I made this huge, hollow glass bead a long time ago. The diameter is about 2.5 inches, and I made it on a hothead torch. I wrapped molten glass around a core of kiln- washed extra fine steel wool, decorated it with more glass, and after cooling I removed the steel threads from the interior with tweezers.

Yesterday I realized that I could get this thick felted cord through 
the hole of the bead, and the color matched perfectly!

I made these glass beads and then earrings at Haystack, 
and the glass necklace was also made recently.

Some new glass beads I made in the class I recently took 

at Haystack with Kristina Logan!