A bit about lampworking... Lampworking is a hot glass technique where glass rods are slowly melted in a flame (usually a propane and oxygen mix). The glass is shaped and manipulated using tools, gravity, centrifugal forces, and temperature control. Once a piece has been made, it is annealed in a kiln overnight to 'de-stress' the glass which stops it from cracking.
Beads are made around a metal rod called a 'mandrel' which has been dipped in a ceramic slip called 'bead release'. The bead release stops the glass from sticking to the mandrel. The mandrel is what creates the hole in the bead, and once the bead has been annealed, the hole is cleaned out using a diamond coated file.
This is how I make all my glass beads and smaller pieces.
A bit about glass blowing... Molten glass is kept in a furnace at around 1100°C (so it gets
pretty hot in the studio!) The glass is gathered onto the end of a hollow blowing iron, and then shaped with wet newspaper while sitting in the glass blowers bench.
A bubble of air is introduced to the glass by blowing down the pipe, and trapping in the air by putting your thumb over the end of the iron. The heat from the glass causes the air to expand, so the bubble gets bigger.
*Please note that at present it is not possible for me to take any commissions for pieces using glass blowing. 
The glass is shaped further using the damp newspaper, various tools, the mavering table, gravity, centrifugal forces, and temperature control. A heating chamber called the 'glory hole' is used to put more heat back into the glass. When the shape is ready, the piece is then transferred onto a solid 'punty iron' so that the other end of the piece can be heated and worked on. Once the piece is finished, it is chipped off the punty iron and annealed overnight to 'de-stress' the glass and stop it from cracking. The piece can be ground and polished when it is cold to get rid of any marks the punty iron has left behind.