Heart to Heart Lampwork Beads

I have been making lots of lampwork hearts at the moment as the shape is interesting to work with and, well, who doesn’t like a heart!  I also have to think about what decorations I can apply to such an irregular shape.

I particularly like them when they’ve been in the stone tumbler (like the two sets below), but I have to make the beads as smooth as possible first, otherwise the beads end up with shiny patches where the stone tumbling can’t reach.  I finish these shiny areas gently with a bead reamer and put them back into the tumbler again to improve the finish.

Black Stone Tumbled Heart Focal Bead

Purple Flower Heart Lampwork Bead

Spots and swirls work really well on a heart shape, or just applying simple sweet flowers to them can make a simple statement and doesn’t detract from the purple swirly shades in the lampwork heart as in the picture above.

Alternatively, wiggling Double Helix Helios over dark ivory gives a lovely effect as you can see a dark line where the two glasses touch.

Golden Lampwork Heart

There are just so many possibilities to play with, I don’t know what to try next!