Lampwork Beads Though man has always had glass in the form of volcanic obsidian, the origins of man-made glass are lost in history. Mesopotamian excavations indicate that glass bead making knowledge was developed around, 2450 BC and possibly back as far as 2600 BC.

Glass manufacturing was well established and an item of commerce in the middle East by 1700 BC. Egyptians, 300 years later were making beautiful colorful vases by roping coils of glass around a sand form, not unlike the process we have all used to "make a clay pot". The Egyptians then fused the soft glass and introduced intricate patterns by dragging the colors through each other. A technique I still use today in my lampwork glass beads.

The term "lampwork" today, harkens back to the technique's past. A drinking straw size metal blowpipe was inserted through the flame of a wax or oil lamp. Air blown through this tube created a small sharp flame hot enough to melt small areas of glass. Though in general this technique was not used for creating beads, a vast array of figures and novelties were possible.

Glass contracts or shrinks as it cools and returns to it's solid state. Historically, tapered rods or copper tubes that dissolve in acid, shrinking the metal mandrel were used to remove glass beads after building them.

The burst of lampwork beads today is a result of special clay formulas developed to coat the mandrel. These slip clays will withstand the rigor of building the bead and the heat of the annealing kiln, yet dissolve in water and allow the creation to come free of the mandrel.

Today propane and oxygen torches have replaced the metal blow tubes in the flame of the lamp, but the term "lampwork glass bead made in the flame," hints of the art form's past.