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In The Beginning…

I first started working with glass at the insistence of my father, Sheldon. He dragged me to the University of Michigan’s campus in Dearborn, Michigan where Professor Don Miller was teaching a glass bead-making class. At the time, I was not very interested in working with glass. I was a stone man. I liked to cut and polish gemstones. Glass, which I then viewed as a much lesser material than stone, was not at all fascinating to me. My father insisted that I would really enjoy myself and I was determined not to.



A long time ago in a classroom in Dearborn, Michigan…

"Making glass pieces is your destiny."

"Join me and together we shall rule the flameworking universe as father and son."


"Never! I'll never turn to the glass side!"



Title: Destiny
Artist: AJGlass
Image created by: AJGlass using a Panasonic DMC-LZ7 Lumix 7.2 MP camera and PhotoShop.
Medium: Glass
Type: Soft Glass, 104 Coefficient of Expansion (Moretti/Effetre, Vetrofond, Lausha)
Description: Glass Beads, LEGO^TM Minifigures, LEGO^TM Plates/Bricks

Details: The LEGO^TM Minifigures provided are for scale of the bead. Black (which is actually a very dark purple), white, and transparent clear glasses were used to create this bead which has been annealed in a kiln. This bead took 40 minutes to make and 18 hours to anneal. No image color correction was necessary. The “white lines” on the bead are light reflections.

Discussion: This bead is a large piece which contains swirls and bubbles. It reminds me a bit of a mini universe. This bead is an example of an encased poked bead. Encasing is where one color of glass, usually an opaque color, is surrounded by another color of glass – typically a type of transparent. Encasing a bead gives it a three-dimensional look.

Usually the goal of encasing is to create a bubble-free layer of transparent glass all the way around a bead. That is all well and good but to me it’s also rather boring. I like to trap bubbles in my encasing glass – big ones, little ones, mostly randomly placed. Once trapped, the bubbles form almost perfect silver spheres within the glass.

To add to the already bubbly casing, I poked the molten bead several times with a tungsten pick and left deep depressions in the glass. Then I added more transparent glass on top of the depressions and melted the newly added glass into the bead. The result was the creation of bigger bubbles than the ones that were already in the glass. The new larger bubbles were more carefully placed and centered.

Because I poked the bead so deeply, the underlying opaque glass was also significantly affected, resulting in the white glass lines moving away from behind the large bubbles. So behind each large bubble is only black glass. To me, it looks like black holes attempting to suck in silvery bubble planets.


The Story Continues…

My first day of glass class was on a Saturday morning and, like all subsequent classes would, it lasted 5 hours. My teacher, Professor Don Miller, introduced me (along with several other glass nooblets) to the world of glass bead-making. First he told me some of the history of it, showed me images of famous and interesting pieces, and then instructed me on the dangers involved and what do in case of emergencies. He told me, “Don’t worry about burning or cutting yourself, it’s going to happen so there’s no reason to worry about it.”

After that, he showed me how to set up a torch and discussed with me what each general tool was and how it was used. Next, from behind a torch flame, he demonstrated several times how to create a round bead. Finally, I was allowed to set up my own torch and give it a try.

Making a round glass bead looked easy to do – simple in fact. My first attempt resulted in a beautiful puddle of glass dropping onto the table in front of me. My next attempt was only slightly better. I was able to get the glass onto the mandrel but for the life of me I couldn’t get it to stay there. My third, fourth, and fifth attempts also ended as puddles. I was more than a little discouraged. Apparently, the real lesson was that Professor Don Miller always made things look easy. This lesson would be one that would repeat itself many times throughout the course.

At the end of class on my first day, I had created a total of 3 small, black, round, glass beads. It had taken me three hours to learn to make them somewhat successfully in what I can only describe as my most frustrating day of class ever. When the class period ended and I had left the campus, I swore that I would never go back and that working with hot glass was a complete and total waste of my time. My father disagreed. I found myself dragged back to the class the following weekend – and for many weekends thereafter.

Eventually I mastered making round glass beads. Then round glass beads with dots, and more dots, and more dots. Then cylinder shaped, spiral shaped, square shaped, poked, cased, enameled, and pixie dusted beads. I’ve even made stringers, cane and twisted cane. To this day I continue to work on my craft – both eagerly and energetically. I am now proud to say that, because of my father, I am now ruling over my own little glass universe.


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

LEGO^TM is a trademark of the LEGO Group. © 2008 The LEGO Group.

Star Wars and Star Wars characters are © 2008 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM.


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