Adding Grayscale Images to Beads 

by Jim Kervin, West Regional Director

Everything You Need To Get Started

For those of you that I was lucky enough to trade beads with after the Gathering, this shouldn't be new. You can make decals to add grayscale images to your beads as for the Texas Star and the commemorative Gathering decal, which is on the back of the bead in the photo. I know that many of you may not be familiar with decals because you did not make model airplanes and rockets like I did when I was young, oh so long ago, but you may have seen them used. I first got this idea a few years back when reading Terrie Banhazl's booklet, Fusing Images on Glass, which explains the process for fusing.

For those of you who don't know what they are, a decal is a plastic substrate that has an image printed on it that can be moved from its paper backing to another surface with the aid of water. It is composed of four layers: a thin film top layer on whose upper face the image is printed, on its bottom is an adhesive layer, a bottom paper layer to provide strength during transport, and to its top is applied a silicone or release coating to aid in sliding off the top film.

On a water-slide decal the adhesive is water-soluble and the paper is water-resistant though permeable to water. The decal is dipped in water prior to its application. Upon contact with water, water permeates through the paper and the glue is loosened allowing the top layer after a short time to slide off the paper onto the glass; an overly long exposure, however, dissolves the glue completely causing the decal to fail to adhere to the glass.

To make my decals I use fusing photopaper. It is available as 8˝ x 11 inch sheets from a number of fusing suppliers such as, Delphi Stained Glass, Fusion Headquarters, D&L Stained Glass, etc.  

The trick to using this paper to get indelible grayscale image on your beads is that you have to print them on paper using a black and white only HP laser printer; not an ink jet printer or a black and white image from a color laser printer. The reason is the black and white HP laser printers use an iron-based ink that melts into the surface of the glass to form the tint tone like image. If you decide to get a black and white printer just for this process check ahead of time that it uses an iron based ink like my old M2727 does. Terrie's booklet lists some but many are no longer available.

If you have the right kind of printer, warm it up by printing about a half dozen regular sheets of paper. This will allow the ink to stick better without streaking. Then feed the decal paper through your alternate path feeder since it is thicker and may jam in the regular pat. Insert it so that the printer prints on the shiny side, which is shiny up. Since you print a whole sheet at a time, fill the print area with as many images as you can with your favorite software. 

Next make your basic bead to apply your decal to. I made small tabular beads for this demo but you could make something more elaborate with a blank area for the image. Anneal them back to room temperature. Leave the bead on the mandrel. Cut the decal image that you want to apply out of the sheet and stick in water. After about 30 seconds you should be able to slide the image off the backer paper and onto the bead. Wipe off any excess water and remove any air bubbles or you will get a little ring like I did on the star.  

Let it dry and stick it into a cold annealer. Bring the bead up to annealing temperature and pull it out of the kiln. I do this by grabbing the mandrel with some hemostats and slide the end opposite the bead into a deep cup of water to cool it to touch. I then gently introduce the bead into the flame. I heat the image just enough so it glows light red. At this point the carrier film is burned off and the iron melted into the surface. You can decorate the bead some more if you want but beware if you heat image area too much you risk burning the image off. When done anneal it just like any other bead,

The other photo shows anything you might need: Terrie's booklet, photo decal paper, a sheet with printed images, scissors, small container of water, bead on mandrel, and hemostats. There you go, one more technique you can add to your repertoire.

This month we would like to feature the Silicon Valley Fireflies. Visitors are welcome at any of their meetings. Just send Patty Lakinsmith an email. You can also visit their website to see what the upcoming meeting topics are. There is a signup widget to get on the mailing list for meetings. Reminders are usually sent about a week to 10 days in advance of the meetings.

If you would like to see your chapter featured on one of our upcoming issues of the Bead Release, please email Kris Schaible.

History Of The Chapter

The Silicon Valley Fireflies first gathered to discuss forming a chapter in the summer of 2012, and we became an official chapter in July of 2013. Many of our members have been and are still also members of the SGB Norcal chapter (our sister chapter), which meets on the 3rd Saturdays of each month, typically somewhere at least 50 miles away, which many found challenging. There are just over 50 on our mailing list now, and typically we have from 15-20 at our meetings, which are held on the first Wednesdays of each month. Kathleen Elliot, Sonya Paz, and Lori Peterson were the first to discuss starting the chapter, and Kathleen served as our informal president until Patty Lakinsmith took over in July of 2013. Jelveh Jaferian is our Vice President, Michelle Staedler is our Secretary, Sally Wood is our Treasurer, Sonya Paz is our Public Relations and Web Manager, and Lori Peterson is our Social Media Manager. We have a wonderful mix of hobbyists, studio owners, and professional bead makers in our midst, and we love to melt glass.  

What kind of activities you do?

The Fireflies meetings usually have some kind of topic or invited artist demo or activity. Sometimes the topics are techniques, (e.g. hollow beads), and we take turns sharing how we make certain things, and often our own members give demos. We are gifted with a very talented membership, and they are very generous with their knowledge. Sometimes we take advantage of an artist who is in town for a class in a nearby studio, and invite them to give demos at our meetings (we offer them compensation). And a couple of times we make beads for Beads of Courage. And then of course there is the raucous holiday party in December, where we have gift exchange and some kind of outrageous holiday garb contest.  

Favorite exchanges?

We've done one bead exchange, but don't regularly swap beads.

When do you meet and where?

We meet once a month on the first Wednesday of the month, from 7-9 in the evening.   Sometimes this switches to a Monday when there is an artist in town we'd like to invite for a demo. Since our meetings are on a weeknight and some of our members come directly from work, we always bring food to share. We are blessed to live near several teaching studios who allow us to meet there: Kiss My Glass studio in Santa Cruz, Graceful Customs Studio in Gilroy, and the Bay Area Glass Institute in San Jose. We also meet at local members' homes, which is lots of fun. I like to host a summer BBQ at my place in July, where we can stretch out and enjoy the wonderful Bay Area weather.  

Do you have group challenges? If so how do you select your themes?

We've done a monthly challenge in the past where members bring beads they have made in the chosen theme, and then we draw a person's name from that pool to select the theme for the next month. Past year's themes have included paintings, the ocean, robots, body parts, and spring flowers. We haven't done that one in a while but will be doing some challenges in the new year for beads inspired by scrapbook paper and also from fabric.

Would your chapter members be interested in a retreat? Or do they attend one close by?

We haven't done our own retreat before, but many of our members regularly attend Glass Stock West.

Do any members in your chapter offer demos in other media?

Not yet! But we have members who are wine makers and beer makers, and we can't wait to see those demos! But seriously, we have a number of stained glass artists as well, and I imagine they might share what they do at some point.

Does your group offer classes? How often? How do you decide which instructors to invite?

We have had workshops before, drawing from expertise both within and outside of our chapter, but we have not offered classes yet. We have invited Judie Mountain to give us a workshop on booth design (it was amazing!), and chapter member Sonya Paz gave a workshop on marketing (lots of great tips!). We are still trying to figure out how to offer classes using chapter dues in a way that would allow everyone to participate, and would focus on styles and techniques that everyone wants to learn.

How often do you elect officers?

Our current officers volunteered for their positions when the chapter started. Our bylaws state that all officers will serve for two years, beginning in the January immediately following elections. Our next elections (the first formal ones) will be held in August 2015.

Do your members pay dues? What other means of fundraising do you use?

Our annual dues are $10 per member, and an additional $5 per meeting attended. We have not used any other means to raise funds. Our operating costs include the cost of our website domain name and hosting, invited demo artists, fuels for Beads of Courage beadmaking nights at local studios, and miscellaneous supplies.