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  #1  
Old 2011-02-17, 5:26pm
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Lisi Lisi is offline
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Default Tutorial for making spherical round beads

I did this one a long time ago and thought it would be nice to bring it back up again.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I copied and pasted this from another thread where I was advising a newbie on how to make round "non-donut round" shaped beads. The sphere or round marble shape. I did all this writing and posted it and thought, "oh wow, all that and it looks like a tutorial!" So here it is:

If you are talking round like a sphere or marble, that is a totally different skill altogether. Practice getting good donut rounds first, because this is the simple "classic" lampwork round bead shape. Once you have mastered that, you will be ready to tackle just about anything else, because you would have learned to control the glass rather than have it control you.

a) Once you have mastered the simple donut round, then to make a round sphere bead you start with a tiny evenly shaped spacer. (you mastered this, remember?) It's important for them to have an even footprint because if not, the whole bead will wonkify all over the place later.

b) Then about the width you want this round sphere bead to be, place another spacer next to it however many millimeters away you want. Get that one evenly shaped up, and flash the other one to keep it warm.

c) Then to fill in the middle empty space, get a drip of molten glass, attach it to one spacer, then wrap part of the way around the empty mandrel space, then attach to the other spacer, and then burn off.

d) Add a little more glass to this "connection" between the two spacers. Melt this in slow and you will see the glass creep along the mandrel space and fill in bubble-free. This is cool to watch!

e) You will probably have a football shaped bead at this point, but go ahead and add more glass until it fills out to a round sphere. The holes on a true sphere shaped beads are not dimpled in, but flush and clean, no sharp edges. If you feel they should be a little smoother, then a quick zip with a round ball tipped fine diamond grade Dremel bit should do it.

There's your "round" bead, and of course, a video would be better, but this description is about as descriptive as I'm going to get.

Have fun!
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  #2  
Old 2011-02-17, 5:31pm
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Thanks, Lisi, that's very helpful & well explained!
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Old 2011-02-28, 9:18pm
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Aaaah, so the middle bit is the key?
Thank you
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Old 2011-03-20, 12:19am
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Thanks Lisi! I have been round challenged always, maybe I will still get to it....
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Old 2013-01-08, 6:31am
Twillusions Twillusions is offline
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I know this thread is pretty old, but I still wanted to say "Thank you!".
Finally I know how to do these, and I've been looking for a while!
So, thank you again for posting this! *cheers*
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Old 2013-01-09, 10:03am
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Thank you Lisi!
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Old 2013-04-22, 9:01am
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I never had a problem, I just wrap some glass evenly on the Mandrel the width I want the bead and then wrap an extra time or two around the middle
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Old 2014-10-06, 12:59pm
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I've seen two methods to wrap the first layer around. I'm confused.

One method had one lay down a thin, somewhat narrow layer of glass on the mandrel and then add on top of it. The other one had the glass wrapped, then the next one near it, fuse them together and then rounded it.

When I try to do it, I am not able to get a wide wrap of glass on; it ends up being very narrow. I also have trouble getting that ball of molten glass on the end of the rod. It looks like an eel instead of a ball, even though I am rotating the rod the whole time.

Thanks for any help,
Jib
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