VammadopperBeads

Hope these answer a few of  them

If not, please  drop me a line    vammadopper@ntlworld.com   and I'll get back to you as soon as I can

Do you do sell Jewellery/beads at Craft fairs?

No not any more, When I started a new part time job,  with family life, there wasn't enough hours in the day to do Job Jewellery and Beads, so to preserve what's left of my sanity I decided to stop making the jewellery and concentrate on the Job and the Beads. 

Do you do commissions ?

No I don't do commissions.

As soon as 'have to be like...' comes in to the equation all creativity and fun flys out of the window... Sorry!
 

Do you sell any beads anywhere else?

No I don't sell any where else, they are only availiable to buy from this web site.

Can I come to your house to pick them up?

Not any more no.

I have had people here in the past, and whilst the majority have been loverly (Hi Guys  )

I have also had a couple of 'odd ones'  As a result, I have to say no now, sorry.

If you aren't happy with the beads after receiving them, pop them back in the post and I''ll give you a full refund

Do you teach?

No I don't,  every one learns in different ways, and 'my way' may be so different to what suits you, it wouldn't be fair on either of us.  Also I'm self taught and feel that it's best to learn lampworking by building up your previous mistakes, or triumphs.

How do you make them?

I use a Minor Nortel Torch, which is a ‘duel fuel’ torch.  It mixes Oxygen and Propane together at Temperatures from 500 to 1700 C . I use this to melt glass rods (roughly the diameter of a pencil) onto the mandrel. Each different colour is a different piece of glass which has been placed and them melted in.

Whats this  'annealing' lark then?

Annealing beads is vital - it is done to make sure that all the different layers of coloured glass you have used, will knit together on a molecular level creating a hunk of 'one' peice of glass rather than lots of little peices 'tacked' together.

Beads are heated to certain temperature (this changes depending on what glass you use) and then held there for a set time, then the temperature is brought down gradyually so that the glass can shift and settle ensureing you avoid thermal shock. My annealing shedual takes 10 hours.

What equipment do you need, and is it expensive?

Um yes and no really 

A basic lampworking kit that includes all the essentials will set you back about £160.

That includes a load of glass, safty specs,  the basic Hot Head torch, bead release, mandrels, few tools and a  small aubergine... ( well ok not an aubergine, but the bare essentials to get you hooked)

Not bad when you consider annual gym fees or other hobbies

But then when you get the hang of it, you find you need to upgrade the torch (old ones too slow) and to sell the beads your stock piling,  you need a kiln, more glass more tools... bead Presses, more bead release, more glass ohevenmoreglassohwhataboutfrityepyouneedfrit

andmoreglassandmoremandrelsohandanoxygencondenser.....

Um ahem.  sorry

It kinda creeps up on you, to get the full studio setup (all at once) you won't get much change from £1800

(Shhhhh    ....don't tell Hubby!)

Why are your beads so expensive - I've seen them very cheap on ebay!

Yep you may have seen cheap beads on ebay / hobby craft etc etc, but then they are not 'my' beads...  and to be fair, compared to some people, my beads are cheap!

Reread the above, that'll give you your first clue

Im not importing them from China or India, I'm not working in a sweat shop for a pitance nor are they mass produced

All beads are properally annealed and cleaned from bead release, I believe in a fair price for something that's been hand crafted and has taken time and effort to create.

I do this seriously, Im registered with the Tax man, have over heads to pay. It is  labour intensive, it can take anything from 10 minutes to 1 hour to make a bead, never mind a set! then you have the costs of running the kiln etc.

It all adds up and that before you take into account the hours I've put into learning how to make beads - theres been alot of cracked ones that don't get sold too!