Lissa first taught me how to do spirals on the 4th of July, 2015 which inspired my patriotic red, white and blue bead. I worked on holding the stringer underhand so that it essentially hangs downward and then turning the mandrel to lay the stringer down on the bead while the hand holding stringer is controlling the angle and spacing of the spirals. This method explained by Tinker is good for first learning to spirals (i.e., instead of using an over-hand, painting method). I'm working on my control of the angle of how the stringer hangs down to control the spacing and number of spirals I get on a bead. I was only able to get 3 spirals on the bead, but with practice I have started to get 4 spirals. Working with thicker stringer initially has helped me improve my control of the stringer around the flame. Heating the stringer to the side or back of the flame vs in the flame is best. I'm continuing work on my control and movement of the bead and stringer at the back of the flame and finding the sweet spot...definitely not in the flame!
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First 4 spirals
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| The next spiral |
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| Raked spiral |
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| 4th of July spiral |
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| 1st red and yellow spiral |
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2nd red and yellow spiral
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| Twisted spirals (including Anglo-Saxon traffic light beads) |
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