We were fortunate to host master lampworker Larry Scott for a 2 day class and a day of demonstration in 2004.  Without a doubt, Larry is a genius at dots, and wow'ed the class, and the group with his mastery of perfect placement. 

He was most gracious in providing a wealth of information to everyone, from how to clean the glass with pickling to using various glass colors to get the best results possible.  Everyone learned something new, and had fun in the process.

The 2 day class had 8 students, and while they didn't make a whole lot of beads themselves, they were treated to an in-depth look at how Larry makes his colors sing, his dots glow, and finally, how to unlock the mysteries of Kugler reduction glass for making shiny metallic dots.  He created his signature Byzantine bead, showed the steps involved in his famous window beads, and presented the process of 'carving' into beads, to reproduce his 'pinking-shear' bead.  He also instructed students on creating latticino, pulling stringer, and laying stringer down consistently.

The day-long demonstration was a mini-version of class, covering much of the same information for the entire group.  In both cases, all beads he created for demonstration purposes were raffled off. He also brought a large selection of beads for sale--so no one who wanted a bead left without one!

To see pictures of the class and demonstration, as well as the group having social time with Larry at dinners each evening, and at a potluck lunch the day of the demonstration, click here.(Webmaster note-the pictures of the class, demo and lunch will be archived as of 4/1/04...)Tips Gleaned from the Bead Master:Robin Foster was fascinated that he lightly strikes the Kugler 218 (reduction frit) first and THEN reduces it to give it that wonderful gold metallic finish. It was also handy to find out that C & R Loo has a Moretti compatible black cullet that can be pulled into stringer almost as intense a black color as intense black, without the instabilities of the intense black Moretti.Tracy Baginski sent along the following list of pearls:

1. Wash the glass rods in pickle to remove the metal debris.  Dilute the pickle to 1/3 strength with water, and put in an old crock pot on high.  Put glass in for 5 minutes, turn over to get the other ends.  Rinse well in water/bicarbonate mixture to neutralize.  (His Moretti clear looks as good as Lauscha!). Any glass rods you have that pop, anneal them by putting them in the kiln (or your annealer) and ramp up to 940, let soak and ramp back down.  You can order Kugler Iris Gold #218 (used to form the metallic looking dots on Larry's famous Bead and Button anniversary bead) from C.R. Loo. Black cullet works as good as Moretti intense black and is CHEAP! Use Pyrex rods to pull stringer (6mm) and as a punty (8mm) If you re-fill your propane tank, the oily mixture that imparts the lovely aroma builds up in the bottom of your tank, and eventually soils your beads.  Every so often connect the tank to your barbeque and burn off the residue! Larry likes to use 9" mandrels so that he can hold them straight up and down and apply dots close to the hole/pucker.  If they are longer he can't keep the bead in the flame.
2. He uses a graphite bead shaper to shape his round beads.

Lynn Gustafson writes:Probably for me the most interesting things I got from the class were the cane pulling, glass cleaning, and watching Larry make a round bead with the bead/marble mold. Using pickle diluted to 1/3 strength to clean glass rods is a great idea.

Larry is a great instructor. The class moved at a good pace for all involved, I know I was never bored, the information provided was just enough to spark a fire (no pun intended) and make my head hurt. It is always great to leave a class with a head full of ideas and how I can apply them to my own work.

The most valuable things for me was to see how Larry uses the tools of the trade and how he arranges his work area. It is always great to see how other bead workers create.

The class aside, it was great to get to know some of the ASGB members better. I have been in classes with Robin and Tracy before but it was great to interact with some of the other members. All in all the class gets a 10 on my score card. Can’t wait till we do it again.

Marty Beck explained that the Larry Scott workshop was wonderful! "We learned some great tips and sound advise on stringer, dots, cane etc. We learned things about out torches ( that I thought I knew) and so many good fundamentals that we can apply to what ever style of bead making we do. You can learn so much from a good demo, and they were great!"