Your best ever tips!

[Lush!]

Always wear an apron!  Worth its weight in ruined skirts and trousers.

and skin 

[beads-on-toast]

Thanks to Anna for this one I think - turn the valve on the your propane bottle ON as far as it will go, so that you never have any trouble working out which way is OFF. 

Cause if you ever need to turn it off in a hurry you know which way to turn.

a tool i use to swish colours around is a clear stringer, if it gets stuck i can melt it away rather than tugging at the tungsten tools which have gotten stuck before

i put mica into mini jam jar pots as it is enough for me to put the whole bead in, spin and remove, reducing spillage

[Trudi]

i put mica into mini jam jar pots as it is enough for me to put the whole bead in, spin and remove, reducing spillage

I like that  - I recently made some beads wuth mica and the mess was terrible - put me off using it again - but the beads look great. I left mine on the surface and found that it was coming off a little - so I put a very light layer of hairspray on them, and they've been great ever since!

[Trudi]

Some great tips everyone!  I have another one......

Use a riveting tool (along with a rubber washer) to remove totally stuck beads from their mandrels!

I've just bought one.....it's awesome!!

I can't quite picture this - would you be able to post a picture???

Thanks

T x

[Dee Dee]

Some great tips everyone!  I have another one......

Use a riveting tool (along with a rubber washer) to remove totally stuck beads from their mandrels!

I've just bought one.....it's awesome!!

I can't quite picture this - would you be able to post a picture???

Thanks

T x

Trudi, I'll post a pic tomorrow.  Steph x

[sublimekate]

I think Diane from Sowzere gave me this tip, it seemed so obvious once she said it, and I'd probably read it too but you know how you get in to bad habits 

Introduce the tip of your glass rods to the flame horizontally/from the side rather than end down/rod pointing up, it reduces the likelyhood of the glass shocking when you first introduce it and getting all those lovely hot splinters lodges in your chest.......'Apron'...... must get one 

[Dee Dee]

Some great tips everyone!  I have another one......

Use a riveting tool (along with a rubber washer) to remove totally stuck beads from their mandrels!

I've just bought one.....it's awesome!!

I can't quite picture this - would you be able to post a picture???

Thanks

T x

 


You definitely need to place something in between the bead and the riveter - I reckon a rubber washer would be good, but I couldn't find one, so used this plastic cupboard thingy (technical term !) instead.  And then you squeeze the handles slowly together and it pushes the bead off.

If you don't use anything to cushion the bead, there is a good chance that it will crack the glass, there is always the chance that the glass may crack anyway, so I reckon this would be the one to use before a hammer!

The "nut" type thing in the end comes in various sizes, so make sure you get one that fits your mandrel!  I have used this to get 3 long tube beads off - 1 cracked (but I didn't put anything between it and the riveter) and the other two came off easily with no damage.

[Lush!]

Brilliant Steph!

[Trudi]

ingenious!

[TiaraHelen]

Great tip with the riveter - I have to add the Cillit Bang (lime and grime) tip that redhotsal gave recently, a couple of squirts in the mandrel soaking water has never failed me yet.

[♥♥Tan♥♥]

Use the bad beads to push the boundaries. This has dawned on me slowly over time, I used to ditch them in frustration because they weren't what I wanted them to be but discovered that every bead can teach me something new. Play with it and see what you can turn it into.

[Steampunkglass]

Always wear an apron!  Worth its weight in ruined skirts and trousers.

When I read this yesterday I thought didn't apply to me as I wear old worn old clothes, but last night dropped a hot bead into my lap where after a small puff of smoke and flare of flame it burnt through my shirt and was on it's way through my trousers before I lept up!

Time to invest in a leather apron!

[Pegasus]

I can vouch for the leather apron, I've got one and It's saved me a few times!!

Also as my imagination is quite naff, I have a digital picture frame with pics of beads on  that I watch as I torch, to help give me some inspiration! It flicks through each pic just like a slide show on a PC. FAB!

XXX

[squirsygirl]

Always make sure the lid is tightly screwed on your bead release before shaking it.

Kirsty

[theflyingbedstead]

When using a blow-pipe mandrel, I use Blu-Tack to seal the end of the pipe after I'm happy with the hollow size.