Glass Beadmaking
in the
Ozark Mountains

Participants in our workshops at the Meadowcreek Education Center enjoy a retreat atmosphere and a personal pace policy. We’ve learned that each group brings its own dynamics and that each individual learns best when they are able to choose where to focus during torch time—either learning new techniques or on practicing a favorite. There is no pressure to race at a feverish pace to cover all the material we have available.

The Beginning to Intermediate Workshop (three days) and Intermediate to Advanced Workshop (five days) encompass a similar range of topics.

Some of the techniques to be covered in the three- and five-day classes are as follows:

  • Stringers and stringer work, including multiple color and cased, as well as ribbed stringers and their application.

  • Feathering, including four-point feather, Z-feather, spiral-feather, side-shift feather, furrow, tweezering, and, feathered dotting and twisted cane.

  • Canes and laticinos, including full-ribbon, half-ribbon, lacey laticino, two-color and three-color twisted cane, classic Venetian-twisted cane, graduated twisted cane.

  • Geometric cane and murrinis including eye cane, face cane, concentric-circle cane, other patterned cane, and proper cane applications.

  • Clear-casing detailed surfaces including full-gather casing, sheet casing, coil casing, strip casing, floral-cased beads, and pendants.

  • Complex dotting and stratifications including woven or scaling dots and Chinese Warring States interpretations that include rosettes, tiny dots, surface-tension spreading, stacked or horned dots, pulled and manipulated dots, and masking or eclipsing dots.

  • Double-bead beads; bent beads; Islamic folded beads; off-mandrel work and sculpture methods; core vessels and vessels with handles; multiple-part pickups; hollow or blown beads; silver foils and gold leaf; dichroic glass; reactive glasses; frits and enamels; multiple-layered cased landscapes, and more.