Tidying up my ends.....

[Dee Dee]

I made these beads, my first beads with Ekho that turned out a nice colour - yay!




However, the ends are very untidy - how do I avoid this.....?

[Jolene]

Hi Dee Dee,

Gorgeous colours You could work as normal, then heat one side of your bead, up end the mandrel so the hot end faces directly down and let the glass droop a little and form a pucker. Let it cool then do the same for the other side.

hope this helps, Jo x

[Shirley]

They are very pretty.

When I encase I use the sharpest pokey tool that I've got to 'tuck in' the clear glass near the holes. The trick is to have the clear just hot enough that you can move the surface but not disturb the coloured glass beneath. I sometimes need to put a wrap of glass at either end to do this, depending on how thick the encasing is. You then melt in and do your final shaping as normal, and as Jo says, if you then need to create a pucker you can tip the bead. This way I find I trap all the encased glass and it doesn't seep out at the ends.

[Les]

I usually wrap a 'tyre' of glass around each hole and melt in slowly

[Dee Dee]

Thanks everyone, I will try harder today......!

[sublimekate]

Mega gorgeous beads Dee Dee!!

Oh I do love ekho {{swoon}}

I do an extra wrap of clear at each end too, I point the end I'm working on directly at the flame so the heat pulls the clear towards it. A pokey proddy tool to ease it down  really helps especially if I've used a leaky/bleady base colourlike white or ivory.

Kate xx

[julieHB]

Have no advise, just wanted to say how gorgeous your beads are 

[Dee Dee]

Aw thanks Julie - it's the first time Ehko's played nice for me!!

& thanks Kate - you are the mistress of round silver glass beads!