It's been a busy week and I've been in the studio making beads. Mostly, though, I have been "practicing" my encasing technique so that I can give a good demo to my friends at GlassAct on Sunday. Oh, the pressure! I do make a lot of encased beads but I am by no means a master of all of the possible techniques. Those of us who make glass beads are challenged by many of the technical requirements for creating our art beads and encasement is one of those challenges. Casing or encasing a glass bead means that a layer (or several layers) of transparent glass is placed over a base bead such as the one shown here. The transparent layer magnifies whatever is beneath. Some brands of glass are better for encasing than others. All of us try to avoid the dreaded scum, unwanted bubbles, smearing, cracking, and wicking. Everytime a layer of glass is applied, one can smear it, crack it, or get it just right. The answer to the old joke--"How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" Practice, practice, practice--is not just true for musicians for for bead artists as well!