I've always said that lampworkers all cook with the same ingredients, but have different recipes.
I became inspired to make cabochons a few months back when fellow lampworker Stacy Hilton Glaze fell hopelessly into the cab abyss.

Back in 2004 I took a silversmithing class - and set my first few cabs... they are tiny.

The challenge for me involves working in a totally different way - as instead of wrapping around a bead, it's rotated 90 degrees - and the design is built on the end. Your work faces you - straight on! Just imagine how much heat a red hot disk 1 1/2"dia can give off.

After a few years of making cabs at the end of glass rods, nipping them off, then grinding them - I bought some cabochon mandrels from Zooziis - as it seemed easier to get uniformly larger cabs - and it IS.

My work is evolving, and it's fun to see which of my favorite designs can easily translate to this form of 'bead'... just know that I am having fun! (yes, we crested 100 degrees here yesterday!)

smiles,
Jill