Hi all, am a newbie to beadmaking but very keen. I've got my hothead and bulk propane and have even successfully made a few beads.
Been watching You Tube and just wondered why some people make their base beads as discs and others glop on a huge amount and round that off?
I've been taught to use the disc method, but I struggle on my own to have a thin footprint for the disc. I always seem to glop on too much right at the first contact with the mandrel and my beads are a bit lopsided. Even with half an hour of trying to round them out, they still aren't right ???
So...eventually, my question is...how do you make yours?
If we're talking about a basic round bead or donut shape, I really don't find it makes any difference whether you start with a narrow disc or apply a larger gather straight onto the mandrel.
The important factors are: only touch the mandrel once so your footprint is narrow to give neat ends, keep your mandrel horizontal, when shaping the bead turn the mandrel backwards and forwards, don't turn too fast, and make sure there's enough heat in the bead so that the glass can actually move around the mandrel and become round.
Oh, and when you apply to the glass to the mandrel, hold the rod perpendicular to the mandrel so you apply from the tip rather than the side, like writing on a blackboard.
I do find in the studio that beginners find it easier to round off a wheel rather than a 'gloop', mainly because the 'gloop' tends to lead to an uneven foorprint to start with - but essentially, I'd say just do whichever works for you :)
Thanks ladies! ;D
Yeah Julie, it's a donut bead I have problems with. I think I'm getting better - just a case of PPP ::) They're still lopsided though, no matter how much time I spend melting and rotating the mandrel soooo slowly. I think I'll stick with it ;)
Are you turning the mandrel in one direction? If so, turn backwards and forwards, "shuffle" the glass into place.
Very good tip Julie, but also don't forget you can always add a little glass to wherever a bead needs it (providing you haven't decorated it already of course!) ;)
Hi, being a relative newbie myself (1 year with hh and propane) I had exactly the same problem like you, for a what seems a loong time...(there are no classes I can go to where I live). My advice is to pull the end of your glass rod thin, down to 2-3 mm, and use this to make the first rounds of your bead. Let each layer set outside the flame before you make the next. Gradually you can use the thicker rod.
One of the reasons for the problem I had was that I was working the glass a bit too hot - the gather was droopy, and I forgot to keep the mandrel/bead just out of the flame, not in the flame. It should not be glowing, and this is a bit tricky with the HH, as the flame is warming up a bigger area. You need to practice a lot, and pay attention to the glow colour of the glass. The mandrel/bead should be as close as possible to your flame without glowing, and the the rod should glow, but not melt into a gather when making this particular bead.
When you have added the glass you want, take the bead to the hotspot of the flame, rotate it slowly and watch it melt. make sure you keep the mandrel horisontal, and be patient! if you go slowly and steady, the gravity will round your bead for you without any manual shaping.
It does take a slow, smooth, steady roll of the mandrel - so practice, practice, practice!
Best of luck,
Kathe, Denmark
Ahh, I only roll away from myself Julie - I'll try the rocking.
SilverGems, I've been trying to add glass when I realise how wonky it is, but always seem to add a little to the right place and a lot to the wrong place, lol!
Kathe, it does sounds like I'm working it too hot - I always get it glowing. I have found it difficult to position my mandrel below the flame. I think a mirror might be the answer to my positioning problem.
Thanks for the advice ladies ;D
I found it easier to control by moving the torch a little, so it doesn't point straight ahead of you, place it in a slight angle so it points to the left. This way you hardly need to move your head to see the situation sideways, and that helps learning to find the right place under the flame, and at the same time you can see from above that you place the rods/stringer in the appropriate angle to your bead. You don't need to keep it this way, just till you learned where the workspace beneath the flame is.
Kathe, Denmark