[wanabeader]

I just got a press and have had the same issues. Wings on one then not enough on the next. Then when I try and reheat the glass to add more the bead release lets go and so forth.

I tried over two dozen until I finally got one that was correct and it turned out perfect.

What I did was took a glass rod and heated up a small gather about the size of a grape and just set it onto the mandrel and pressed it. I did not even try to make a bead and the length of the foot print was small. It was much smaller than the foot print of the die.

I am still working on getting the right amount of glass each time, but for me it was easier to melt a gather to what I thought was the correct size instead of trying to gage it while wrapping the glass around the mandrel.

One of the things that I did wrong at first was I used mandrels that were too small and then the beads would crack as one side got more glass than the other.

Just my own method I thought I would share.