Cool bead alert!
We’re told these invitingly inexpensive, glowingly colorful powder-glass “donuts” are made by crushing solid color seed beads.*
Recycled-glass wafers like these have been popular at our BeadTour bead shows. Look for them in your city soon (next spring), or order some now!
*Beadmakers might be interested in the process of making these discoidal darlings. In a nutshell:
- Make a clay mold.
- Choose glass by color, crush it by hand into “fritt”.
- Dip the mold in water, treat it with kaolin clay to prevent sticking.
- Place a cassava stalk in the center of each mold; fill in with fritt. (Firing burns the stalks away, leaving a hole for stringing.)
- Bake the molds in a kiln hot enough to fuse the glass.
- After firing, remove the molds.
- Shape and polish the beads on a stone using sand and water.
- Beads are sometimes oiled to bring out their natural shine.
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Happy Thanksgiving, Dave. I am looking forward to my bead gift!