How do you get your hollow walls thinner

[pierces*designs]

I haven't done hollows in awhile, but I want to make a few. My struggle is with getting the walls thin.

I use the Build a disk on the right side, then build a disk on the left. Then heat and use a tool to get the sides to touch all the way around.
Once in awhile I get a decent thin wall, but usually I end up with a small hollow area and a bunch of thick glass walls.

Suggestions?

[dogmaw]

I don't know if it would help, but I tend to build both walls at the same time. I also found that (for me) flattening the walls resulted in breaking them. :( What I do is make some straight up walls, then start building them curving in toward each other. Start with a smallish gap between your walls, build them tall and thin, and they should give you a nice air bubble.

WARNING: these results work only for me, and might give you a nasty glob of glass. :)

[amberbryant1]

I am new. I had never seen a hollow bead until last year at the gathering. I was amazed! I stumbled upon a husband and wife that made a special mandrel. They call it a puffy mandrel. It is hollow on the inside and has a tiny hole in it. You build your bead around the hole and then puff a tenny tinny little bit of air in it and it is so awesome! Her website is
http://www.jeribeads.com
I am able to make hollows that are somewhat even. I'm sure someone with more practice could do a better job.
Amber

[Heather/Ericaceae]

I've just started being able to make good hollows (tried it again after a long break and lo and behold, I can do it!). My walls are fairly thin, but thicker around the holes. I remembered one trick from an old thread (don't remember who came up with it originally - Tink, maybe?):

Get your two disks mostly touching but leave one tiny little "mouth". Cover the seam with a wrap of hot glass but don't cover the "mouth". The take the proto-hollow out of the flame for a second while you heat a tiny gather on your rod. Blow cool air into the "mouth" in the hollow (don't touch your lips to it, though!!! :-# ) then IMMEDIATELY seal up the hole with your hot little gather. Now put the hollow into the flame to melt it. It *should* puff up more because the cooler air you blew in would expand as it heats up. I find this helps me a lot!

For me the hard part is getting good ends. I started just winding thin disks, making a hollow and then drooping each end one at a time to make nice external dimples - but they're pretty pointy on the inside! The other day I tried making little black spacers with nice holes and building my disks on them, but it was hard to keep them warm but not melted and they broke off a bunch of times. I did manage a tiny hollow eventually, but then I had a blowout. The ends were good, though, inside and out!! I imagine I'll get it with practice. :)

One more thing (not a tip for Debbie 'cause she already does it but maybe helpful for someone reading this) - I also start with the right disk and then do the left disk. This is 'cause I hold my mandrel in my left hand so the right disk is further toward the end of the mandrel. If I make that one first, then I can angle my mandrel when I'm making my left disk so that the right disk gets kissed by the leftover flame, just enough to stay hot but not droop. I would never be able to do it the other way around! I still crack the disk sometimes but not as often or as badly.

-H.

[pam]

Hi Debbie, Actually to get thin walls use less glass in the wraps. Some people use stringer, but I just use the regular rod.

[Peg Medill]

Was it you Pam that said to make your discs working toward each other and as they got close together join them with a band of glass every so often to keep them from letting the glass pull away and get thicker at the ends? Then close the gap. I haven't tried it that way, but will soon. I always make the two discs and after I get them closed I take a quick roll around the closed gap, flattening it a little and I then can easily see any open gaps which I then close before I round up the hollow bead. Peg M

[Kevan]

Stringer.

[pam]

yeah, Peg, that's the way I do it. You can make thin sides, then as the glass is worked closer and closer toward the center, I place three or four bridges to hold the work together and transfer the heat from side to side. Then I fill in the gaps between the bridges with somewhat thicker glass. AFter checking for holes, I heat the apex of the bead first until it is smoothe. Gravity naturally takes the excess glass down towards the mandrel, so the center normally thins some as you heat the bead. With the thicker center though it thins out some, but I find it leaves you with a pretty even wall thickness all the way to the mandrel. At least it works for me. There are a thousand stories in the ...........wait, there are a thousand ways to make hollows, this is just the one that works for me.

[Heather/Ericaceae]

Pam - Thank you for that cool technique! I can't wait to run home and try it. Figuring out how to do hollows *at all* had opened up some exciting new possibilities for me but I have a ways to go towards consistency and efficiency (and exploring all the fun ways to decorate 'em)! I can see how your suggestion will really really help me! You're awesome, Pam!!! I'd like to rate this thread 'cause that tip is new for me and everyone else's tips are really handy, too!

-Heather

[adovbs]

I also smash the disks a bit with tweezer mashers to thin them and even them out as I build. Dunno if anyone's mentioned that trick yet - got it from Spotlight on Hollows.

[Heather/Ericaceae]

A question - does it matter if the hollow holes are non-dimpled on the inside? I was thinking about it and the string would always be going through fairly straight on the inside, unlike the outside where it curves up and does rub more against the edges of the holes... Do people worry about this? Is it common to build on spacers? Thanks! -H.

[Jeri]

Heather - I always build my hollows on spacer beads, I like the puckers it gives to the holes, if I don't overheat the sides in the rounding process, I don't lose the nice holes. I use the puffy mandrel to blow my hollows, which also helps the situation with shocky walls. Thanks for the kind words, Amber. You don't have to keep the walls that thin, because when you puff up the hollow the walls thin out. It is still important to strive for consistent width of the walls, so you don't have one ultra thin or ultra thick spot. I agree with what Pam said, there are a ton of ways to have successful hollows. Jeri

[NLC Beads]

I use stringer or thin rods to build them, then as I start joining the middle, I use a pick to push out the walls some so it will hold more air... Seems to work ok. Build with 2 little beads first, then go back and forth building discs, flinching when I-know- I didn't keep one side heated enough and it throws a part of the disc off to remind me. :)

[LaurieBSmith]

My normal method for making hollows is very similar to Pam's. But, once in a blue moon, I build the hollow bead over a slender tube bead.

Using an intense transparent color, begin by making a two tiny spacers and then close the gap on the mandrel between them. You want to end up with a bead that looks a bit like a tiny barbell. Firepolish this bead, just like you were through with it. Then, with another transparent or clear, form your hollow shell on the shoulders of the barbell. Use your own favorite techinque or try Pam's.

I have no pictures because I hate taking pictures, but this usually gives you a beautiful hollow with a dramatic color effect. (I haven't done this in a while, and I'm now fired up to make a couple!) Oh, and I'm sure you could use an opaque color, I just never think of that. Personal preference!

[A_Glass_Bash]

I was reading this and thinking that you could make a really interesting bead underneath as Laurie did. Then putting the clear on top would make a interesting three D effect. Hmmm. I hope that one day I get the chance to do one. :) Thanks for the ideas..

[chrisdd]

Here's a HUGE one I made quite a while ago. It's wonky as hell, but gives you an idea of what a hollow looks like with a tube in the middle.

[A_Glass_Bash]

WOO HOO! That's too cool! You all have me wishing I had some gas to go try it.. LOL Though I haven't gotten my hollow bead down yet.. LOL

[Dacia]

Debbie,

One of your replies mentions flattening the walls with a tool (as seen in a Spotlight). I've tried this (I think it's a stamp lifting tool??) anyway, it has small flat paddles, and the trick is to bend them--carefully into a curved shape. This helps to flatten and to shape the walls of your bead.

Dacia

[Coffeebean]

Hollow beads are great visually but they seem so fragile to me I haven't even attempted them. Are they durable if you make them into a necklace etc?

[Refined with Fire]

Do puffy mandrels have a hole all the wa thru?
or in just one side?

thanks,
TJ

[Jeri]

Hi - the hole on the puffy mandrels is only on one side. When we first started using them I INSISTED they would make lopsided beads. But since you keep rotating the bead while inflating it, they actually turn out quite symmetrical. I hope that was what you needed to know! Jeri
www.jeribeads.com

[claybraes]

Here's a HUGE one I made quite a while ago. It's wonky as hell, but gives you an idea of what a hollow looks like with a tube in the middle.
Wow , shit! amazing
Fiona