Lampworking – An Ancient Art in Modern Times – My First Ten Minutes

Lampworking, the art of making glass beads over a flame has been around for over 5000 years. The ancient Egyptians have given us some of our earliest known pieces of art glass. The art form didn’t get the name lampworking until the Renaissance when Italian glass workers discovered that they could get a hotter fire by pumping a small stream of air into the base of an oil lamp’s flame. Moving forward to today - lampworking is experiencing a resurgence in popularity that would make the old Italian masters dance with joy.

This is where I came in. In the summer of 2005 I attended the Bead and Button show in Milwaukee, Wi. I had been a jewelry designer for some time and loved lampwork beads but never thought I could afford to make my own. At the Bead and Button show I watched a man making beads on a Hot Head torch. He was selling these torches for $90 which included the torch, glass, a few basic tools and a 10 minute lesson right then and there on how to make your own beads.

Those ten minutes were the start of my love of glass. Not only was I now able to make the beautiful lampwork beads I’d spent tons of money on but I also had the satisfaction of knowing that I was offering my customers something that was solely my own creation and voice, no one else was represented in my work. I wasn’t making fabulous beads right off the bat but the siren song of fire and glass had sunk into my brain and has yet to be dislodged.

I have come a long way since that first ten minutes. I now use a much fancier torch and make more technically difficult beads but my favorite bead is still that first one. Who ever would have thought that one small lump of glass would lead to all of this?

That ten minute lesson gave me just the basics of bead making. No where during the lesson was anything said about the proper clothing or ventilation needed for safe lampworking. This article was just about my introduction to the world of hot glass. Please see future articles on the safety precautions needed when working with hot glass.

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