These pieces were made by fusing soda-lime glass to clay beads, a technique with which I have been experimenting for a few years. The beads are handbuilt from extruded tubes of stoneware or porcelain, underglazed, and then bisque-fired. Glaze is applied in several layers, and then wiped off. The beads are then fired to cone 10. At the peak of the firing, a mixture of soda-bicarbonate, woodchips, and whiting are added to the firebox of the kiln, interacting with the glazes on the surface of the beads. After cooling to room temperature, the beads are then fired a third time. At the peak of the firing, the red-hot beads are removed from the kiln and heated by a table-mounted torch. The glass is heated and lampworked details are added. The beads are then placed in a fourth kiln, annealed, and cooled down slowly to room temperature. The finished beads are combined with additional lampworked glass components.
 
Clay & glass
 
Bead Pod
(detail)Bead Pod
Bead Pods
Smokey Bead Pods
Pods in the kiln
(detail)Sand pod
Sand pod
Grassland pod
Shoreline habitat
Portal to sandersonia
Portal
(detail) Portal
single porcelain pod
single pod
Pod group
Mermaid necklace
Woodland Pod necklace
Nut pendant
(detail)Grassland pod