🥉 Making a Tombo-dama at the Lampwork Glass Museum in Kobe, Japan

The Kobe Lampwork Glass Museum showcases lampwork beads and glass pieces from different periods and places, with a workshop area where you can make a tombo-dama — a traditional Japanese round lampwork glass bead.

I had the chance to make a professional‑looking one at their hands‑on workshop, and it ended up being an enjoyable and memorable experience.

Kei

Although the workshop area is in front of the museum entrance, first‑time visitors are required to pay the small museum admission (~A$5) and walk through the exhibition before joining a workshop.

My tombo-dama making experience

The hands‑on workshop began with choosing the colours and pattern from a display of sample beads. I went with a white glass base and a blue powder pattern, hoping to eventually turn it into a kanzashi (hair stick) or an obidome (sash ornament) to wear with a kimono.

The staff explained each step clearly, and even as a beginner it didn’t feel difficult — just a bit tricky to get it evenly round.

After preparing the blue powder pattern next to the burner, I melted the glass over the flame, wound it around the mandrel, and rolled it over the blue powder pattern I’d prepared. Then I heated it again to fuse the pattern in. The burner felt a little like stepping back into high school chemistry class.

The actual hands‑on making time was about ten minutes for a tombodama bead. After shaping it, the bead needed around 40–50 minutes to cool. (I popped out and got a conbini snack to kill the time.) When I returned, they removed the bead from the mandrel and handed it to me ready-to-touch.

Thanks to the staff’s help, my bead came out surprisingly even and polished, and it made me appreciate just how much skill goes into the more complex tombo‑dama beads I see in stores.

Getting there

The Kobe Lampwork Glass Museum is on the second floor of a building about an 8min walk from both JR Sannomiya Station and JR Motomachi Station in the heart of Kobe. If you’re coming from Osaka, it’s about a half an hour train ride.

The museum is open from 10:00 to 19:00, and the workshop runs from 10:00 to 18:00. The workshop cost about A$15 for a bead. No booking was required — I just walked in and asked at reception, but I might’ve been lucky. (Check their English webpage below.)

Lampwork bead making at Kobe Tombodama Museum was a cool experience that I get to take home with me, and it’s a 🥉(= worth stopping by) on #myrevisitlist.