New Vertebrae/Shell beads

I just received an email from my sister telling me (read scolding here) that it had been 10 days since my last post.  I must confess that I am finding it hard to come up with things to blog about.  Anyway, I quickly ran downstairs and took a picture of my latest Vertebrae/Shell beads - they're not even cleaned yet. 

This is a really fun technique where you start with a very small core of white (or any other opaque colour) and spiral wrap the white with a transparent glass, makng sure you leave gaps of white in between.  Then you melt the transparent down, encase, press and decorate.  As the transparent melts down, the white core squeezes through the gaps that you have left when you did the winding, making the vertebrae or shell like effect.
 
I hope you enjoyed your mini lampwork lesson!