(the following is from bead maker Gail Anderson. Her husband, David, makes the Donut Presses I sell)
Donut Press Instructions
1) Make 2 small round beads on the mandrel that are spaced approximately the same distance as the grooves on the press.
2) Build each starter bead up a little bit, and then press. Continue to add large dots of glass to each of the starter beads, and press.
3) As you add to the glass dots, you should be adding to them in a curved way. You want to end up with 2 banana shaped beads ( ) that eventually end up touching on the top and the bottom. At this point you still don't have enough glass to fill the grooves completely.
4) After every 4 or 5 dot additions, press to keep the donut shape. Gently reheat.
5) At this point, I would begin to add my decorations, more glass around the holes, etc. I continue to press multiple times. Make sure you are always reheating the bead, as each time you press, the bead is cooling a lot around the mandrel.
Eventually you will have the right amount of glass to do a final press. There is no doubt about it; this is the most finicky of the presses. You can do it all by hand, but you will never end up with the perfection that you do by using the press.
Anyway, I hope this helps. I had to make a dozen or so before I started to be able to gauge how much glass to use.
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ARTCO
Artist's Reliable Tool Company
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