This necklace is composed of three barrel shaped beads made by me at the torch in my studio from traditional soda-lime glass. On all three of these beads I've used a core of high density black and added bands of opaque deep red, semi-opaque white, opaque yellow and orange, with the combinations being a bit different on each bead. While each bead was still red hot and semi-molten, I used a sharp metal tool to drag the lines of applied color across the surface in alternating directions, creating what is known as a "raking" patter. The result looks a bit like marbled paper. Raking is a very old technique in glass working, going back all the way to the earliest glass in bronze age Mesopotamia and Egypt. It was especially popular in ancient Hellenistic and Roman times and in early Islamic glass.
The beads are strung on a simple black leather cord that is round in section, 2 mm thick and secured with a stainless steel lobster claw closure. I've also added 2 different styles of silver spacers to either side of each bead, contrasting nicely with the black glass and black cord.. The total cord length is about 20 inches, which makes this a "matinee" length.
Handmade wearable glass art from my studio.
Tags: glass, beads, lampwork, torchwork, jewelry
