ele leraeny Gourle Davis & en Talbottrohere is something 90 appealing about string- ing litte bits of shining ‘olor together into an R clegani glass fabric. A small treasure of detail and design, Dancing dangling fringes, the chana- ing colors through the light, their descent surfaces. No doubt about it, stringing beads is a fun and addictive cralt, Walking through a bead store lakes a feat of selcontrol to curb the ‘urge to buy at least one of everything in the store—not that there's any intended project at hand—just Decause they art all so pretty. ‘This book is for others like us ssho love working with detail and those sparkling beads, and have an ‘eclectic urge to try it all. From peyote stitch, brick stitch, and loom work to bead knitting and crochet, it's all here to delve into and enjoy. Use it as a ‘how to” if you are a beginner or as a resource if you've already caught the beading bug. We hope Lis book wil show you new tech- niques you haven't tried, provide a variety of projects to complete, spark ‘your creativity, and inspire you to ‘make your own designs, Above all, ‘we want this book to be enjoyed for the fun and beauty of beadwork, Manufacturing Seed Beads ‘As you look closely at the grains of sand on the beach, each grains indi- viduatty becomes evident. ike the sands on the beach, each seed bead has its own personality, color var ance, and shape. And it's ne wonder, because bea are basically sand, ‘Seed beads have been manufac- tured for thousands of years—from the ancient Egyptians making faienoe beads to modern-day Japanese com- pitter-run bead factories, Bul, on the ‘whole, the method of making seed beads hasn’t changed much over the centuries, There are two main ways of making glass beads: the wound method und the drawn method. The wound bead method is one of the ‘oldest techniques. itis not used any more for seed beads, because itis 2 Very time-consuming method of making one bead at a time. Today, this method is used mainly for single ‘ornamental beads For the wound bead technique, a ‘glass rod must be made first by gath- ‘ring a hunk of molten glass on an iron bar. This hunk of glass is called « gather. Then a second bar is insert- ¢d into the glass. Two workers, one on each bar, quickly run away from each olher to create @ glass rod. which can be sized in different diam- «ters depending on how far and how ‘quickly the glass is pulled apart. This rod quickly solidifies and is then cut {nto smaller rods for easy handling, ‘One end of these smaller rods is heated up again and twisted around a wire. Once the rod is twisted all around the wire, itis cut off, and the ring left on the wire is reheated and shaped untilit fs smooth and round. This is repeated on the same wire several times. The rings of glass or beads’ are then left to cool. When cooled, the beads can be easily siipped off the wire, which contracts more than the glass does. Another form of the wound bead is the multiple wound bead, Many years ago, the capability to heat up thick rod of glass to make a larger ‘bead didn’t exist. Thus, the multiple wound method was devised. In this method. the glass rods are wound sound the wire several times, one ‘spon the other, to make larger beads. Techoalogy has updated some of these steps. bat basically the wound method remains the same today as it was centuries 200, “The draws bead technique is'a better method for making large ‘quansities of beads. Seed beads are now primarily made with this tech- nique. There are several variations om the drawn bead technique. One of the older variations starts the same way as the wound bead technique— with a bunk of molten glass. An air Dubble is formed in the middle of the hunk so that 2 mabe forms when the lass is pulled. metead of a rod. This tube is cxt into small pieces, which are then tambied to smooth the edges. takes nearly 2 months to make a2 batch of drawn seed beads! A modern variation starts with a.caul- ddron of the best quartz sand. The sand is heated in the cauldron for 21 . The glass is pulled to a distance * 1201. (40 meters). Ths tong tube ven cut into 3 t. (1 meter) lengths, e speed of the pulling and the ing of the glass at this stage ‘ermine the exterior size of the ad and itshole size. One 120-foot abe is comprised of several differ: cs-sized tubes, The parts of the tube nave been pulled farther are =aller in diameter than the parts of -= tube closer to the furnace, The 8:foot (1 meter} tubes are