Getting the funk out....

[groovy1972]

Congratulate me! I made 3 really good hollow beads....

Now how do I get the bead release out of the middle?

It looks like dandruff in the middle of my purdy bead..... grrrr

[pam]

Easy cheap way, fill the bead with water and blow in one hole and let the water and gunk flow out the other. Takes a while. Use a small mandrel to break up the big chunks.

Medium cheap way, use canned air to blow out the gunk.

More expensive way unless you have an old one around the house. Use a water pik to shoot water inside the bead and out the other hole.

Rinse in a mixture of vinnegar and water for that spotless finish!!

Those are my tips, but I am sure there are others around.

[chrisdd]

I use a syringe (no needle) and it works really well. :biggrin:

[kbinkster]

Well, congratulations on making some really good hollow beads!

I wondered what to do about the mineral deposits. Thanks for your tip, Pam!

[Emily]

If you're going the canned air route (which has the added advantage of scaring the cats, which is always amusing), do it when the beads are dry, or you may end up coating the inside of your bead with a nice fine layer of bead mud. The vinegar rinse might fix that, though.