Valuable Glass Bead Making Tips and Tricks from Arrow Springs

Are you a glass bead maker? Do you feel like you need more information about glass bead making? Have you been to Arrow Springs web site? If you have then you know that they provide a lot of valuable information for the new bead maker as well as those with experience. Besides that they have one of the greatest selection of tools and materials for all types of glass work.

I was teaching a glass bead making class recently and wanted to provide my students with more information. Information they could use to start setting up their studio or expand the knowledge they already have. Things like coating mandrels properly with bead release and the types or bead release they offer or hooking up your regulators once you get them home. There’s a page on how to make your own frit. I love using frit. Or using pixie dust, that’s different from fairy dust but just as magical. They even give you the information on how to test if the glass you have is compatible. Glass compatibility is so important so this is great information to have. You can download the pdf or just print the pages straight out from their site. This stuff is so helpful for making your bead making experience that much better.

As if Diwali weren’t colorful and fun enough, The Festival of Lights: A Lift-the-flap Diwali Celebration by Namita Moolani Mehra, illustrated by Darshika Varm, makes it even more fun to read about with flaps and things to lift and pull to see more information or details in the illustrations.

The book is a story about a family getting ready for Diwali and what happens on the different days of the five-day celebration. There’s cleaning, shopping, crafting, food preparation and getting the home altar ready for the big day.

It covers decorating the outside of the house with rangoli, diyas and lanterns, buying sweets to share with family and friends, the sights and scents of the mandir (home temple), getting dressed up in new fancy clothes, the story of Diwali and celebrations with relatives.

Flaps (there are more than 140 in all) give you vocabulary words for different foods and definitions, as well as fun things like what’s inside the shopping basket or where the cat is hanging out. They also help illuminate the story of Diwali, which is the triumph of good over evil as Lord Ram defeated the demon Ravana to save his wife, Sita.

This pretty and colorful book helps kids understand what Diwali is and how it is celebrated, regardless of whether they practice it at home. This would be a nice book to keep in a classroom (it’s rated for kids ages 3-7) or to have at home to teach kids about Diwali even if it’s not something you celebrate. Where I live there are a lot of people from India so we are probably exposed to Diwali more than some other regions of America, but it’s a nice holiday to know about wherever you live.

Combine with the book Diwali and check out some fun lantern crafts and printables for kids to round out your experience.

About the book: 24 pages, hardcover, published 2025 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail prices $22.99.

Have you read?