Starting with Lampworking?

There are several places where you can get inexpensive starter kits. I got mine from JoDel glass, but Delphi has a kit and so do a few other places. My kit was customized because I didn't need the rods or the book since I already had them so I had her add on an extra hot head torch and it was around 125.00.

Cheryl

Hi Kevin,

The process for beadmaking in a nutshell is that you melt a glass rod with a torch, you wrap the melted glass around a steel rod called a mandrel (which creates the bead hole), then by turning the mandrel, using the heat of the torch, various techniques and tools, you shape the glass. That's a very simplistic explanation, but that is basically what we do.

Lampworking isn't an inexpensive hobby. First you need somewhere where you can set up a torch safely, you will have to fireproof the area around your work table and you need to set up a decent ventilation system because the glass and other materials that we use can release metals and toxins which you don't really want to breath. You can begin with a kit like Cheryl mentioned and then you will need to buy glass...that's probably the bare minimum. If you really find that you enjoy it, there are ALOT of other things you will probably want to buy including a kiln, bead presses and lots of other goodies. It can get pretty expensive. I would recommend that you take a class first to see if you are even going to like it and also to see how a work area is set up, learn about saftey issues etc. If you tell us what area you're in, someone here might know if there are classes taught anywhere near you.

Teresa

I never took a class before I tried it at home but then I've had a long love affair with stained glass so I just sort of knew...

I set up a studio and I decided to do it with the best I could get within a set price so that I wouldn't become disillusioned with bad/inadequate materials. I bought an oxy-con, a minor torch, a kiln and glass plus some toys (presses, picks, Creation Station, etc.) plus set up a 80# propane cylinder and brought it in for just under $1500. I've spent more since then, of course, but not great amounts and mostly $$ for glass or for findings and such for the jewelry making end of the beadmaking.

I'm happy with the way I set it up and it will be a long, long time before I outgrow my initial set-up and look for something else. Any bad beads I'm making I can blame on myself, not my tools, my torch or my inability to anneal.

And I still haven't taken a class but I *am* selling beads. Some of them in a museum gift shop, too. :)

Thank You all for helping me out, money is an issue at moment. I can afford to get my feet wet. My wife started beading after she got laid off in January and she enjoys it. (Nice to have a few extra $$$) but its not enough where she can just sell her jewelry. We just got some Faux Dichro to play with and I was figuring maybe I could tie two forms of art together.