Encouraged by the flame off I've decided to make BIG beads and to decorate them I'd like to do BIG dots. The beads I can do but the dots are not so good. It may be due to my lack of patience. I tend to add a big dollop of glass that takes ages to melt down. Should I just be patient or would adding little and often to the one spot expand out to cover a larger area?
Use a marver or flat tool to gently press the dot down after heating. That way you will get it to stay where you want it and it will melt down more quickly. If you don't have great heat control and you start giving the dots too much heat on the bead, they are likely to distort.
Kazx
That is a great tip from Kaz...it really is patience and obviously a lot depends on your torch but in my experience you cannot rush big beads, particularly if you want a complex dot design as Kaz has said if you heat to quickly everything will distort. I used to be really impatient and work far to hot but I have learnt to slow down and the success rate increased hugely as a result and all my beads are big......So it really is patience and practice I would also add that if you are adding glass to a dot to make it bigger the positioning is crucial if you don't put your second dot dead centre of the original it will distort....good luck no short cuts on this one but it is worth the melting wait if you want a crisp clean design
I saw a demo once where the rod tip was melted then flattened on a marver then the flat bit was placed on the bead. I have not tried but now that you have jogged my memory I will.
Not sure if it would it give nice big fat dots or not, has anyone tried this?
Looks like I'll have to learn to be patient then :-\ Not easy :D