I’ve been practicing… A LOT.  And look, i’m finally able to make hollow beads!!!!  They’re a finicky bead to make so when i finally (yes, FINALLY!!!) got the glass to puff up into these lovely air-filled bubbles i had the biggest grin on my face!

I’m currently working at about a 60% success rate (and no i’m not showing any more of my failures!  wasn’t the last post enough??) so I’ve at least figured out what i was doing wrong.  As with most things in hot glass, perfecting this technique is simply a matter of practice, practice, practice…  I’ve wasted so much glass trying to figure this out but now that i have it’s a skill learned forever.  Or at least i hope so…These beads are about .75 to 1.75 inches in diameter.  Now, if they were solid glass, worn together they would be relatively heavy – instead, they’re quite light.  I keep wanting to juggle them but so far i’ve resisted.

Moving forward,  i’ll now mainly be working on fine tuning my technique:  flat or dimpled holes, thinner sides, more evenly shaped and better decorations.  I think that necklace of hollow beads i’ve been planning is just weeks (rather than months) away…