S W I R L – an e-book on gravity swirl, bicone shaping, silver glass

This is a three-in-one tutorial for both newer and more experienced lampworkers. Using the techniques on how to make a gravity swirl bead, I will share with you how to shape a perfect bicone AND show you how to work with using both striking and reducing silver glass on a single bead. Please do note that the silver glass part of this tutorial is secondary.



For those of you who are not ready for silver glass, I will show you examples of beads made with regular production COE104 glass. Steps 1 through 32 will remain the same, you can easily follow along using non-silver glass alternatives.

This tutorial is set up so that you can follow the step-by-step instructions easily on the main section of the page with additional tips on the side bar. When you are at the torch, you can just concentrate on the tasks at hand and not have to read the unnecessary text.

There is a lot of information after the tutorial, including my favorite - Shaping 101! As many of you know . . . my passion is silver glass . . . but my obsession is perfectly shaped and executed forms. If you have ever wondered how I made my beads stand up on both ends perfectly perpendicular to the table top, here is your chance to find out! I firmly believe that this is an important foundation for new lampworkers to acquire. So even if you are not ready for silver glass, you can benefit greatly from the Shaping 101 portion of this e-book!

In order to fully utilize this tutorial, you will need to make a bead that’s about 2"/50mm long. Having said that, you may choose to only do the middle swirl and omit the two side swirls completely. In this case, you may work on a shorter bead.

Here is a sample page:



This e-book is 21 pages with over 50 images. File size is 2.8mb and is available for instant download right here on our blog - first item on right sidebar - on click below. Thank you!

SWIRL – pdf format, $21.00


Please note that this item cannot be returned.