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Title: Contagious
Artist: AJGlass
Image created by: AJGlass using an Epson Perfection 1200U scanner and PhotoShop.
Medium: Glass
Type: Soft Glass (this means it’s not borosilicate)
Description: Glass Bead

Details: The dime is provided for scale of the glass bead. Nile green and black glasses were used to create this bead. All AJGlass beads have been properly annealed. Due to the differences in monitor settings, the colors of this bead may look slightly lighter, slightly darker, or otherwise different on your monitor than the bead itself. The bright white lines on this bead are mostly light reflection. The dime is not for sale.

Status: For Sale.
Item: One handmade, Nile green and black glass bead.
Price: $20.00 + $4 S&H (or $5 S&H outside of the continental United States).
Contact: Please note me if you are interested in purchasing this bead.
Payment: PayPal. Other payment options may also be accepted.
Shipping: I ship beads via US Post in packaging suitable for glass beads.
Delivery: Please allow one week for delivery, longer for international orders. Weather permitting, I try and ship the following business day after payment has been received and cleared. Beads will be shipped with delivery confirmation when possible.

Discussion: I think that this bead would make an interesting focal piece for a necklace and that it would also make a very unique subject for, or addition to, a wire wrapping project. This bead is very unusual-looking. The Nile green color is like that seen in many types of mint chocolate chip ice cream; though in my opinion, the black glass looks nothing like chocolate.

There are four black-dotted large Nile green dots on this bead – only three of which are visible in the above image. All four are nestled nicely and permanently into the spiraling valley of this bead. Please understand that this bead is created from glass, and like all glass it can chip or break if dropped/thrown/crushed or otherwise abused. This bead is NOT suitable for small children, and is NOT edible. It may pose a choking hazard if swallowed.

Creation: To create this bead, half of a rod of black glass was melted onto a bead-release-coated mandrel and formed into a round bead. A quarter of a rod of Nile green glass was then carefully melted and mixed into the black glass to form swirls of Nile green and black. The swirled molten glass was then rolled on a graphite marver to achieve a stiff cylindrical shape. Then the cylinder was softened again in the torch flame and the bead was rolled along the metal handle of a tungsten pick – creating a valley which spirals down the length of the cylinder. The now spiral cylinder was again reheated in the torch flame to remove chill marks left by the tungsten pick handle.

Next, four molten balls of Nile green glass were carefully dropped down the center of the twisting valley where they permanently fused and solidified. Once all four were solid, small black dots were placed onto each of them and carefully melted in so that they would permanently fuse but remain raised on the surface. This bead was then placed directly into a kiln to be annealed.

Further comment: To me, this glass bead looks like it has caught (or it is) some type of strange biological entity – one which is probably infectious, contagious and most likely even deadly. Perhaps it’s a type of mold or fungus or is (or has caught) some type of virus or bacterial infection. It’s probably something that one might find growing in a Petri dish in a top secret government science lab or growing in the very back of a refrigerator on a Chinese takeout meal long forgotten. Maybe it’s even something one might encounter under some leaf litter in a damp dark forest where its spores can infect passing hosts.

Now I’m not going to allow such an entity to grow and live peacefully somewhere when it can be worn for the entire world to see around your neck. Thus, I am pleased to be able to offer this glass bead for sale online. Note me if you are interested in purchasing it. It really would make for an interesting piece of wearable art.

Guarantee: I will do everything that I can to make sure that you are satisfied with your purchase. So if you are not satisfied with this bead for any reason, please return it prepaid in its original condition and in its original packaging for a full refund. Shipping costs are the responsibility of the purchaser. Please request return authorization in advance.

Legal: Copyright © Aaron J. Greenblatt. All rights reserved. Commercial use prohibited. This image and commentary may not be used for any reason without the expressed written consent of Aaron J. Greenblatt.


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