Any tips on making a round bead instead of a donut?

[ziggys]

Hi,
Every once in awhile I make round beads instead of a nice donut shape but I haven't a clue how or why it happens. :confused: Now someone has requested 3 round beads like one I made before!
Does anyone know how to make them round? I really don't want to make a kazillion beads in order to get a few round ones out of the bunch of donuts. There's so many other techniques I would much rather be trying. <EG>.
Thanks a lot!
Angela

[Kevan]

Mark your mandrels with a sharpie as to the sides of the beads. That should help.

[Cosmo]

Pick up a copy of Deanna Griffin Dove's new book - Just Plain Beads.

It has a good article about doing just that.

http://www.beadmakingbooks.com/jpb.html

[ziggys]

Mark your mandrels with a sharpie as to the sides of the beads. That should help.

That is a great idea to help me make them the same size. That's what you meant right? But I also need to know how to make them ROUND.
Thanks for the second tip that I needed too ! :)
Angela

[ziggys]

Pick up a copy of Deanna Griffin Dove's new book - Just Plain Beads.

It has a good article about doing just that.

http://www.beadmakingbooks.com/jpb.html

Hey Cosmo,
I would love to pick up Deanna's book. And her other book about dots. I have a whole list of books I would love to own.
Maybe if I could make and sell some of those darn round beads I could afford all the books too! LOL!
Any hints? Pretty Please?
Angela

[Kikki]

To make a round bead you have to make it wider from the beginning. It's darn near impossible to melt down a "high" donut shaped bead into a round bead.
Make your base like a small cylinder, the width of the final bead. Add glass on top of that, on the edges of the cylinder. Melt in. Add more glass to the edges if it's not round enough for you.

The Just Plain Beads book is awesome BTW! I made my very first teardrop/cone after reading the book and it came out perfect in the first try!

[ziggys]

Cosmo, I just checked out Deanna's book and it looks like exactly what I need. Sigh....."How to make the bead shape that is in my mind".
I'm horrible at making the same shape every time. It's always a guessing game for me whether it will be a good bead or a wonky bead.
Angela

[Cosmo]

Hey Cosmo,
I would love to pick up Deanna's book. And her other book about dots. I have a whole list of books I would love to own.
Maybe if I could make and sell some of those darn round beads I could afford all the books too! LOL!
Any hints? Pretty Please?
Angela

I wish I could help you. I haven't made a bead in probably 6 months now...

[ziggys]

Kikki, Wow! Here I thought I needed a smaller footprint in the beginning and to build it up with so much glass it would have to get rounder. Shows how much I know!
I am going to try that next.
Thanks!
Angela

[Kikki]

Oh, and there's a pretty nifty graphite marver out there for making round, round beads!
Take a look here: http://www.arrowsprings.com/html/shaping_tools.html
The one I'm thinking about is more than half way down the page and call 6-in-One Bead and Marble mold. I haven't tried it for marbles but it's great for beads!

[La Guera]

You might try the round bead article by Jim Smircich. I found it to be very helpful.

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

Jeanette

[swanseafarm]

I make my round mala beads by making a donut, rolling it down and out on a marver so it becomes a barrel then heating the center of the bead to draw some of the glass back to the middle and the roundness comes automatically. It takes practice.

I precut my rods into short pieces so all my beads are the same size.

[ziggys]

I wish I could help you. I haven't made a bead in probably 6 months now...

Cosmo, Well I do hope you are making something with glass cause you make such awesome Boro Pendant Implossion Beads. If I did what you did I wouldn't be making these either.
Angela

[Kikki]

Kikki, Wow! Here I thought I needed a smaller footprint in the beginning and to build it up with so much glass it would have to get rounder. Shows how much I know!
I am going to try that next.
Thanks!
Angela

Nah, not for this kind of bead you don't!
Well, I suppose it's technically possible to do it that way but my method is easier! LOL.

Good luck!

[ziggys]

Thank you all for your suggestions. And don't stop if you have a trick that works for you!

Since I have made them in the past where the roundness magically appeared and I used to have a tendancy to lay down a wide footprint I'm guessing that's how it happened. I've been trying to get away from doing that, maybe too far away. LOL!

Jeanette, I didn't make myself very clear. I'm trying to make the ones that look like small marbles no puckers. But I do have that article by Jim S. printed out and in my "how to" folder now. Isn't he amazing?

Bonnie, I'll give the barrel technique a try. I'm guessing I need to really marver it out thin before heating the middle. Ouch! What do use to hold the glass?

Kikki, I just bought my first two presses. One is a masher by Convolly (?) and one is the Zoozi tab. I better wait to spend more $$$ since I am going to buy a new torch and Oxycon and am already freaking out about the cost of that!
Happy Beading,
Angela

[Jane P]

I struggled with this one too. I now put down two small footprints side by side, melt in together, then add glass to the middle until I have the right size.

[ziggys]

Ginny, I haven't tried that technique. Sounds like a good one to me. :)
Thanks!
Angela

[kittyluv4ever]

I have a copy of just plain beads that I am looking to sell for $20.00 including shipping. Let me know if you would like it.

[playswithfire104]

Man I have just the opposite problem! Almost all of my beads come out round - no puckers. I can't for the life of me make a disc and only make donuts by happy accident!

[Wonker]

a round bead is as high in the middle as the width of the sides. Sooo....you put your footprint down and then add enough glass (I go back and forth a few times and end in the middle) to make the amount you've wound around the bead to be as high as the width of the footprint you've laid down.

[Karen Hardy]

Make a donut bead.
Right next to it make another donut bead.
Heat the space in between the donut beads until
they come together.
Round bead.

[ziggys]

Man I have just the opposite problem! Almost all of my beads come out round - no puckers. I can't for the life of me make a disc and only make donuts by happy accident!

Well Shoot. Don't suppose you have a web-cam or are planning a visit to NC anytime soon? We could trade techniques!

[ziggys]

a round bead is as high in the middle as the width of the sides. Sooo....you put your footprint down and then add enough glass (I go back and forth a few times and end in the middle) to make the amount you've wound around the bead to be as high as the width of the footprint you've laid down.

Ah-Ha! That makes perfect sense! Ever since I read it, I've been thinking now I know what I need to do. Funny how people can say the same thing a hundred different ways and one of them just clicks.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
(I'll let you know if it works).
Angela

[bousky]

Wonker's explanation works for me too, it is kind of what I do. But I still most often end up with donuts. Here is my theory....I believe it to be a patience problem.....

My last step is most often encasing. I can have a perfectly round bead when I start and it then becomes a donut which I attempt to make it round again.

Even though I know glass travel toward the heat, I still heat the whole bead with the flame directed at the center of the bead. So the glass is drawn to the center. I attempt to fix it by adding more glass to the edges. This fix works best if I then heat from the edges only. Most often impatience prevails and donut is what I get.....as long as I have dimples I consider it a success.

[chimehk]

Before when I'm using the hothead, its easier for me to make round beads. Sometimes it might be a little lopsided but not that obvious. But these past few months when I start using the minor cc burner and I've watched Smircich video, all my beads becomes donutky. Worse is almost all of them are really really lopsided. It takes me ages to manipulate it that is won't be that lopsided. But still a bit shows. I can't seem to make my beads round anymore and I really want to go back making those round beads.
I really couldn't figure out what I'm doing wrong.
Also when I do those 3 flowers in one beads and encase the flowers, I can't seem to get them to become round - what i end up are triangle shape bead. These I know that I must have put too much encasing on the flower. But is there any reason why it won't go to round shape? Isn't it natural that the glass will naturally flow to becoming round?
When I use the hothead, the beads seems to always naturally wants to go to round shape.
Do you know what I'm doing wrong? Could it be the position in the flame that I'm using???

[bousky]

Are you heating the bead all the way through? If you are ending with a triangle shape it sound like you are not getting the glass hot enough to move. I don't necessarily heat that hot as a last step. But I do heat to round after each layer of glass is added.

[chimehk]

That may be the reason Michelle. I was told to use further out of the flame to avoid getting scums on my beads. So maybe not enough heat to thoroughly heating it to round. Will try it next time. Thanks for your help
I still wish I can make my beads really round though than donutky.

[bousky]

Good Luck