Lampwork beads are created by melting rods and tubes of clear and colored glass with the flame of a torch. The molten glass is wound around a mandrel (specially coated stainless steel wire), forming the base bead. Beads are shaped using a combination of heat, gravity and tools. The beads can be decorated by melting fibers of glass on the surface, creating dots or lines. The hole through the bead is created when the bead is removed from the mandrel.
Once completed, the bead is heated until its temperature reaches a stress-relief point, or a temperature at which the glass is too hard to deform, but is soft enough for internal stresses to ease. The bead is then heat-soaked until its temperature is uniform throughout. This process is called “Annealing”.
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