Friday, January 30, 2015

Making Lampwork Bead Earrings And Other Trinkets

By Ines Flores


Whether one is a retiree living alone, or the head of a household, arts and crafts are an excellent way to convert free time to productive time. A person with the ability to make beautiful things can become the envy of everyone they know. One looking for a place to start might consider learning how to make lampwork bead earrings.

This process is called lampworking and it involves melting glass with a torch or lamp, although modern methods generally utilize a torch as well as various glassblowing tools. We can guess that the technique has been used for thousands of years even if we cannot pin-point a time or place of origin. It has been used throughout the ages to make beads as well as other small ornaments, lamp shades, trinkets, and other jewelry.

The soft glass known as soda-lime is the glass most often used in this technique even though the inherent instability can cause it to crack, and any chemical incompatibility can cause colors to run in ways not intended. The harder glass, known as borosilicate, is much more stable and better for creating multi-colored pieces, but it can be more difficult to get it heated up adequately. The ancient techniques used to heat the glass to a melting point would have made the use of borosilicate less time-effective.

For those artisans with a little spunk and courage, they can start the process of making jewelry by learning to make the actual beads first. Recreating an ancient skill such as lampworking, also known as flameworking or torchworking, can be great fun as well as educational. Seeing how ancient people created beautiful things can give anyone a new appreciation for the ease of our machine age, and they may discover a new talent for themselves.

Whenever a person learns a new skill or art, it can become a means of generating income for them. A quick online search reveals countless small business owners selling hand-made items. Additionally, artisans can travel with Renaissance fairs or other gatherings to sell their products as a vendor while also enjoying the ambiance of the event and networking with other artists.

These hobbies save as well as make money during the Holidays, for birthdays, anniversaries, or other special occasions. While teenagers might not agree, most adults would rather be gifted with something hand-made than anything from a retail store. Putting time and energy into a special gift means that item becomes priceless to the recipient.

With families struggling to stay afloat on lesser incomes, establishing a new business can help provide comfort and stability. No one coming from a corporate environment really likes working fast food or retail, but bread winners have always taken the reign and done what they have to in order to provide for their clan. A family business is a much better model for young people than parents who work tiring and stressful jobs for low wages.

These families who sit together at an arts and crafts table making beautiful items of ornamentation probably enjoy a much healthier and happier way of life. Just the interaction alone makes them different from many Americans. Laughter and communication are the keys to happiness, and doing things together are the keys to laughter.




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