$25.00
TWISTS!
Twists are two or more different
colors of glass twisted together. Twists can be thick or thin,
opaque or transparent. Twists are commonly used as surface decoration
on your bead but you can even make the whole bead out of twists. Yes, you can make twists! At first
making twists will seem like an overwhelming challenge. With practice
you will be able to choose the diameter and number of twists per
inch. Really!
Click through photos at left for examples of: Front Cover, Table of
Contents, Sample Page & Back Cover.
Heather designed her Twists! tutorial for students who are unable to take a class with her personally.
Note from Heather: "Just imagine that you are in my studio for a private lesson. Here is your chance to "watch" me work, and have me "talk" you through the process of honing your beadmaking skills. And yes, there will be assignments at the end of this lesson!"
One of the important skills required for making twists is the ability to rotate two glass rods or punties at the same time. This does take a lot of practice. When I first started I would practice when I was on the phone by using two pencils. I’d turn them and then change their position from over-hand to under-hand and then to a pencil position the same way as I would with the glass. This helped me train the muscles in my hands.
Goals for this tutorial:
- Make beautiful twists and apply them neatly to your beads!
- Learn to rotate two glass rods/punties at the same time while making a nice “football” gather.
- Avoid those “dog-bones.”
This tutorial is a downloadable PDF file. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open it.