Laurie begins with 0000 steel wool, tearing it into 1" strips

She uses about 4-6 strips of wool for each vessel, laying them on in layers

Laurie feels that roughing up the mandrel surface helps the steel wool 'stick' when beginning the first layer

The length of wrapped mandrel should extend beyond the desired vessel length

Here's a mandrel wrapped and ready for dipping in bead release.

Laurie makes the release a bit more watery than normal to allow the release to seep into the crevices of the steel wool. She allows it to dry several days before dipping a 2nd and 3rd, and even a 4th time.

Mandrels dipped and ready for the next step

The bead release is sanded with a fine grade of sandpaper to smooth the surface and complete shaping

After sanding and shaping are complete, the mandrel is wiped down with a damp sponge to remove all bead release dust

Laurie is now adding the first part of the glass to make the vessel base. She does this in stages to help keep areas warm

Heating the next layers of glass to smooth them in and give shape to the exterior of the vessel

Laurie used stringer to add stripes, and feathers it into a pattern using another stringer

The completed base vessel with feathering

Handles are added one at a time

The handle is heated for additional shaping with a graphite pick (on right side of photo)

Using the graphite pick to shape the hole in the handle

Here's the finished vessel with handles, being heated one last time prior to going into the kiln

Laurie cleans the vessel with long tweezers and a long hook to grab the bead release and steel wool

Laurie says that the vessels she makes often get so heavy, she uses a counterweight of washers to help relieve the stress on her hands

Some of Laurie's handiwork, ready to be cleaned

Examples of Laurie's gorgeous vessels