| Mayl 2005 - Brad Pearson Classes - Shaping and Large Mandrel |
|
Brad Pearson taught two 1-day classes. The first class covered complex pattern creation and shaping graceful beads. Michael taught us to move from donut shapes to making round beads. We made long beads with perfect ends by starting with the ends and then using gravity and heat to shape the middle section. We learned overlay dots over dots and dots over lines to create detailed complicated designs. |
|
Brad made these beads during demos.
A donut shape on the left, a round bead in the center, and an ovoid bead
with perfect ends on the right. All are decorated using masking
techniques with dots and lines.
|
|
In these two beads that Brad made, the
ends were made first and decorated. Then glass was applied to the
center and heat and gravity were used to create the two differently
shaped beads.
|
|
Brad's mask beads are made using the
same techniques as the beads shown above.
|
 |
|
Brad's fish beads are also a variation
of the techniques we learned in the shaping class. We all had
lotsof fun making these - this one was Brads as are the others
underneath (photos by Debbie Neis). Check out the beautiful stands
the fish are swimming on - those are glass too.
|
 |
|
Wine stoppers and these amazing
marbles are also made using shaping and masking techniques Brad taught
us.
|
 |
|
In the Day 2 class, Brad showed us how to make beads on large mandrels from ¼” to ½”
in diameter, These included Relic type beads in which the design was
pressed into glass using round and square tubing to make shapes. (see
example below) There is another example of a Relic bead on a try
of Pulsars beads shown on another page in the scrapbook.
|
|
In these photos, taken by Debbie Neis,
Brad is slowly winding ivory glass to a large tube mandrel as he starts
a disk for a relic bead.
|
|
The inner and outer disks are made and
Brad uses a blade to make ridges in the glass. Then hollow round and
square tubes to imprint shapes to make a relief pattern. In the
photo on the right Brad does a final check of the beads symmetry before
putting it in the kiln.
|
|
This is a close up of the roller tube
that Brad uses for balancing the mandrel so that when he turns the large
disk in the flame it keeps its rounded shape. (Thanks again to
Debbie Neis for getting a shot of this.) The jar of Chem Sharp
shown to the left of the roller is used by Brad to sharpen rakes.
|
|
One of the other beads the the class
made -- or at least tried to make -- were pulsar beads. The last photos
Debbie took on Friday before she left to drive home, were of class
members attempts to duplicate Brad's techique. . Here one class
member wrapping layers of glass around a large mandrel.
|
|
I love this photo of Kristy Nijenkamp.
She sighting down the length of the mandrel to check the roundness of
her disk. Knowing Kristy it was probably as round as Brad's.
Cristy Prince and Marcy Lamberson are sitting on either side of her.
|
|
The left shot is me, the Web Mama,
trying to rake all the stripes towards the center of the disk -
well if the raking was as even as Brad's it would make the dots around
the edge look even more wonky. On the right is a pulsar made by a
class member who did a pretty good job.
|
|
To end on a high note - and to remind
you what we were all striving to make, here is one more of Brad's
beautiful Pulsar beads.
|
