Jewellery Making Tutorial
A few weeks back I was contacted by the editor of Soda Lime Times & asked if I would like to write a tutorial for the magazine!
(If you’re a glass bead maker you will no doubt have heard of this publication & spent many hours pouring through the contents of each issue.)
If, as I suspect, you’re not a bead maker, then it is unlikely that you have the faintest idea what I am talking about and I can’t say I blame you!
To cut a long story short, Soda Lime Times is an international magazine that gives glass bead makers the world over ideas & inspiration.
As you can imagine I was very flattered to be asked to write a tutorial for them and willingly accepted the offer.
However, it wasn’t long before I realised just what I’d committed myself to.
It’s surprising just how long it can take to write detailed step by step instructions.
It inevitably took considerably longer to write the tutorial than it did to make the finished bead & necklace!
Not only this, but I also needed to take decent quality photos of each step in the process.
If you’ve been to one of My Workshops you will understand the dilemma, as with the best will in the world I struggled to see how I could possibly melt hot glass over a torch flame and take photos at the same time!
Yes I hear you – in theory I could have borrowed a tripod … set up the camera … put it on a long timer … & then hoped that it was focussed in on the right thing when the critical moment came to take a photo!
Then I had a better idea….
Fortunately the school holidays were just about to start & I’m lucky enough to have a son who was at the time very willing to earn some extra pocket money! Not only this, but he actually knows his way around a camera … You can see where I’m going with this can’t you?
With very little persuasion he willingly agreed to put his photography skills to the test. Here are some of the shots he took, which were published in the magazine this month.
If you’ve ever come along to one of my Glass Bead Making Workshops you will no doubt recognise some of these steps.
I should add that I was not working in the dark, but trying to balance the light with such a bright torch flame is, as we found out, somewhat challenging!
Looking on the bright side the dark photos are very atmospheric!
They do capture the process well & give you some idea of how a bead is created.
I have to say I’m delighted with the finished tutorial. I just hope it helps to inspire other glass artists and jewellery makers.
If you would like a copy of the tutorial head over to the Soda Lime Times website and grab a copy of the August 2016 edition. (I should say that I will gain no financial benefit from you doing this, but have given you the link just in case you’re interested.)
Happy reading!
Hilary