Lampwork glass is made using a hot, localized heat source like a blow torch rather than a furnace to melt the glass, and this process enables addition of fine detail to a glass bead. Beads are created by heating glass rods in a flame and wrapping the soft, molten glass around a mandrel. Additional layers and detail may be added. Glass beads are finished by annealing them; this means the glass is heated and held above its stress-relief point to ensure it would not crack or shatter under different thermal conditions.

The two most common types of glass for lampworking are "soft" soda-lime or lead glass and "hard" borosilicate glass. Borosilicate glass has a higher melting temperature but it has more forgiving thermal properties (less expansion or contraction when heating or cooling), making it an increasingly popular choice as more colors become available.

One of my favorite vendors for lampwork glass, Unicorne Beads, uses dichroic glass in its jewelry creations. Dichroic glass used multiple thin layers of metal oxides, fired to shimmering perfection in high temperature kilns, to create vibrant, colorful pieces whose color can appear to change with viewing angle.

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