What are Lampwork Beads?

I recently bought some beautiful earrings that were made from lampwork beads, I had never heard of them before and so decided to find out what they were. I hope it is also of interest to you.

Lampwork beads are made by using a blowtorch to heat a rod of glass and spinning the resulting thread around a metal rod. When the base bead has been formed, other colours of glass can be added to the surface to create many different designs. Quite often after this first stage of the beadmaking is completed, the bead is fired again in an oven to increase it's sheen and to make it harder wearing.

And so quite a lengthy complicated process but what lovely beads they are.

All the best

Susan

Susans Snazzy Savers