The Indiana Society of Lampwork & Art Glass Artists (ISLAGA) was formed as an organization dedicated to being educationally informative and supportive to any artist who has an interest in glass art in any form. Additionally, it is within our goal to help widen public awareness about glass art and increase appreciation of it.

Membership in ISLAGA is open to all. Current members include glass artists working in a variety of glass media, including stained glass, lampworking, fusing/slumping and even precious metal clay (PMC).

The group is governed by an elected board of directors. ISLAGA is funded solely through membership dues, fundraising events, and donations; 100% of membership dues are used to support the organization.

Each year, ISLAGA seeks to:

• Provide regular meetings to support networking, idea exchange and technical demonstrations
• Sponsor two or more group sales events
• Sponsor two or more educational opportunities with nationally well known instructors, giving members first option for participation

ISLAGA is a proud group member of the Indiana Bead Society

ISLAGA is a proud chapter of the International Society of Glass Beads

Have you heard the term lampworking but have no idea what it is? The art of lampworking got it's name from the lamps the earliest artists used for the heat source to melt the glass. Today, most artisans use a mix of propane and oxygen gasses. However, the art of making small glass objects and beads continues to be called lampworking.

Glassmaking used to be a very guarded secret. Those who knew it passed it on only to their sons, but rarely to anyone else. In some cultures, owning glass was once reserved for royalty. In other cultures, it was a status symbol.

Today, glass is everywhere. It's in our windows, it's items such as drinking glasses, mirror, etc. We often take glass for granted. People of the past would be amazed by the abundance of what was once such an honored and rare medium.

Glass can be worked in many ways. Lampworking is just one of the techniques used to manipulate glass. You can also mold it, fuse it together, "slump" it over a mold in a kiln, or blow it into different shapes.

Few companies make the glass that most artists use. The most common glass used for lampworking is a colorful soft glass from Murano, Italy. However, any glass from window "float" glass to wine bottles can be melted down and wound onto a mandrel to make a bead.

The following instructions are the basics for creating a lampwork bead.

WARNING: Please read the ISLAGA Disclaimer and Safety Information before attempting to make your own beads!

1. Light the torch and place a rod (usually 5-6 mm diameter) of glass into the flame to get the tip molten (hot & liquid).


2. Wind the molten glass around a stainless steel rod known as a mandrel coated with "bead release" solution. (The mandrel is what actually creates the hole in the bead.)


3. As the glass melts, work the mandrel by turning it and allowing gravity to shape the bead.


4. If you prefer a shape other than round, there are tools available that push, pull, drag, mold, etc. the glass into just about any shape you can think of.


5. As you heat and shape your bead, you will be adding stress to the glass and it requires annealing in a kiln to prevent cracking. It is held at the temperature of 968 degrees Fahrenheit for close to an hour then the temperature is slowly reduced to 700 degrees and finally turned off to cool naturally. (Other types of glass anneal at different rates and temperatures.)