preheat the mandrel so the glass will adhere to the mandrel.

  I then slowly begin to wind the glass over the mandrel.

I then rotate the mandrel and use gravity and a variety of tools to shape the beads into it's desired shape. 

This is a marveler that I am using to shape my bead. (Yup, my hair is red for a little bit, really red).

This is a tungsten rake which is commonly used to alter designs on the surface of a bead. I am using it to add a feather look to the surface of the bead.

Here I am further shaping the bead.

This is our final bead. 

Once the bead is finished shaping I place it in a bead blanket until it is cooled. I then soak the mandrels in water and remove the bead from the mandrel and  thoroughly clean the bead release out of the hole. I then kiln anneal my beads to ensure lasting strength and durability.

And get started on the next one....