Snail Tutorial

Want to learn how to make a lampwork snail bead? It's easy! I'll show you in a few easy-to-follow steps.

First - and this is crucial - plan on making a regular ol' round bead. Add whatever decorations to it you'd like. I happen to be partial to murrini, so that's how I decorated mine. Once your bead is nicely decorated, melt it back into a nice, round bead. What's that? One side is messed up? Don't worry, it can be easily fixed. Just add a nice amount of a contrasting opaque color to the less-than-perfect side. Now we're making a turtle, so follow along. This opaque color will be the neck and head. If it's not doing what you want it to do, try to shape it with various tools. When that fails, get frustrated and smush the turtle head into the round bead, flattening one side of the formerly round bead. Keep the mess of a bead in the flame while you contemplate plunging the entire thing into a cup of cold water (after all, you wouldn't want it to crack before you have a chance to off it yourself). At this point you will come to the clear realization that this bead can be saved - it was supposed to be a snail all along. Add some more of that opaque color to one side for the head, and a bit to the backside for the tail. Re-flatten the bottom to make a nice slimy snail body. Add a couple googly eyes and voila! You have made a snail. Wasn't that easy?

Want to learn how to make a hippo bead now? Check out my super easy Hippo Tutorial.