1 bead on 1 mandrel?

[angie]

Does everyone make just 1 bead on the mandrel or does anyone make more on the same mandrel?

....can you do this?

[Mr. Smiley]

You can make a bunch of spacers on one mandrel pretty easily. Some folks do a whole set of small boro beads on a single mandrel. I normally stick with two of the same boro beads, because I hate losing any to thermal shock. It takes practice and heat control, but it can be done.

[ShepherdCreations]

It's what I can get away with, if there's enough good release on the mandrel for 6 beads, I use it. The larger beads I limit to one-3 per mandrel, don't wanna lose them like Brent said

Oh this is boro only, with soft glass I have no luck, so it's only 1 bead per mandrel, hardly efficient...

[Byrdbeads]

I use soft glass and dont do more than 2 on a mandrel for earring sets or if I want matching spacers the exact same size (as exact as you CAN get LOL). I usually loose one on the first couple mandrels worth till i get in the swing of keeping both equally hot enough while I work on one or the other than It is ok after that so I usually do nothign but earring sets or spacer sets on that day while im in the mood LOL. Anymore than 2 and it makes me totally crazy and takes twice the time if I had made them one or 2 at a time.LOL I have seen a pix on the other forum that someone makes 10 spacer beads per mandrel in soft glass. Had a pix of her kiln meltdown (was sad) before Tuscon or the Gathering one year where she lost a whole kiln load of them. DOnt know how she does it and keeps them from shocking while she makes the last ones but looked cool. The number of them on one mandrel, not hte glass mush on the bottom of the kiln.

[chrissij]

The one and only class I took the instructor made two beads on the same mandrel and kept warming up the first one to glowing...nu' uh'...bad idea...

I make smallish beads, so I tend to make four or five on one mandrel. Make them far enough apart that you don't risk taking one you've already completed back into the flame and all will be fine.

[A.Loomis]

I make up to 6 plain spacers on a mandrel at a time using soft glass. I tried doing clear encased with a colored core, but those shock off and crack ,etc.

I don't make my spacers very big..... but I have good luck with that. OH, and I've made little coffee beans too, about 6 per mandrel.

-A

[DancingSalamander]

I make two beads for earrings on one mandrel. I almost never loose one to thermal shock anymore. It's just a practice thing...keeping the first one warm enough. If I'm doing a pressed bead or complicated bead,like a hollow, it's one bead per mandrel.

Stacia

[jknappcampbell]

I also make 2 earring beads on one mandrel so they end up the same size, you must keep the first one war-- go back and forth. I've done 3 but never been able to keep 4 warm, I always end up with one going to thermal shock. So 3 is it for me. Make sure your bead release is fresh and sturdy
Jill

[Lisi]

aaacckk....I just can't do it! One at a time for me!

[Anne Londez]

I work soft glass. I routinely make 2 or 3 beads on the same mandrel when I am in production mode and have gone as far as 5 provided they are smallish and don't require special shaping, although I can do 2 small lentils on the same mandrel. I never lose any to thermal shock but I don't make them sequentially, I work on all the beads at the same time to make sure none stays out of the flame for a long time. It just takes a lot of moving the mandrel around. Big beads I make one by one.

[plauzon]

I have gotten to the point where I can make 10 8mm beads on one mandrel - it really helps keep things the same size and shape. Of course, I do work with boro, just a lot of dancing back and forth!

[Emily]

I can do two design beads on a mandrel and a whole row of simple one-color spacers on a mandrel. With spacers you have a choice of either going from one end of the mandrel to the other, in which case you never touch one with the flame after you've wrapped it, or alternating spacers, in which case you try to keep them all warm while you're making them (the Sharon Peters method). Takes some practice.

I often lose a spacer or two, but that's the point of making a whole mess of them. It's also good practice.

Soft glass, by the way.

[tasminann]

I do more than one only when I do boro -- never did get the hang of it in soft glass.

[SuzyQ]

With bead press beads you really can't do more than one on a rod. I'm sure someone does but I find I spend time working on the shape and wouldn't want to worry about keeping the other bead warm. But for rounds I can do up to 8 simple spacers. I don't, but I did I usually put about 3 to a mandrel.

[rosemarie23]

I do 5 or 6 spacer sized beads on a mandrel at a time.
For bigger beads with simple surface decoration, I can do only 2 at a time.
I work all of the beads at the same time, so none get cold, none thermal shock. It is a great exercise in heat control, for when you want to work on something really big!
This pic is all COE 104.

[playswithfire104]

I have done 2 on a mandrel but sometimes I lose one to thermal shock. So I usually only do one bead per mandrel. I really don't get the "Don't reheat the bead" school of thought. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying it dosn't work or anything. When ever I keep a bead out of the heat too long it breaks so I just don't get how you could do a bunch and not keep them warm and have them not break. Maybe it's just me.

[Kikki]

Originally Posted by playswithfire104

I really don't get the "Don't reheat the bead" school of thought. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying it dosn't work or anything. When ever I keep a bead out of the heat too long it breaks so I just don't get how you could do a bunch and not keep them warm and have them not break. Maybe it's just me.

I've found that the cool bead breaks when I re-introduce it to the flame. As long as I don't reheat it it's fine.
But I only make single colour spacers that way, usually 3-4 to a mandrel.

[ZingZ!]

I lean toward really intricate patterns with decorated beads, and have better luck doing them two at a time to keep both the size and patterns consistent. I space them so that once the basic shapes and sizes are set I can keep them both warm by directing the flame between them, then decorate both of them at the same time, working from left to right across both beads and handling each stringer color only once. Once the colors are down I poke/twist etc. the same way, across both beads from left to right. For me at least, this approach yields the most consistent results when that's the goal.

I've probably made *pounds* of transparent spacer (test) beads over the past couple years, and what ultimately worked best for me with those was making 5-6 per mandrel, working from left to right and never going back. As long as I didn't overheat the mandrel too much on any one bead, the cooler ones survived. If I did, some cracked every time, normally 2 or 3 beads upstream from where I was working "too hot" at the moment. So from that I assumed that they shocked from too much heat traveling back up the mandrel, rather than from cooling too fast. In general though, I found that sequentially-made beads were less stable and more easily cracked prior to annealing, and required gentle handling between the cooling blanket and the kiln. Once they were annealed, there was no difference.

John

[playswithfire104]

Well I made a bunch of doubles yesterday. None have cracked. I guess tomorrow I'll try for a triple! Maybe the "Don't reheat the bead" school of thought just will work for me!

[Emily]

Just to be clear -- the "don't reheat the bead" spacers work only for TINY beads. With soft glass, you have to be pretty darn small to get away with being air cooled and not cracking. Try it with anything more than a couple of wraps of glass, and you're going to have cracked beads. And it's wrap 'n go, folks -- no messing around, and no decoration.

[playswithfire104]

Yeah I was only doing single color spacers.

[DeboraCox_facetsdesigns]

Like Rose, I do multiple beads at a time, making sure that I keep the "older" beads warmed. This is for smaller beads as I do a lot of earring pairs and spacers/accents for larger beads. I have more trouble with the bead release giving way on the 3rd or 4th bead than with cracking
Deb