Improvements are happening!

I'm pretty proud of the progress I've made over the last few days. Here is a photo of a couple more beads that show I'm starting to be able to make consistently well-shaped beads:



In case it's not obvious, these solid-color beads are for a project I have in mind. I've been making one per bead-making session. They take less gas than the fancier beads, so it occurred to me to save them till later, when my tank has chilled and the torch is cooler. Sigh. I'm already starting to get frustrated with this torch setup.

Now on to more exciting beads. On Monday evening, I tried to create a bead with a certain pattern. When encasing it, I managed to completely destroy the pattern, so I gave up and went for an organic look. Sure enough, it turned out so pretty! It's the largest bead I've made on this setup, too.



And now for the latest favorite bead: This one was an attempt at the same bead I tried Monday evening, embarrassing though it is to admit what Monday's attempt was. This one was much more successful! I'd been leery of keeping any paper on my workbench for fear of frying it, but this time I put the tutorial there out of harm's way so I could follow it. And voila, a very pretty bead! All of the flowers are recognizable as such, though I photographed the best one here. There are several layers with clear encasing between. The vines got a little smudged, but the flowers stayed intact. I'm very proud of myself! And everyone who sees the bead in person really admires it. I think I'm getting closer to saleable beads!



I'd post the link to the tutorial, but it's still too embarrassing... will do so after I master the technique.

Thanks for looking!