bead holes on mandrel?

[angie]

Im a newbie and struggling with even holes when on mandrel,
the holes are always sticking out and sharp #-o
how do i get nice inwards bead holes when on mandrel?
ive tried adding more glass on the edges of the holes but it just goes worse!

There obviously is a knack to this :!:

[Lisi]

I wote this tutorial a long time ago on getting consistent even round beads, and there's info on building a good base for a beads with "dimples". The second paragraph explains it somewhat. It's important to start very small, with a little bead, which you add more to around the "equator". This makes the bead holes dimple. :)

Here it is:


Glad to help! I could tell you like a lot of others would - practice practice practice, but..... there is something that I do that eventually (with PPP!) you would develop an "eye for it" just like I did.

I start with a little footprint bead and make sure that is evenly rounded up in the flame. It's important to make sure that you have a well shaped little base bead to start out with, because then you can wind more glass around the equator of this bead. The footprint is already down, so the next wraps of glass will melt in nicely and you will be able to get it evenly rounded without some of the problems that come from an uneven footprint.

I make my beads in 2, 3, 4, and 5 "wraps". Meaning that including the base footprint, the number of times around with another "drip" of glass. I apply each drip separately, I don't keep winding around and around the equator until I think I have enough. The only time I do that is if I'm making a single focal bead.

The "drips" are the molten tip of the rod, and when it's ready to droop downwards I apply that around the bead and melt in, and just repeat if I want bigger. I have to be careful, sometimes it droops too much and winds up on the work table! My torch is pretty hot too - Mini CC.

I tried to do the same thing each time, and after a while my eyes and brain could size up each drip, and once you can do that, the beads are very close in size. With different size rods and even different glass rods, the drip sizes will be different. I check the diameters of the rods I'm using, and if I think I'm going to use more than one rod to make a big set of beads, I'll have another of the same diameter set aside.

I usually make a few extra with each set, and chuck aside any that are too big, too small, or not shaped like the others. Sometimes I use too much heat and a bead will become rounder than the others in the set that may be more "donut" shaped. That takes PPP too, but eventually you won't have to chuck aside that many "extras". (BTW - I sell the leftovers from sets on ebay, lol)

Sounds very OCD doesn't it?? LOL!! That's me! ;) :D

I hope this helps you! In time you will develop an eye for the glass amount on the mandrel. :)

[angie]

Thank you, i have been winding the glass round and round and not shaping until i thought i had the right amount for the size bead i needed, sound like that was my problem!

[Dale M.]

Here is site with excellent information on making round beads and getting proper "pucker" (like innie belly button) on your beads...

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

Also his "home page" site...

http://www.smircich.com/

Dale

[Anne Londez]

Just another little something: if when you add more glass to the edges of the hole the problem gets worse, that means you are heating your bead too much when melting in the extra glass. The key point is to keep the heat on the surface of the bead, not to heat the whole mass of glass or it will conglomerate in the middle, ginving you that football shape with pointy edges. Try to always keep your mandrel below or above the flame so that you only apply the heat to the outside of the glass and watch the color temp so that it doesn't get to the point where the whole bead is one runny mass.

[Feldt's Glass]

If you don't quite have enough glass for your footprint you will not get really good puckered ends. Also some glass is softer than others so when you start and then build up try not to over heat or your footprint will get wider and wider while the holes are getting less pritty. This happened to me when I first started with the pinks, white and ivories.