Recent Focal Beads...

I have finally gotten back to making focal beads again. I go in spurts as to what I like to make. I was doing nothing but bead sets for quite some time. I am really happy with the way both of these turned out. I have no secrets so here is the 411....


This focal bead was started with a long barrel of white. I then encased it in Vetrofond transparent brown. When encasing a large bead I almost alway use the linear method where you stripe on the encasement layer vertically. For me it is much easier that way. Anywhooo, after melting and shaping the encasing I used light Turquoise and Raku for the "stripes" and melted those in. I gave it a good heating and flattened. Added some dots of crystal clear and DH's Triton, gave it a good fire polish and into the kiln. Voila, there you have it. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=290284228575