Owl Bead tutorial
Guest lampwork artist, Julie Fountain, shows you how
simple it is to make this cute owl bead

Step 1

First of all make a heart shaped bead, use a press or create the shape by hand.  I used Effetre transparent steel grey.

Step 2

Heat the surface of your bead and roll in frit to decorate – I used a fine iris orange (raku) frit for a feathery look.  Melt frit smooth.

Step 3

Apply large dots for the eyes, press flat into the bead, then cover with a large dot of coloured transparent -   I used Effetre Sky Blue and Effetre Transparent Medium Blue.

Step 4

Pick up a murrini chip in the tip of tweezers, flash the bottom of the chip in the flame and at the same time, lightly warm the eye area, then apply the murrini onto the centre of the coloured dot.  Twice!

Step 5

Warm and gently press the murrini down with your marver.  Do this a few times until the murrini chips are almost – but not completely – flat.  Use a sharp point to poke the centre of each chip.

Step 6

Cover each murrini with a dot of clear to really magnify the murrini for proper owl eyes!

Step 7

Add two large dots at the bottom of the heart and flatten from the bottom to make feet.

Step 8

Use a razor tool or knife blade to mark claws in the feet dots.  I used Sky Blue for my owl’s feet.

Step 9

Add a large dot in between and below the eyes, then use tweezers to pinch into a beak shape, it should be long and narrow, slightly wider at the top than the bottom - I used dark chocolate brown.

Step 10

Add feathers! I made 6 large raised dots in Sky Blue, then added another small dot on top of each one to make them look a little spiky!

Give your bead one final flash to warm him up and pop your owl in the kiln to anneal.