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Tips, Techniques, and Questions -- Technical questions or tips |
View Poll Results: Which should I get, press or roller?
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Press
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9 |
3.20% |
Roller
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158 |
56.23% |
Eyeball it, baby.
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114 |
40.57% |
2011-02-17, 8:31pm
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I'm a lilac!
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Join Date: Jun 09, 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
Posts: 8,793
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I can make round beads without a shaping tool, but for certain kinds of beads such as florals with many layers, a marble mold is just the thing for getting the whole thing rounded without distorting the blossoms. Leaves nice puckers too.
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-Kalera
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2011-02-17, 9:21pm
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Entropy increasing....
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Join Date: Nov 12, 2005
Location: In a box of paints
Posts: 25,098
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Thanks for the link to your tut, Lisi. Those brown beads are sooo cool!
I'm thinking the CG roller because it's got multiple sizes. I was thinking of getting a marble thingie, but they mostly just come one size and I do like the mandrel "trough".
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"I am an artist… I am here to live out loud." Emile Zola
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2011-02-17, 10:14pm
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Aug 31, 2005
Location: Elk Grove, CA
Posts: 2,127
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Kevan - I really like the CG roller for getting consistent sized beads.
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Lisa Fletcher
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2011-02-18, 5:23am
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Naysayer
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Join Date: Sep 22, 2009
Posts: 1,203
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Those are gorgeous colors!
Intriguing, I do mine without any tools, and yes they roll around ask me how many are under cabinets haha! I basically do what Lorraine posted. Actually a combo of what Lisi and Lorraine posted.
What I'm wondering, I know Lisi was on a HH for awhile, myself also. So, wondering if those that 'can't' by hand didn't work very long on a HH or not at all?
I think it teaches you patience for one but also since it's not as hot and 'slower' so you learn heat control and gravity, if that's a factor? I mean, glass wants to be round (ever make a barrel etc and heat too much it starts to round up?), so it's natural once you find that aha factor. As far as even size, I do graduated sets and same size, but again as Lorraine posted, I go by how many wraps I do basically.
Not downing those that do, whatever speeds you up, I'm just an insomniac thinking aloud.
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2011-02-18, 10:27am
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GabysGlassWorks
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Join Date: Feb 06, 2011
Location: Canadian girl living in Kentucky
Posts: 276
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Thanks for posting these great tip/tutorials on making a round/spherical bead. I am a newbie (2 months of torching) on a hot head. I think I've pretty much got the donut shape down so now I will practice making a round bead. I have no presses, rollers, etc so must do everything by eyeballing it. My dots are ok. They are improving at least. Stringer application sucks. I actually made some hearts that were ok. Figuring what glass goes nicely together is tough for me too. So many things to learn and try it's wonderful!!
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2011-02-18, 11:06pm
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Mary Lockwood
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Join Date: Jun 21, 2005
Location: Boonies
Posts: 5,831
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I get a more true 'round' just doing them with heat and gravity, but the cg beadroller is round enough for me and I like how the ends look. I voted for roller. Added benefit is consistent sizing. Before, I'd have to make 15 beads to get 10 that matched. Now I just have to make 10.
If you have a metal doming block you can use that to see how you like the feel of it. You aren't really using the cavity to shape the bead...you are using the rim--just like with a marble mold. That is what I used until I got the bead roller. I ordered the bead roller for all the different shapes that came on it but find myself mostly using the round anyway.
~~Mary
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2011-02-19, 1:06am
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Junior Member
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Join Date: Dec 24, 2010
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 11
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I love my CG Roller - not only the round one but other shapes as well. It really helps make them all the same shape and size.
Cheers, Beatrice
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2011-02-19, 1:05pm
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one day at a time
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Join Date: Jun 27, 2005
Location: We are MOVING!!!
Posts: 8,319
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Hey Kevan, thanks for the compliment on the brown beads!
Those were HH beads but I did like making them better with the oxy/propane set up. Just gets the job done faster, and I get them rounder with a slight recess to the holes easier than I did on the HH.
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You live in a world of money. Money means choices. No money, no choices. Welcome to reality.
Melody (Marlee Matlin) from Switched at Birth
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2011-02-19, 3:30pm
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Certified Thread Killer
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Join Date: Aug 11, 2008
Location: Disneyland is my backyard
Posts: 501
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I use a CG roller, a marble mold, and I find myself using the top part of my CAttwalk crunch press as a roller to make egg shapes and such.
I use a CG for bagel-shaped rounds as well—I could just eyeball them because I'm OCD enough to count EVERY round of glass I put on.
I find a roller indispensable for getting an even size/shape on embellished beads.
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2011-02-20, 12:02am
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Entropy increasing....
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Join Date: Nov 12, 2005
Location: In a box of paints
Posts: 25,098
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LisaF
Kevan - I really like the CG roller for getting consistent sized beads.
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Come on, Lisa, we know you just raise your eyebrow to the glass and it does whatever you want it to.
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"I am an artist… I am here to live out loud." Emile Zola
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2011-02-20, 4:47am
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Mad about Glass
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Join Date: Nov 29, 2005
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 1,052
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I use a cgbeadroller for smaller round beads and a marble mould with multiple sizes for larger rounds. Love them both.
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Jenn
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2011-02-20, 8:29am
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I'm kinda biz-EE
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Join Date: Aug 08, 2007
Location: Arlington, TX
Posts: 3,610
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevan
Come on, Lisa, we know you just raise your eyebrow to the glass and it does whatever you want it to.
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It's a Spock thang.
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Astrid
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2011-02-20, 1:21pm
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one day at a time
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Join Date: Jun 27, 2005
Location: We are MOVING!!!
Posts: 8,319
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevan
Come on, Lisa, we know you just raise your eyebrow to the glass and it does whatever you want it to.
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Oops, wrong Lisa! She was talking about the other Lisa. LOL
I'm Lisi to just select few and Lisa to most.
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You live in a world of money. Money means choices. No money, no choices. Welcome to reality.
Melody (Marlee Matlin) from Switched at Birth
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2011-02-20, 2:03pm
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Gimme that silver glass!
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Join Date: Oct 12, 2007
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 3,988
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I love the CG beadroller too, as well for beads that perfectly fit in the cavity as for beads that are larger, I then use it to roll my bead on top to make it nice and round . Works especially well with the chunky big round beads I make .
This is a big hollow, which I rolled in the CG marver:
Seriously, I know you should be able to make good round beads as a beadmaker. It's the basics, right? I made a hundred of them in the beginning but now, it's just so very easy to use a roller. Always thesame sized and with some practise also good beadholes.
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2011-02-20, 3:28pm
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one day at a time
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Join Date: Jun 27, 2005
Location: We are MOVING!!!
Posts: 8,319
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Do any of you have trouble with these rollers ruining the glossiness on the surface of your beads? I've had graphite mar the finish on one too many in the past, so I really don't like to take chances with it. Especially with transparents and frits. Returning these beads to heat the surface may get rid of chill marks, but the tiny pits never go away completely. They just bubble and get worse most of the time. I've done everything possible, low gentle heat, back of the flame, you name it. The pits stay.
Just wondering.
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You live in a world of money. Money means choices. No money, no choices. Welcome to reality.
Melody (Marlee Matlin) from Switched at Birth
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2011-02-20, 3:37pm
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offically down under
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Join Date: Dec 22, 2005
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 3,131
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The only color I've noticed problems with is turquoise and if I work it cool, it's not too bad
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Tammy
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2011-02-22, 5:53am
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Mary Lockwood
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Join Date: Jun 21, 2005
Location: Boonies
Posts: 5,831
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I haven't had any trouble with surface marring either.
The cgrollers are very high quality graphite and there is a difference. Maybe the marver you used before wasn't as high quality graphite?? Not sure what the problem is exactly. I've used the same cheapo marver since I got my starter kit and don't have a pitting problem. Well, some of the frits will pit, but they do that for me whether I've marvered them or not.
Maybe you were over-tooling. Is that a word? LOL You can't keep marvering and then reheating over and over again. You chill the surface and make it easier to boil the outer skin of the bead and cause pits. That would happen with a marver of any material though- not just graphite.
~~Mary
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2011-03-03, 12:08pm
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Heart of Flame
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Join Date: Apr 28, 2010
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 163
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Jonibird, I'm a newbie and would love to hear what you have to say... I spent the day trying to make rounds in the ways mentioned above and it did work (thanks to Lisi and Lorraine), although I ended up with lots of bubbles. Is your way different?
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Darryle
If you wish to learn the highest truth, begin with the alphabet - Japanese Proverb
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2011-03-03, 3:17pm
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Melting
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Join Date: Jul 15, 2007
Location: Fl
Posts: 1,422
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I also use my press as a roller, so I voted roller. I have the ribbed round roller as well. Just for the record though, I don't usually actually roll. I heat, press, lift, turn, heat, press, lift, turn. I find it easier to manipulate the glass that way but then again, I've always been an oddball.
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Theresa "T" Ehlers
Scorpion, EX20, M15
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SRA Member #E20
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2011-03-03, 10:43pm
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I'm kinda biz-EE
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Join Date: Aug 08, 2007
Location: Arlington, TX
Posts: 3,610
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tnehlers
I also use my press as a roller, so I voted roller. I have the ribbed round roller as well. Just for the record though, I don't usually actually roll. I heat, press, lift, turn, heat, press, lift, turn. I find it easier to manipulate the glass that way but then again, I've always been an oddball.
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Not an oddball at all, that's sort of the way I do it too although once the glass is firmed up a bit then I roll it. I totally get the press/lift/turn/heat process.
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Astrid
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2011-03-03, 10:47pm
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"Sinners have soul too"
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Join Date: Jun 26, 2005
Location: The beachy part of So Cal
Posts: 4,258
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kalera
I use a marble mold as a roller... so I'd say a roller.
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This one ^^
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Donna
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2011-05-17, 8:32am
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one day at a time
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Join Date: Jun 27, 2005
Location: We are MOVING!!!
Posts: 8,319
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I just have to think this is funny now! I guess after nine years of making beads that I'm from the "old school" because I don't believe in using only these tools for making spherical round beads. (Larry Scott doesn't use them at all!) So what is funny to me is that when I was a newbie on Wetcanvas and Corina came out with the lentil press tool, the "old school" folks were very critical about the use of tools to make the lentil shapes. They went as far as describing their own lentil beads in their ebay auctions as "hand formed with hand tools and without the use of molds". Hey, any of you remember that?? hehe
They insisted that a person wasn't really a true lampwork artist if they felt they had to press beads out of a mold. Well, of course, being new and excited and crazy about Corina's beads, I didn't pay no mind to that attitude! So, I probably come off to some as having an attitude also, when it comes down to making round beads from these tools. Well, I'm not really against them, but the "old school" I'm from says this:
Learn how to make your spherical rounds from good old fashioned heat and gravity, and THEN go buy your roller tool/marble mold, whatever they have that you think you need. You could then use the roller tool to assist you in shaping the bead to push the glass gently in a way so the holes will dimple in a little, which is nice. I've used a marble mold to do that.
Trust me, you will become an even better beadmaker if you do it this way. Why? Because a true round spherical bead must have a near perfect footprint. That footprint is pretty wide, and it's just a hair under the width of the bead! If you don't get this straight first, then the beads that you roll out of those molds are going to have sub-quality shapes and holes. Because you didn't get the shape right to begin with.
Are you guys making donut rounds and then rolling them in these molds to get them round?? If you are and you are having problems with the holes, then that's why. Squishing a bead to widen the footprint can cause a lot of things to happen - breaking the release so you have a stuck bead, making the shape "off" and once done, you can't fix that footprint, and uneven holes. I have a tutorial on making spherical rounds in the free tutorials section of the forum. I think Larry Scott's tutorial on making a "round round bead" is in Cindy Jenkins' third book, "Beads of Glass". Is that the name of the book?? I have had mine packed away since the hurricane in 2006, so I forgot, sorry!
Anyway, rollers and these other tools are nice and you should buy one, but I really think you need to learn how to make a spherical round first before you buy the tool. Just some experience speaking!
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You live in a world of money. Money means choices. No money, no choices. Welcome to reality.
Melody (Marlee Matlin) from Switched at Birth
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2011-05-17, 2:49pm
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Entropy increasing....
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Join Date: Nov 12, 2005
Location: In a box of paints
Posts: 25,098
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I got a combo marble and bead roller for a fraction of the cost of a bead roller. I haven't made any beads with it yet, but I'm anxious to.
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"I am an artist… I am here to live out loud." Emile Zola
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2011-05-18, 2:21am
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Who me?
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Join Date: Jun 15, 2005
Location: Hagerstown, Indiana
Posts: 2,284
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Lisi, WORD!
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From the Perimeter of the Great Dismal Swamp
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2011-05-18, 9:13am
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I speak Murrini!
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Join Date: Oct 12, 2006
Location: In a Glass House, CA
Posts: 9,170
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Oh, what a great thread Kevan! I've had this same problem/question for FOREVER!!! I don't know if it's because of the radiant heat of the Hot Head but it seems no matter what I try and do "free hand", my beads always want to pull into "donut" shapes when flame polishing and doing the final through-and-through deep heat!
I'm seriously thinking I need me a graphite bead roller; maybe this one, since I LOVE to do just about everything on a 3/16" mandrel (BR-2801):
http://www.cgbeads.com/SET_PICS/n2801_600.jpg
Looking forward to seeing how you do with whatever you ended up with!
__________________
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2011-05-18, 9:24am
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Mar 18, 2009
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Posts: 168
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I totally agree with you that we must have the ability to make round beads without the aid of beadrollers or presses. My first years were spent learning how to control the heat and glass, and it wasn't easy. Since then I have purchased beadrollers, first the rounds then on to other shapes. I believe that having the beadrollers gave me the confidence to try other shapes especially focals. I can now make bicones, ovals, discs and lentils without too much difficulty. I don't think I would have ventured into these shapes without the beadrollers, especially when I first started using them. Now, I find I don't really need the beadrollers too much except for the outside edge. So, I'm using my beadrollers as a curved marver, as opposed to shaper.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lisi
I just have to think this is funny now! I guess after nine years of making beads that I'm from the "old school" because I don't believe in using only these tools for making spherical round beads. (Larry Scott doesn't use them at all!) So what is funny to me is that when I was a newbie on Wetcanvas and Corina came out with the lentil press tool, the "old school" folks were very critical about the use of tools to make the lentil shapes. They went as far as describing their own lentil beads in their ebay auctions as "hand formed with hand tools and without the use of molds". Hey, any of you remember that?? hehe
They insisted that a person wasn't really a true lampwork artist if they felt they had to press beads out of a mold. Well, of course, being new and excited and crazy about Corina's beads, I didn't pay no mind to that attitude! So, I probably come off to some as having an attitude also, when it comes down to making round beads from these tools. Well, I'm not really against them, but the "old school" I'm from says this:
Learn how to make your spherical rounds from good old fashioned heat and gravity, and THEN go buy your roller tool/marble mold, whatever they have that you think you need. You could then use the roller tool to assist you in shaping the bead to push the glass gently in a way so the holes will dimple in a little, which is nice. I've used a marble mold to do that.
Trust me, you will become an even better beadmaker if you do it this way. Why? Because a true round spherical bead must have a near perfect footprint. That footprint is pretty wide, and it's just a hair under the width of the bead! If you don't get this straight first, then the beads that you roll out of those molds are going to have sub-quality shapes and holes. Because you didn't get the shape right to begin with.
Are you guys making donut rounds and then rolling them in these molds to get them round?? If you are and you are having problems with the holes, then that's why. Squishing a bead to widen the footprint can cause a lot of things to happen - breaking the release so you have a stuck bead, making the shape "off" and once done, you can't fix that footprint, and uneven holes. I have a tutorial on making spherical rounds in the free tutorials section of the forum. I think Larry Scott's tutorial on making a "round round bead" is in Cindy Jenkins' third book, "Beads of Glass". Is that the name of the book?? I have had mine packed away since the hurricane in 2006, so I forgot, sorry!
Anyway, rollers and these other tools are nice and you should buy one, but I really think you need to learn how to make a spherical round first before you buy the tool. Just some experience speaking!
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2011-05-18, 11:38am
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Ellyloo-YAH!
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Join Date: Aug 01, 2006
Location: Port Colborne
Posts: 2,775
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once i got a system down making round beads in a bead roller, I got a much better handle on how spherical beads are shaped up.
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2011-05-31, 11:44am
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Creative Spirit
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Join Date: Oct 21, 2005
Location: Vancouver Island, BC
Posts: 358
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I have both, but prefer the roller by far!
Peace Wendy
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2011-07-25, 12:08pm
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Oct 08, 2010
Posts: 855
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tammydownunder
Yep, Round beads. The graphite rollers are so simple to use. If you have too much glass, move to the larger hole. Too little, add more.
I also have found them to be a godsend when I'm encasing. Often times the encasing goes bagel shaped and with the bead roller, you can easily get them back to round.
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This.
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2011-08-01, 8:49pm
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Jul 21, 2005
Posts: 1,897
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CG BEADROLLER !!!!! Been there-done-that on the make a bunch by eye-balling to creat matching beads . Bottom line is I suck at round beads, and they bore me to make them. I don't have the patience to be a good, consistant set maker. My hats' off to those who can do them well.
That said, for production, consistency and speed, the roller is a god-send ! Horrah for Donna!! Her graphite quality is like no other.
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Ofilia Cinta
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