Making glass beads

Went to Third Degree Glass Factory for their Third Friday event, which was also their eighth anniversary.  I made six glass beads, and we watched them put a molten glass pumpkin into a tank of water and dry ice.  It lasted a few seconds before exploding, tossing pieces of glass outside the tank.

My bead were made with thick and thin glass rods.  First you heated the thin metal rod, twisting it back and forward and through the flames.  Then you heated up a glass rod until it had a blob of molten glass on the end. You touched that blob to the metal rod and started twisting the rod away, letting the blob become stuck to it.

It was like manipulating strips of toffee, layering them on the rod, letting it cool slightly and rolling the bead flat, or pinching it to make a rectangle, melting other colours of glass in, I had a great time!  One broke while it cooled, and the colours aren't great, but they were lots of fun to make.