Well here they are... my first selfmade beads. Far from perfect and ofcourse the real beadartists probably can make them in their sleep but I'm happy and proud. It's not so simple at all to get a beautiful round bead or make perfect shaped dots.

This is what you do...
With your less dominant hand you need to keep the mandrel (that's the little specially-coated RVS-stick, wich will form the hole of your bead later on) turning round and round in a nice constant movement at the end of the torch-flame. Not simple at all but for someone with shaky hands like me... a real task ;0) Your dominant hand is used to hold the glass-rod that needs to be melted in the hotter part of the flame. Once you've melted a proper amound of glass you take both the mandrel and the melted glasrod out of the flame and wound the glass around the mandrel to form the base of the bead. You need to repeat the turning, melting and wounding untill you have a nice amound of glass on the mandrel. After that you have to keep on turning and heating the glas on the mandrel to form a nice round bead. Ofcourse if you don't turn the mandrel nicely gravity does his work and you end with a bead that's thicker at one side, like the one on the right...

After you manage to get a "nice" round beadshape decoration starts...

Karin teached me how to pull strings to make small decoration rods, how to place small dots, to make a raised flower and to put a little airbell exactly at the place you want(like in the bead on the right).

Ofcourse it's simply a matter of practice to make perfect shapes and dots and that's what I'm going to do in near future... So yes it was just like I expected and probably there will be more beads to show in future and maybe in a while I will be able to show off some nice round beads with awsome color combinations and lovely techniques ;0)

However the gypsy caravan I always told Albert I would love to have as an atelier in my backyard, would not be a luxery because if it's going to be the addiction I think it will, I will be in desperate need of some proper workplace... Ofcourse an extra garden shed will do nicely also ;0)