Glass Bead Artist & Instructor Tim James

Specialty: Using self-developed gravity and spot-specific heat techniques to naturally center and balance beads. Tim is also very proficient at using silver and gold leaf techniques to decorate beads, and is an expert in making core-less hollow beads.

Beginners: Learn from the get-go how to make truly centered and balanced beads naturally, using only the flame and gravity.

Experienced: Enhance your existing skills by learning to use controlled heat and gravity to attain a fine touch that many glass workers lack. Learning to use less heat more effectively gives you an incredible amount of control and opens the door to endless shaping and designing possibilities.

Other areas explored in the class:

• Pulling stringer / Applying stringer


• Making dots, twisting dots, layering dots, feathering and raking


• Distorting the surface of a bead: poking, squashing, raking, twisting, cutting, etc.


• Glass encasing


• Working with Gold and Silver


• Techniques for consistent recreation of bead styles


• Hollow bead-making (advanced)

Instructor Tim James is known for his effective, no-pressure teaching style. He's aware that we all arrive at the torch with various strengths and weaknesses, and while learning to make glass beads is challenging, he's never had a student who wasn't able to learn, or, in fact, excel. His goal when working with a student is two-fold: To impart information in such a way so as to give students a strong foundation on which to build the rest of their bead making career, and to celebrate the learning process itself. Working with glass is endlessly fascinating and fun!

Whether your goal is to be a professional or hobbyist, it's not how fast you learn, but how well you learn, that makes the difference.