Have you ever received a greeting card that just made you smile? The whimsical winter nature of this one as well as it being 3-D, just makes me happy. And after thinking for just a minute, I decided to try to make the penguins into lampwork glass focal beads.

I knew it would take some work. There are three distinct shapes stacked on top of each other and I couldn’t let them lose their individuality. Should I start with a really long barrel, so I know that they will be really strongly connected, or do it another way? I decided to work this bead the same way I usually work most of my sculptural beads. From the bottom to the top and save the small or fragile details until the very end.

So the first little guy was formed and his white tummy section was added. Then directly on the top of his head, I built the second one and then the third. Each time I was at a “head to penguin buns” connection, I would be sure to give it an extra shot of heat to be sure it was melted well together, but not too much, or it would lose it’s penguinly round shape.

I added the wings, tails, then the feet and then the faces. The top penguin’s ear muffs were the last details, as the head band part is just floating out there, and only anchored on each end. Kind of like an arm on a vessel.

The entire bead is quite delicate in person. It’s not even 2″ long and rather slim in proportion. Half of the fun of making it was that it was a heat control challenge and something totally new from what I’ve done before. Have you saved a card for this very same reason? Well, I’d love to hear from you and what you created from your inspiration.

Marcy Lamberson, (Studio Marcy), is a lampwork glass artisan and teacher in Atlanta, GA, whose daughter is currently working in Antarctica, so she’s currently fascinated with penguins and other southern most wildlife.