[Speedslug]

I suppose it is a lot like learning how much a pinch and a dash is in cooking.


You could practice with various lengths of glass and use a bare mandrel. That way you can recover all of the glass as frit after water annealing so the glass won't go to waste and you can add glass to the center of a lentil or a disk without decoration to get a feel for how much to use when you do want to start decorating.

Another trick is to decorate the corners so you can add to the center to 'fatten it up' before finishing the decoration.

Doing the corners last would be a little more tricky but I guess that could be a learned technique as well.

I think spending a lot of time playing with lengths of glass globs on the end of a bare mandrel so you can get the size right and them pull it back into a rod can help learning the size/amount of glass to start with.

I know that I get in a hurry to 'make something' and I forget to give my self 'play time' to learn how much is enough and how to go about sneaking up on the perfect amount to start with and what kind of 'fixes and repairs' can be accomplished without leaving a trace.

I know a lot of wood working is learning how to slow down and sneak up on the finished size and the other two thirds is knowing how to 'fix it or hide it' after it is too late to sneak up on it.