Adventures in Lampwork - Day 2

My second day in my flameworking class was great.  I had gone in early to take advantage of the lab time.  Looking back now, I got a little over excited and tried to plunge ahead of the class and attempted to make dots on beads before the lesson.  It was fun, but after the class had ended I can see why I should have waited for the instruction before.  It was still a learning experience.  :)  I should have practiced making my lifesaver shaped beads instead.  I did kind of do that, but then I put some wonky dots on them too.  :D
The lesson plan for the day was to learn how to make dots, and then put dots on dots.  As my teacher said "Dots nice".  ;)  The final ideal bead was to be an eye bead.  Eye beads are used for protection.  They ward off the evil eye, bad luck, and bring good fortune to the wearer.  By the end of class, I had a few eye beads, and a couple nice dot beads.  I also had a few less attractive beads, and some plain lifesaver beads too.  The other lesson I learned from that class, don't rush.  Don't rush thru making a bead just to make another one.  I have a couple beads I stuck in my vermiculite that were too hot and ended up getting damaged.  Some might think I should ditch these damaged beads, but I could never do that.  Its a journey, and I want to be able to see the distance I've come since the first class.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day.  I am still having a sale in the shop thru the end of the holiday.  So if you see something you like, you can get 15% OFF with the coupon code LOVEYOU during checkout.  :)  Hope you all have a Happy Valentines Day!

My best eye bead with two plain little green beads.