“Lampworking”. This is the art of melting and manipulating glass in a flame. The glass is wound as it melts around a steel welding rod (called a mandrel) – each color you see in the bead has been layered separately and attached in the heat. The mandrel (which has been coated in a clay mixture that will later release the glass) creates the hole in the middle of the glass. Each piece of glass added onto a bead results in a miniature piece of art glass ranging in size from less than an inch to over 2 inches. Once the work is complete (from 15 minutes to over an hour depending on the size and complexity of the bead), the still hot creation is placed into a heated kiln to be annealed – giving the finished bead it’s strength and durability. The next day, after the kiln has cooled, the finished beads are removed from the mandrels, cleaned, and made into unique, custom jewelry.