GLASS BEAD MAKING COURSES

I like to teach one on one, although I will take 2 students at a time if you wish to bring a friend, as a result I do not have any set times for the courses. They are a matter of when it suits both myself and my students and are usually arranged on the phone with our diaries in hand.

The first day covers learning to use molten glass, making your first beads and learning to decorate them. It also includes discussion of what is needed to set up a workshop when you get home. You take all your makings from the day home with you and these will include little glass drops with small glass mushrooms in them. These are great fun to do. If you stay for a second day or come back subsequently then this day is much less structured . For me it is very important that by the end of the first day you are able to make and decorate beads and know how to set up a work area for yourself, but the second day is more led by yourselves. The beads are bigger and more sophisticated, the decoration will depend on what you want to try out and might include Dichroic glass, glass flowers in the bead, silver leaf work as is done in Murano glass. Or anything else that you have seen in my many reference books on bead making. These beads will have to be annealed in the kiln and so will be posted on to you.

Torch time is from 10 am until 4 pm with a break for lunch which is usually soup and a roll, we do not normally stop for coffee breaks as nobody has yet wanted to do so but I do have a kettle if it is required. I usually say plan to arrive at 9 and leave after 5 ish so that we don’t waste good torch time on talking. I can supply very comprehensive map and instructions or there is a train station in Barnstaple and I can pick you up from there.