decorating pressed beads?

[Armstrong]

Hi All-
Ok, for the life of me, I cannot figure out how some of you make these fantastic decorated pressed beads. (Probably because I have a hard enough time figuring out how much glass fits in the stinkin mold!)

Anyway, I understand the idea of making a pressed bead and raised decoration. What I don't understand is the decorations that are melted in but still look great. Do you try to make a smaller pressed bead, decorate, and squish the decoration? Do you melt it in and squish again?

Any help would be great, since I'm just not getting it right now.

Thanks!
Ana

[Deb Hopeful Journeys]

Hi Ana,

What I do if I am going to melt in the decorations is to make a smaller bead and then add the decorations and melt in. I am not a pro at presses and am still learning.

Hope this helps.

[SuzyQ]

I make the bead and squash it in the press. If it looks like it just needs a tad more glass then I know I'm good to go. Reround out the bead, decorate, melt and then press. But, when pressing I do a three step process. I gently press the bead into the bottom, flip it and press it a bit more in the bottom. It shouldn't be pressed enough to look like the final bead but close. Then reheat it and give it the final press. This help keep the design from distorting.

[lenora]

I do what Suzy does. Most of the time it comes out right. Sometimes you get too much glass and sometimes too little. I try to salvage all of them, but some get tossed in the water bowl. Just keep practicing. I find the lentil press to be the most forgiving. You could start with that.

Another suggestion...Do you have a press with multiple sizes of the same shape? If the sizes are close enough you can make the first bead with the smaller size, then decorate and press in the larger size.

[Armstrong]

Thanks guys, good ideas. Hopefully I'll get some practice time in this weekend. (seem to be so busy lately!)

Thanks again-
Ana