Twisties

To start, cut two to four strips of glass to roughly the same size.

Clamp the strips together.

Start to warm glass in back of the the  flame, waving the strips back and forth, (I kind  of  feel like an idiot when I am doing this)  holding them with the tips pointing up to reduce the  possibility of shocking the  glass.

It is a good idea to mash the softened  ends together to make sure the glass fuses together and  there are no air pockets.

Introduce your punty to the flame, getting  it red hot. You can use a glass  punty  for  this if you like.

Something round works best. I use an old  round file and find the threads help keep the glass  attached.

Push the rod into the hot glass and when  you have a gather, start to slowly pull,  twisting  all the time.

Keep the last inch or so of your strips in  the flame as you go.

You will end up with more than a few feet  of twisties from a few inches of strips.  Don't  worry if the stripes are not consistant . For most  purposes you will only need short pieces.

For making a  striped bead  you only need a section about this  long