page_title: Glass beadmaking
section_title: Lampwork beads
hierarchical_section_title: Glass beadmaking / Common types of glass bead manufacture / Lampwork beads
caption_attribution_description: Dichroic Lampwork beads. Main bead 10mm. On January 27th, 2006, I, pschemp created this picture by putting a few of my dichroic beads on my HP scanner and scanning them at 1200 dpi. The process took apporximatley 2 minutes and 3.14159 seconds. Then, the image was transferred via USB cable to my Dell Inspirion 4500 and appeared in Paint Shop Pro. Paint Shop Pro was used to sharpen the image since my scanner puts funny lines on scans at this resolution. The shadows seen on the picture are due to the fact that the object in question was not flat, but three dimensional; thus the scanner lid could not be closed all the way to block out ambient light entirely. The bead in question was then made into a necklace, however the entire operation was carried out while I wore blue jeans, socks with a red stripe, flowered knickers, a brassiere and a pink T-shirt made of 100% cotton knit. My hair was put up in a bun and I was wearing silver earrings, but no makeup. The ambient temperature was 70 degrees Fahrenheit and the relative humidity 35% in my room at the time. Outside, it was a chilly 18 degrees with wind gusts of 20-25 mph and clear skies.
context_page_description: The technology for glass beadmaking is among the oldest human arts, dating back 3,000 years. Glass beads have been dated back to at least Roman times. Perhaps the earliest glass-like beads were Egyptian faience beads, a form of clay bead with a self-forming vitreous coating. Glass beads are significant in archaeology because the presence of glass beads often indicate that there was trade and that the beadmaking technology was being spread. In addition, the composition of the glass beads could be analyzed and help archaeologists understand the sources of the beads.
context_section_description: A variant of the wound glass beadmaking technique, and a labor-intensive one, is what is traditionally called lampworking.  In the Venetian industry, where very large quantities of beads were produced in the 19th century for the African trade, the core of a decorated bead was produced from molten glass at furnace temperatures, a large-scale industrial process dominated by men.  The delicate multicolored decoration was then added by people, mostly women, working at home using an oil lamp or spirit lamp to re-heat the cores and the fine wisps of colored glass used to decorate them.  These workers were paid on a piecework basis for the resulting lampwork beads.  Modern lampwork beads are made by using a gas torch to heat a rod of glass and spinning the resulting thread around a metal rod covered in bead release. When the base bead has been formed, other colors of glass can be added to the surface to create many designs. After this initial stage of the beadmaking process, the bead can be further fired in a kiln to make it more durable.
  Modern beadmakers use single or dual fuel torches, so `flameworked' is replacing the older term. Unlike a metalworking torch, or burner as some people in the trade prefer to call them, a flameworking torch is usually "surface mix"; that is, the oxygen and fuel (typically propane, though natural gas is also common) is mixed after it comes out of the torch, resulting in a quieter tool and less dirty flame.  Also unlike metalworking, the torch is fixed, and the bead and glass move in the flame.  American torches are usually mounted at about a 45 degree angle, a result of scientific glassblowing heritage; Japanese torches are recessed, and have flames coming straight up, like a large bunsen burner; Czech production torches tend to be positioned nearly horizontally.
caption: Lampworked dichroic glass bead showing thin film application
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