Lamp Work Shell Pendant

Materials:

1 rod of soda lime glass in ivory (5-6mm thick)
1 rod of commercial stringer in ivory (2mm thick)
reduction or other contrasting stringer
contrasting stringer: pink, coral or purple
propane oxygen torch
mandrels
tweezers
razor
marver
eye protection

1) Preheat a prepared bead mandrel in the back of the flame.

2) Preheat a 6mm rod of ivory glass in the back of the flame to reduce the chance of thermal shock.

3) Heat the end of the rod to melting and build a gather on the end, enough to wrap around the mandrel a couple of times.

4) Lay on the ivory glass in a cylinder shape until it reaches the desired bead length.

6) Add more ivory glass to what will form the "thick" end of the shell, so that it ends up with a thin cone shaped bead.

7) Place the bead on the marver again to shape a thin cone.

8) Using either commercial stringer or regular rod, start a spiral at the thicker end continuing downward for a few wraps and then angling sharply down to lay the outline of the "lip" of the shell.

9) Clean this up with a knife edge tool or scalpel to "cut in" lines for definition.

10) Once the base spiral is laid on, a second layer is added on in commercial stringer, adding a bit extra toward the middle where the shell should be wider.

11) Lay on an extra line of stringer in the lip area to build up the area before adding the lip color. Tip: This means you might have three layers of glass in the lip area.