how to hand make beads

8/8/2019 How to Hand Make Beads

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How To Hand Make Beads

A free tutorial

Copy right by Daniel Lopacki all rights reserved

INTRODUCTION

Daniel Lopacki made his first strand of beads over thirty years ago. From the beginning he found ita challenge to find the best techniques for making the best bead possible. In doing this he has

become recognized both by his peers and the bead buying public as one of the premier bead makersin the world. Over the years Daniel has made beads from material as soft as Jet and Pipestone, tomaterial as hard as Tourmaline. Since the mid 90's Daniel's speciality has become Opal beads and

if you visit his studio you can be assured he will have some Opal beads in the works.

Daniel lectured at an international bead conference in 1996 on the subjects of "Stone Bead

Making" and "Opal Bead Making Techniques". In 1997 a group of individuals established a newguild for bead makers, thus the name World Bead Makers Guild. The guild chose four guildmasters, Jamey Allen --- Polymer Clay; Art Seymour --- Furnace Glass; James Smirich --- Lamp

work Glass and Daniel Lopacki --- Stone.

The following techniques are the same that Daniel uses in his bead making. He freely admits thatthere are many other techniques to produce great beads, with all of these being less time consuming

than his method. But if you are willing to spend the time to learn and then apply the followingtechniques to your bead making, you will find that there is a distinct difference in the "LOOK" of

the finished product.

THE BEAD MAKING TECHNIQUES OF DANIEL LOPACKI

CHOOSING THE RIGHT MATERIAL

The first and most critical step in bead making is your choice of material. It is essential that youchoose stone free from cracks and/or flaws, mainly cracks. You will find it very frustrating if youare spinning cracked material, as a major portion of your bead blanks will break into pieces and

your labor will go to naught. Internal flaws, such as feathers or clouds come into play when you areusing transparent or translucent gem material. A minor flaw in transparent gem material can be

magnified by the shape of the bead; this being the case I highly recommend using flawless gemmaterial whenever possible. The rewards will show in your finished product, and the value of a

flawless gem bead can be worth many times more than the same bead of flawed material.

Another consideration when choosing material is dichroism. This is the property that doubly

refracting crystals have of transmitting light of various colors when looked at from different angles.Dichroism is very apparent in most Tourmaline; if you look at the side of strongly dichroic

Tourmaline you can see through the crystal, but if you look at the end of the crystal you cannot seeinto it at all. With a dichroic stone, it is a must that you orient it to the angle that best allows thelight to pass through, otherwise your beads will be either half or completely "dead" in the light.



I find that Opal is the most challenging material in bead making. In choosing Opal for bead makingthere are a few important things to consider.

Opal usually shows its best color either on the face or the side of the stone. It is rare that you will

have Opal with the same color density in all directions. I find that the best choice of Opal for beadsis Opal with the bright color on the side of the rough.

Another consideration. Is the Opal directional? Directional Opal, when turned 360 degrees, will notshow color in all directions turned; it will show strong color in one direction, but if you turn it 180degrees in the other direction it is completely dead. If you are after a truly gem-quality strand of

Opal beads, it is a must that your bead blanks show color in the full 360 degrees of rotation --otherwise the finished beads will have dead, colorless areas that can be somewhat disappointing

after all of your labors.

PREPARING THE ROUGH STONE

Obviously if you have a piece of stone large enough to just slice it up into various size squares, thisis all you need to do.

If you are using small pieces of rough stone from which you can only get one, two or three beads,the process is more involved.

On a flat lap, I face the rough on the side that will produce the largest bead blank. Knowing that inthe final shaping process I will lose some material from the side of the bead I sometimes leave areas

with the natural depressions, as this allows for the thickest bead possible.



After I grind the rough to thickness, I then saw or grind a flat face to do layout from. Workingfrom this face, with the use of a dial caliper and a carpenter square, I lay out lines on the stone to

show the largest square that I can get (above). Again, knowing that I will lose all edges in therounding process, there may be lines that don't meet at the corners (below). With the use of a 4"

trim saw I cut along the lines that I have laid out, after sawing the blank from the rough, if I have

not ground the number two side of the bead blank, I then grind it flat and parallel to its oppositeside.

Your Results.



DRILLING

Some bead makers drill their bead blanks by visually drilling at or near the center of the blank. Ipersonally choose to lay out the center of each bead blank prior to drilling. In doing this you will

nearly always get the maximum size finished bead from your blank. If you are using material thatcosts up to 200 dollars a gram this is a must as far as I am concerned.

To lay out blanks I use a dial caliper.



I start by picking twenty or so of the largest blanks, I then measure across the face of one of theseblanks. This measurement is then divided by 2. I set my caliper to this number and lock it in place,then place the blank on the step on the back of the caliper. Using a .05 mm pencil, I lay out one linefrom each of the four faces of the blank. If the measurment is a little off it will make a small squarewhere center is. I just keep picking the next group of larger beads and repeat the process until I am

out of blanks to mark. I am now ready to drill.

For drilling, I use diamond drills in conjunction with a Foredom with a #30 handpiece a Foredomdrill press and a table top variable speed control.

I have a brass water tray that screws to the drill press table with a thumb screw from below, and inthe bottom of this tray I have adhered with dop wax a piece of a hard stone slab. The reason for thehard stone in the bottom is two fold: It gives you something very flat to place the bead blank on andit reduces blow out to a minimum. Blow out results from the pressure of the drill point breaking a

circular portion from the bottom of the blank just before it drills through.

You can drill your blanks with them submerged in water, but you will need to change the water inthe tray quite often so you can see the layout lines.

I have overcome this problem by making a pressurized water system from an ordinary gardensprayer, a valve that I purchased at the hardware store, and a small hypodermic needle.

With this system you can direct the flow of the water precisely where you want it to go. With adrain hole in the tray, you will always have clear water to see the layout lines on the bead blank.

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If needed, to achieve a standard size hole I will usually drill my first hole undersize -- for instance, if I want a 1 mm finished hole, I will first drill a .75 mm hole, and then go back through each hole

with a 1 mm drill. This results in a hole that is the same size in every bead blank.

If I want a large size hole I usually start with 1 mm and then step up to finish size i.e. 1mm /1.25mm / 1.5mm / finish at 2mm. My logic for doing this, it is much easier and quicker for the 1mm

drill face to penetrate than the 2 mm. Once you have the initial 1mm hole all other holes go veryquick, usually a matter of a few seconds.

I recommend a speed of about 3,000 to 4,000 RPM for the .75 mm diamond drill. As the diameter of the drill increases, the speed should come down accordingly 2.5 mm about 1500 RPM. Excessive

speed keeps the water from reaching the bottom of the hole.

Diamonds create ultra fine dust as they drill, so it is a must that you clear the drill quite often --drill down a little bit and then raise the drill out of the hole, repeating this process until you are

through the bead blank.

Please note: The deeper you drill the less time you can keep the tip at the bottom of the hole as it isvery hard for the dust to work up out of the hole.

Remember, too high of speed or not keeping the hole washed out will result in the diamond plating



burning off the drill shaft.

ROUNDING

I have developed a fixture for rounding the blanks one at a time. In using this fixture you lose sometime in the process of rounding each blank, but your end result on any given bead is the largestbead possible from that blank, again if you are using expensive material you want as little waset

possible.

I have found that you can achieve near-perfect rounds for a whole strand in as little as an hourusing this fixture. Even if it takes two or three hours to get your near-perfect rounds, the time it

saves in the next step of the process more than makes up for the time spent in rounding.

The fixture is very simple to make: all it requires is a pin vise, a piece of metal bent at a ninety-degree angle with a slotted hole on one side.

The reason for the slotted hole is so you can adjust the height of the pin vise so that its center sitsjust below the center of the grinding wheel.

You will need to secure the pin vise to the slotted metal piece. My choice is the screw clamp that iscommonly used to secure electrical wires going into a knock-out box.

Once your fixture is made you will need to drill and thread a hole in the side of your splash pan formounting the fixture to your machine. Bolt the fixture to your machine tight enough to allow it to

move backward and forward, but not loose enough to allow the grinding process to push the blank away from the wheel.



Pull the fixture away from the wheel, place a bead blank onto the pin in the pin vise (the pin shouldbe slightly smaller than the hole size), slowly push the fixture forward until the blank touches thewheel, then slowly turn the blank around with your fingers. The result will be an almost perfect

tube that is ready for the next step in the process.

Large Opal tubes directly off fixture.

Notice some areas are yet to clean up, this will disappear in final shaping.

SHAPING

Shaping is the process that literally makes or breaks the beads that you are making. If you aretrying to achieve a smooth symmetrical bead, you need to shape each half of the bead exactly the

same. In order to do this consistently, it takes practice, practice and more practice!

You will eventually get to the point where you will be able to shape a bead with only one hand andwith excellent results.

First you want to choose a pin for the pin vise that is just slightly smaller than the hole in your beadand just loose enough for the bead to spin freely. You will need to keep a moist bar of soap on hand,

as this is used to lubricate the bead on the pin.

You will use a soft stone "spinner bead" (I prefer jet), below any bead you are working on. Thisspinner bead keeps the pin vise from cutting a groove into your bead as it spins.

I prefer to work with my bead blanks starting with the thickest and working my way down to thethinnest. The reason for doing this is that you want the tip of the pin to be just below the top of the

bead face. If you start with the thick beads and work your way down, you just have to lower the pinin the vise from time to time.



Place your spinner bead on the pin, rub the pin on the moist soap bar and place your bead blank onthe pin. Then loosen the pin vise just enough to allow you to push the pin just below the surface of

the blank. This done, tighten the pin vise.

Start the shaping process by holding the pin vise as near vertical as possible to the grinding wheeland lightly touching the edge of the blank just below the center of the wheel, the blank will start

spinning. Break the edge a little and then tilt the blank inward toward the hole, as you do this applya small amount of pressure against the wheel. This will start the grinding process and also keep the

bead spinning. I make it a point to shape my beads right down to the hole, as this allows you togrind off any blow out that resulted from the drilling process.

Working from the hole out, you can start to grind the material from the blank. Watching the side of the blank works best for me because I can see the bead as it is shaped. I rough shape one-half, andthen the other, to remove the excess material. To assure that the bead is balanced I then go back

over the bead to achieve my final shape.

Once I am satisfied with the final shape, I repeat the above steps to all of the blanks that I haveprepared.

Three bead shapes from same blank.



Remember to use the soap every time you put a blank on or turn a blank over!

SANDING

Sanding your shaped bead is exactly the same as the shaping process, except that at this point youare only smoothing out any rough spots on the shaped bead, not removing excess material. If thebead seems to have an irregular shape that you do not like, it is best to go back to the grinding

wheel to reshape it; trying to do this on the sanding drum is a very slow process.

I use a worn 600 grit sanding drum for my sanding. This will remove any scratches from the

grinding process and leave no new coarse scratches on the surface of the bead. I suggest that youuse either a five or ten power eye loupe to inspect each bead for scratches prior to polishing, as you

cannot remove a grinding scratch in the polishing process.

The sanding steps follow: rub the pin on the soap, place your small jet spinner bead on the pin,place the shaped bead on the pin and make sure that the pin is just below the surface of the hole inthe bead. Using the same technique that you used in shaping, start sanding the bead from the holeout. As you come around to the face of the bead, make it a point to sand past the center of the bead

face.

This takes some practice so don't be surprised if your bead jumps off the pin when you first try thistechnique. Turn the bead over and repeat this process. When you feel that the bead is finished,check it with the loupe for scratches. If no scratches are visible, the bead is ready for polishing.

POLISHING

I use three hand techniques to polish beads. The one I use depends on how hard the material is and



how much of a water wet look I want on the bead. These techniques work best if you have sandedall of the scratches off of the beads and have used a worn sanding drum. If so your bead should look

almost polished.

For softer material such as Turquoise or stone of similar hardness,I have found that you can useZam, a commercial green buffing compound, to achieve a brilliant polish. Apply the Zam to a

treated muslin buffing wheel and use exactly the same techniques that you have used in the sandingprocess. One point to remember is that you don't use the soap for a lubricant in this process; youcan only use soap when water is present. In this and all other processes you need to remember to

use the jet spinner bead.

For harder material such as Lapis, Sugilite and similar material, I use diamond powder mixed withhoning oil, or the diamond paste that comes in a syringe. As long as there are no scratches on the

beads, you should be able to go right to a 14,000 mesh compound. If you are using the syringe withthe paste, apply directly from the syringe. If you want to mix your own diamond compound you will

need to purchase diamond powder and honing oil. Crystalite sells an oil called diamond extenderwhich works well for this purpose. In a small bottle (the five carat diamond bottle works great), mix

approximately two carats diamond powder with ten to fifteen drops oil. Each time you apply thismixture, shake the bottle vigorously to suspend the diamond in the oil.

Using a hard felt 4" buffing wheel, apply the diamond compound to the buff with your finger tip.Rub the paste or the homemade mixture over the entire face of the felt wheel. When you first startto use the felt wheel, you will need to apply the compound quite often, but after awhile you will findthat you need only apply the compound infrequently. Again use the same technique that you used insanding, to polish the bead. A note of caution -- the felt buff will cause a heat build-up in the bead,

so do not use this technique to polish heat sensitive material such as Opal.

The third process is for very hard material such as petrified wood, agate, tourmaline, and ruby.This process is somewhat involved and I don't recommend that it be used, unless you are using veryunusual or very expensive material. I do recommend using this process on Opal as it will make the

Opal beads look like they are wet.

You will need to purchase a few special things for this process -- a small motor, I'm using a 1/15 HPmotor I bought years ago, a variable speed controller and an arbor to mount the wheels on.

If I were to do this today I would purchase a Foredom Bench Lathe which can be used in manymore applications other than polishing.

The wheels that you will be using are of redwood or a similar softer wood, and most likely you willneed to have them made at your local wood working shop. The wheels that I use are two inches in

diameter and roughly one inch wide. The diameter of the wheel can vary but I think anything overfour inches is unnecessary.You will need three wheels on three seperate mandrels.

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After you have your set-up put together, you will need to charge one wheel with 1,200 mesh, onewith 14,000 mesh and one with 50,000 mesh diamond. Apply the diamond oil mixture in the same

way as with the hard felt wheel. I use the diamond oil mixture only on wood: Diamond has anaffinity to oil and as the oil/diamond penetrates the wood it has a cutting plus lubricating effect with

no heat buildup.

PLEASE NOTE: It is very important that you store your polishing wheels in their own zip lock bags, mark each bag and wheel with the mesh size. If you neglect to do this you will contaminate the

wheels and they will always drop scratches on your surface being polished.

You will need to do the following steps with all three of the diamond grits, first 1,200 then 14,000and finally 50,000. It is imperative that you clean all of the compound from each bead before going

to the next step, otherwise you will contaminate the wheel of your next step with the coarser gritand this will cause scratches that you won't be able to overcome. You must also make sure that the

holes are throughly clean. I do this by drawing a bead cord with the wire needle that is slightlyoversize, through the beads in warm soapy water.

On the 1200 mesh wheel use the same technique that you used in the sanding process. Using thevariable speed control, set the speed of the wheel at the speed which seems to work best for the

mesh size you are using. You do not need high speed, you want the diamond to have a chance to cut.Repeat this process for each mesh size. You will notice a distinct difference in the bead as you go

from 1,200 to 14,000 to 50,000. If you choose to polish your beads in this way you will be amazed atthe end results, and you will have a strand of beads that will show off your material to its best.

STRINGING BEADS

When I finish all of my beads, whether they are for one strand or twenty, the first thing I do isvisually separate them into six or eight piles. I arrange them in groups from the smallest to the

largest.

Starting with the beads in the largest group I use the dial caliper to measure the beads as I placethem flat on a table top: I put the largest bead in the center of the strand, then place the next

smaller bead to the right side, the next smaller bead to the left and so on until I have placed all of the beads in their proper order.

Once I have done this I then string the beads onto a good bead cord (I use saddle stitching thread).Starting with the smallest bead on one end, I string them up in order, tie the ends off and have a

prefectly tapered strand of finished beads.

how to hand make beads

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