Floral Kiln Formed Beads - Glass With A Past

Today’s tutorial takes kiln formed beads one step further by creating a fused in floral pattern. By varying this pattern, you can create a wide variety of designer beads for beautiful jewelry. This tutorial uses our Channel Bead Mold Kit.

: Begin with a kiln washed channel bead mold, dipped mandrels and a piece of glass. I’m using bottle glass

: Each bead has two layers, the top layer is the width of the bead mold channel.

: The top layer of glass should be this wide

: The bottom layer is 1/8″ smaller

: Cut 2 glass strips for each channel, one for the top layer, one for the bottom layer.

: Measure and mark at 3/4″ intervals

: Mark the strips at the same time to keep the sizes consistent

: Score each strip on the lines

: Break the strips into rectangles, keeping each size separate.

: Place the BOTTOM layer of glass in the channel first.

: Add a dipped mandrel to the center of the glass pieces

: Add the top layer of glass

: Repeat with the remaining channels

: When all beads are assembled, fire to a full fuse.

: Fused Beads using a fuse firing schedule

: Twist beads off of mandrels, pliers are handy for this part

Part 2 – Floral Focal Bead

Next we’ll make the floral center beads. The bead making process is the same as Part 1, we will be painting flowers on the glass before assembly. I used two colors of glass line paint for the flowers and two colors of green for the leaves.

: Glassline Paint and brushes

: Paint flowers on bottom layer of the bead. Since the glass is small, my flowers are alternating dots of color.

: Place bottom layer of glass on the mold with the paint side UP

: Place a dipped mandrel on the center of the glass

: Add the top layer of glass to cap the paint

: Fire to a full fuse

Part 3 – Assembling the bracelet.

The length of your bracelet will depend on the size of your arm, if you have a bracelet that you like the length of, you could measure it and use it as a guide.