balancing a lentil?

[jammie]

I am sooo nearly there with my lentils but now though my ends are much better and my shapes are better and I am no longer sticking, I have made 4 lentils and they all have more glass on one side than the other, just a little bit  but one side always is looking rounder than the other....before i go off and try again  could someone please help me with what I'm doing wrong.... is it not balancing the bead before i do the pressing shaping, or is it not quite enough glass to balance it up, or both things or anything else. 

[turnedlight]

I rarely get a balance on the first pressing, but I just add a bit to the side which is lacking, heat and press again.

modified to say - that's not exactly true - I mean to say I rarely get a perfect balance that I'm happy to leave, and usually press each lentil several times, but it's usually fairly close - before pressing I have a rugby ball shape and try and make sure it's evenly balanced when turning the mandrel -hope that makes sense.

[Kaz]

Before pressing at all put the bead in the press one way allowing the glass to settle into the bottom of the press and then turn over and press the other way. If the bead is still not balanced, then reheat and press the other way round before adding more glass.
HTH
Kazx

[jammie]

I had been following Julies advice of laying it in the press before pressing with the top, but laying it once turning it over  and then pressing with the top. do you mean I should lay it in, turn it over turn it over again and then press with the lid, or add the more glass if it neds it then press with the lid?
can I just add abit to the side which needs it or should I add glass to the middle only?

[Lush!]

Yes, you can just add glass to where you need it.

I tend to start with a rounded bead, lay it in the press and push down, like Kaz said, turn it over and push down again.  As long as your glass is hot enough (and at the same time, cool enough!) at this stage, you can manipulate it a little by moving your mandrel slightly to get it centred.  Now you should be able to see where you need more glass - either all over because its a little smaller than the press, in which case wrap more glass evenly round the middle; or just on one side, so just add the glass there - its much easier to practice this with transparent glass so you don't get any 'seam-lines'.

And like the others say, expect to lay it down and adjust a few times before pressing with the lid, and even after pressing with the lid, you may need to reheat and repress more times too.

[jammie]

Thanks all. I will go  and try again. It was funny how the last 4 looked exactly the same so I must be short of glass by the same amount....... now if I could get the right amount of glass and do that again that would be fun! 

[Kalorlo]

You also might want to be careful that you're pressing straight down. I know I sometimes press lopsidedly so one side goes down before the other, and that can squish the glass off-centre so one half ends up with more glass. (Particularly if you've over-filled the press  )

[Trudi]

Thanks all. I will go  and try again. It was funny how the last 4 looked exactly the same so I must be short of glass by the same amount....... now if I could get the right amount of glass and do that again that would be fun! 

could be the angle you're looking at it the glass in the press if you know what I mean. Also hold it up and have a good look!

You can still use your lopsided ones - they'll be like unflippable ones if you string them on a necklace with the hole running horizontally!