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Tips, Techniques, and Questions -- Technical questions or tips

View Poll Results: Which should I get, press or roller?
Press 9 3.20%
Roller 158 56.23%
Eyeball it, baby. 114 40.57%
Voters: 281. You may not vote on this poll

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  #61  
Old 2011-08-01, 9:10pm
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CG Beadrollers rock! I love, love, love mine. I really think the tigers look better completely round than the more donut shape they were before.

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  #62  
Old 2011-08-02, 4:03am
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If you ask me I much prefer no tools at all but if I need precisely calibrated beads (for jewelry custom orders) I use a brass dapping blocks with lots of different sizes of holes.
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  #63  
Old 2011-08-03, 5:30pm
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Diane, those are wonderful. I agree that they look better as rounds. Thanks for posting.
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  #64  
Old 2011-08-03, 6:25pm
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Thanks Kevan. I'm such a fan of Donna's rollers!
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Last edited by Diane Woodall; 2011-08-03 at 6:34pm. Reason: typo
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  #65  
Old 2011-08-03, 6:31pm
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Roller
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  #66  
Old 2011-08-03, 6:33pm
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Oooops, this is what happens when your finger type faster than your brain thinks. Time to go edit. Thanks.
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  #67  
Old 2011-08-03, 6:35pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AKDesigns View Post
I have a roller and I don't use it. I prefer to do it old school. I use a Zoozii press and hold the bead over it to eye ball the size better.
Any chance its a CG and you might want to sell it?
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  #68  
Old 2011-08-28, 3:00pm
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Sounds like I should buy some CG beadrollers! The consistency in size would be great.
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  #69  
Old 2011-09-09, 5:30pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kalera View Post
I use a marble mold as a roller... so I'd say a roller.
Me too.
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  #70  
Old 2011-09-09, 8:00pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mountain Snail View Post
Me too.

I have to get one of these to try


Diane your beads are so cool!!
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  #71  
Old 2011-09-13, 5:26am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by selma_belma View Post
Sounds like I should buy some CG beadrollers! The consistency in size would be great.
Consistency in size is not going to come from a roller or a press. The exact amount of glass for each bead plus the exact same manipulation is going to result in like sized beads. When I say "exact", I mean "very close to" because nothing in life is truly perfect.

Your beads could be within .25 to .5mm of each other and appear to most eyes to be the same "exact" size.
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  #72  
Old 2011-09-14, 10:22am
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I'll challenge anybody to make 50 beads by hand, and I'll make 50 beads with a beadroller, then we'll measure.

-Donna
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  #73  
Old 2012-06-26, 9:44am
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Definitely Donna's round roller, no contest! I've been making beads 16 yrs, made nice round beads forever, but none were ever TRULY spherical 'til Donna hit the scene!

JMTC,
Lea
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  #74  
Old 2012-06-26, 9:51am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cgbeads View Post
I'll challenge anybody to make 50 beads by hand, and I'll make 50 beads with a beadroller, then we'll measure.

-Donna


what can we win?
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  #75  
Old 2012-06-26, 9:52am
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I won't be entering the contest though cause I'd be insane eyeballing my beads instead of just using my all time favorite round bead roller with flame-handle... Can not live without it!
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  #76  
Old 2012-06-27, 9:08am
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I was just recently asked to make a set of accent beads for a big hole critter bead one of my customers purchased and used the eyeballing technique. After reading through this thread I just put in my order for a CG Beadroller...can't wait to try it out Thanks for all the great information.

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  #77  
Old 2012-07-05, 5:31pm
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My personal feeling is that we need to learn to make rounds with gravity as a way to hone our skills - but once we know how? Time is precious, and I can make 10 times the number of beads in a session if I use tools than if I insist on doing it old-school. Life is too short to turn my back on useful tools. I use a marble mold for rounds, but I have the Garden Variety Pandora CG beadroller permanently sitting next to my torch - I use the V slot on almost every bead.
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  #78  
Old 2012-07-06, 6:58am
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I've always said, a cavity marver (any cavity marver, even a marble mold) is nothing more than a flat marver with a curve built in. It's not like just pouring hot glass into them and it forms to the shape, you need to have basic skills to use them.

-D
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  #79  
Old 2012-07-06, 7:43am
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Donna, I couldn't agree more. It's like cooking all of your food over an open fire pit when you can use a nice set of pots and pans to get the job done faster and better. Any good artist should have knowledge of the fundamentals, and then the freedom to use those skills in whatever way makes them happy.

Round beads make me happier than the ones I can shape by hand. Plain and simple.
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  #80  
Old 2012-07-06, 8:00am
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I love rollers and presses for bead size consistency. Of course it isn't the only way, but it is a heck of lot faster. I make a lot of beads marver shaping only but often use the cavity of a mold/roller to measure how much glass I have on my mandrel before I shape.

I think it is important to learn to shape without a mold, but I don't think you HAVE to learn it first. I started at the beginning of the press craze. Within my first 6 months I had a tool designed by Cattwalk to my specs which they still carry. Many of the sets I sold in the beginning were bead press sets. I squashed and tortured the glass as I learned how to shape, lol.

Learning to use a press well is a skill too.
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  #81  
Old 2012-07-06, 6:54pm
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Got my bead rollers and tried it out yesterday...I likey a LOT ! I don't know if my beads are really rounder, but I sure can make sets faster...like lightenin'.
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  #82  
Old 2012-07-07, 7:34am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Puddy Tat Glass View Post
Got my bead rollers and tried it out yesterday...I likey a LOT ! I don't know if my beads are really rounder, but I sure can make sets faster...like lightenin'.
The speed and consistency of size are key for me. Lampworking, through a series of events like downturns in my old contract work, has become my vocation and I could not do what I do now without beadrollers, it's just that simple.

I had been learning to make beads the old school way with gravity part time for about a year or so when Donna came out with her beadrollers. I went from 'I will never get this' to 'I rock!'

You do have to have the basic skills and I think it took me two or three sessions to teach myself not to push the glass into the br but once I understood how to work with graphite I was hooked.
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  #83  
Old 2012-07-08, 6:46pm
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(Astrid get it, that's sooooo fricken awesome!!!)


(mwaaa)
-D
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  #84  
Old 2012-07-08, 7:20pm
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(Astrid get it, that's sooooo fricken awesome!!!)


(mwaaa)
-D
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  #85  
Old 2012-07-08, 8:10pm
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I love the rollers. Totally love them. I did learn the basics first and I can make a round with just heat and gravity (and I really do think its a skill everyone should have) but once you have the skill, I don't see any reason not to speed things up, and being able to make the same size every time is a huge time saver.

Besides, now that I know I CAN do it with heat and gravity, I don't feel guilty using the roller to save me time, I don't feel like I'm really cheating since I can do it the old fashioned way if I have/want to.
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  #86  
Old 2012-07-21, 5:03am
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I love presses and rollers. They make beadmaking fun!
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  #87  
Old 2012-07-21, 5:13am
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I love presses and rollers. They make beadmaking fun!
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  #88  
Old 2012-07-22, 3:38am
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wait, they make molds for beads? crap i've been freehanding them! no wonder they're all different sizes.
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  #89  
Old 2013-05-10, 1:59pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by istandalone24/7 View Post
wait, they make molds for beads? crap i've been freehanding them! no wonder they're all different sizes.
The rollers and presses are good for making your beads the same shape from on bead to the next, but it's getting the same amount of glass right each time that makes your beads all the same size. Or very very close, like within a half mm of each other.

Here a thread with a link to my free tutorial on making your beads match up in size. No tools needed. Just heat, gravity, and training your "eye" to get the right amount of glass on the mandrel each time.

http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/sh...ght=beads+size
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  #90  
Old 2013-05-11, 10:33am
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I can eyeball it and make a round bead but I have a marble mold, if I used it I suppose the sizes of beads would be more consistent but how do I know when I have enough glass on the mandrel?
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