why are my beads lopsided?

[meadowesky]

Most of the time when I go to lay my footprint bead it will come out wider on one side than the other. I try to work it in the flame to fix it and it doesnt. So I have to add more to the thinner side. I guess to be clearer I mean the width as from hole to hole not the diameter.

I have tried laying my glass on differently, pausing in on the thinner side with my glass, Holding my mandrel differently and I can not solve this. So i have to lay my footprint, smooth it out, add some glass to the side, smooth it out... You get the point.

Anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions? Thanks

[rosiescreations]

Just hold the mandrel straight________________________
Heat the bead and turn the mandrel slow It should even up.
Remember gravity is your friend.
Good luck

[Cosmo]

One trick that I have found that works is to heat it up pretty hot, then rotate about ¼ turn, pause, rotate ¼ turn, pause, etc. Keep doing that and it will usually become of uniform roundness.

[BeadMaven]

I have the same thing happen once in a while.
Try this:
Where the footprint is narrower than the rest of the bead, flatten that part on your marver just a bit and then heat and reshape. That will widen the footprint in that area and make a uniform footprint all they way around.
HTH

[Solana]

I'll get this problem if I start with too wide a footprint around the mandrel. As such, I just let a tiny tip of my rod touch the mandrel and then pull the rod back a little to form a thin amount of glass to wrap around the mandrel. I wrap the "thin" glass around mandrel a couple of times, which will create a disc shape. Once I start heating the disc shape, the bead will condense and leave an even footprint. The longer you heat the bead, the wider it will get. :)

[Heather/Ericaceae]

Check out Jim Smircich's article on winding footprints:

http://www.smircich.com/html/round_bead.html

His secret is to only heat the very tip of the rod as you're winding (ie, not create a big squishy ball, just a hot liquid tip) and, most importantly, start spinning the mandrel before you touch the glass to it, so that the glass touches a spinning mandrel. He explains it best in his article, and his pictures really help, too.

-Heather

[meadowesky]

I will try it all! I do heat a big ol glob of my rod. Thanks!!!

[Karen Hardy]

Well it's obvious. You have to move your studio.

[Lisi]

Well it's obvious. You have to move your studio.

*snicker*

Anyway, lol, definitely hold the mandrel straight. Start with a small footprint bead, turn slowly and even that out. After you have done that, you will be able to add more glass to the "equator" of the bead, get it hot, and keep turning in either direction til it evenly rounds out. :)

[Dale M.]

Two things are either your friend or your enemy... One is gravity, the other is fluid dynamics....

Gravity will pull glass towards earth (down) if you do not rotate mandrel fast enough to allow any given surface of bead same exposure to gravity it will sag and be lopsided...

Fluid dynamics is any liquid in free space wants to form a perfrct circle.... IF your bead is not hot enough, it is not fluid (liquid) enough to form the perfect circle...

Ignore the two and you suffer, use the two and you will eventually find success...

Dale

[meadowesky]

hahaha! I think my studio location might be the problem. LOL Thanks to everyone who responded!