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Tips, Techniques, and Questions -- Technical questions or tips

View Poll Results: Do you use presses?
Yes, I use presses nearly every beadmaking session! 54 20.22%
I use them fairly often, but also do some freehand. 92 34.46%
I only use them occasionally, like for special shapes. 87 32.58%
I don't use presses at all. 30 11.24%
I prefer other specialty tools, like the bicone marver. 7 2.62%
I use something else entirely! 10 3.75%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 267. You may not vote on this poll

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  #31  
Old 2006-05-23, 3:33pm
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Lisi Lisi is offline
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I had a lot of presses that I ended up selling (all but one!) because I needed the money. I kept my CBS bead squeeze, but then Amy (Zoozii's) sent me a Zoozii Kalera trio, and I am so thankful for that! She did that like a RAOGK from the goodness of her heart! She thought it was terrible that I had to give up most all of my tools.

Right now I'm p***ed off because I can't find the bottom half of my CBS (the base) and not since after hurricane Wilma. I stayed at my rental house with my tenants for about two months. It's been lost since my move back home.

I tried the Kalera a few times, but I just can't get it right. I need to take the time to learn, but in the meantime I miss my bead squeeze.
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  #32  
Old 2006-05-23, 7:01pm
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Carolyn M Carolyn M is offline
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OK, I admit it, I'm a press-a-holic. I own a lot, current favourite is the Kalera nugget, and the orb press. Oh yeah, and I make awesome round beads from having to fit into a press. I just can't sell them easily.
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  #33  
Old 2006-05-23, 7:04pm
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Disa, your two questions are exactly what I do with my beads and I do pretty well. Personally, as a buyer, I go for unique and multiples of the same shape are boring to me - unless the design is truly compelling.
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  #34  
Old 2006-05-24, 3:44am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StefaniBeads
I had a lot of presses that I ended up selling (all but one!) because I needed the money. I kept my CBS bead squeeze, but then Amy (Zoozii's) sent me a Zoozii Kalera trio, and I am so thankful for that! She did that like a RAOGK from the goodness of her heart! She thought it was terrible that I had to give up most all of my tools.

Right now I'm p***ed off because I can't find the bottom half of my CBS (the base) and not since after hurricane Wilma. I stayed at my rental house with my tenants for about two months. It's been lost since my move back home.

I tried the Kalera a few times, but I just can't get it right. I need to take the time to learn, but in the meantime I miss my bead squeeze.
I have a ton of presses, but I rarely use them. I guess I'm more of a "collector". So anyway, I just started using my Kalera trio last week and it is AWESOME! Here's my method:

Make a barrel just a tad smaller than the cavity. Roll it in the cavity to straighten/even it out. Add glass to the middle, melt, roll in cavity again, melt again, but not enough to lose the shape. Just enough so that the entire bead is soft and glowing evenly. Press! If the sides are a bit rounded (bowed) I soften just that area in the flame and use the cavity or a marver to straighten them, then I reheat and press again.

It sounds like a lot, but it really isn't and once you get the rhythm down, it's fast and easy. I haven't had a bad press yet and it has inspired me to start using my Puffy Squeeze.
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Last edited by shawnette; 2006-05-24 at 3:46am.
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  #35  
Old 2006-05-24, 12:55pm
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michelle4 michelle4 is offline
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I have a press and like to use it. I think beads done free hand and with presses are beautiful. I wish I could afford a tab press right now, but I can't.

Some people like the flatter beads done with a press because they are easier to wear at work.

Some of my best loved jewelry has been made with free hand beads that aren't the same size.

Another bead maker in my bead club makes these organic beads that she smashes that look like little flat rocks and are so beautiful. I don't think any of them are the same size.

The point is...
There is no right or wrong, do what feels right.

Michelle
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  #36  
Old 2006-05-24, 1:18pm
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Lisi Lisi is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shawnette
I have a ton of presses, but I rarely use them. I guess I'm more of a "collector". So anyway, I just started using my Kalera trio last week and it is AWESOME! Here's my method:

Make a barrel just a tad smaller than the cavity. Roll it in the cavity to straighten/even it out. Add glass to the middle, melt, roll in cavity again, melt again, but not enough to lose the shape. Just enough so that the entire bead is soft and glowing evenly. Press! If the sides are a bit rounded (bowed) I soften just that area in the flame and use the cavity or a marver to straighten them, then I reheat and press again.

It sounds like a lot, but it really isn't and once you get the rhythm down, it's fast and easy. I haven't had a bad press yet and it has inspired me to start using my Puffy Squeeze.
Shawnette,

Thank you!! I was wondering how to get rid of the bowed sides! That's exactly the problem I was complaining about! LOL
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  #37  
Old 2006-05-24, 9:10pm
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Karen Hardy Karen Hardy is offline
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You can add press-whore to my title. I use them and I love them SO much. I'm hooked on Zooziis because you don't need a base for them and the learning curve is pretty quick. And you can inject quite a bit of your own design and personality into the bead - pressing it doesn't necessarily make it a "cookie-cutter" bead. I'm inclined to say that even when I'm designing sets, I have to make 20 beads to get 2 that look even vaguely identical.
I have:

Zoozii Lentils - Med+, lrg, lrg+, XL
Zoozii Kalera - XL, long & lean

I'm eyeballing a few more, but gotta wait till I can justify buying them.
Feeling like I'm going to explode if I don't have them apparently isn't justification enough (according to my DH).

I owned a bunch of the smaller ones, but I'm a big focal gal and I don't like making little peanut beads, so I traded them to a friend for her larger presses. Ummm...yummy. Presses are glass tool-crack. Betcha can't eat just one
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  #38  
Old 2006-05-25, 3:28am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Karen Hardy
Feeling like I'm going to explode if I don't have them apparently isn't justification enough (according to my DH).

I swear I read a story about an exploding beadmaker on CNN recently -- you MUST buy more presses so this tragic accident doesn't happen to you too! What does DH know??
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  #39  
Old 2006-05-25, 2:26pm
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Karen Hardy Karen Hardy is offline
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save a lampwoker! Buy a Kalera Nugget Press!

Quote:
Originally Posted by glass_beads
I swear I read a story about an exploding beadmaker on CNN recently -- you MUST buy more presses so this tragic accident doesn't happen to you too! What does DH know??
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  #40  
Old 2006-05-28, 9:11am
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I have a half a dozen presses that I use once in awhile. I like using them once I get the hang of it, but tend to always gravitate back to rounds and cubes. There are some shapes I can make without the aid of a press - just using my BBQ mashers or plain gravity, but I like the presses for more complicated shapes. Try as I might, I can't make a lentil or a pillow without a press.
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  #41  
Old 2006-06-08, 10:00am
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Nanette Marie Nanette Marie is offline
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I started doing lampwork because I needed to have reasonably priced beads to include in my jewelry and I love the way lampwork looks. Needless to say, I'm so hooked on lampwork now, the jewelry business takes a back seat. So, from looking at this from both sides, I really like presses, they make great shapes for jewelry, round beads can be very clunky on a bracelet and I like the amount of 'canvas' you have on a large lentil as a focal on a necklace.

My absolute favorite is the lentil, I don't care if people say it's an over-done shape, I like it, so I make it. Sometimes I will use almost every press I have in one bead strand and I've had people comment that they love all the different shaped beads that have the same treatment on them. I also am a 'set-aholic', I'm not into focals too much. The only focals I make I use in my jewelry, all beads that I sell are sets and a lot of the time I will include a focal sized bead so the buyer can make a matched set of jewelry out of the strand they buy from me. Cause I am a 'matchy-matchy' kind of gal.

But as far as sales go, I make different things for different markets, large sets for Ebay, small sets for bead shows and store sales (the pick it up and feel it crowd) and a variety of things for my jewelry.

The thing I find the hardest to do is a time consuming focal. I just can't spend 45 min. to an hour on one fricking bead. I like to make smaller beads so that I can go, ooh, cool, let me make another a little bit different that still matches, ooh, cool, what if I do this, oo, crap, toss, okay that didn't work so let's try this instead.......

I think it's called "short attention span" beading. hehe But I can sit there for 8-10 hours and I've made 100 beads before in one day and a lot were sculpted (that was my Mickey Mouse day, I had little Mickey hands, ears, Mickey pants, Minnie skirts, raised flowers on dotted backgrounds, etc.), that was a really fun day.

So, yeah, presses are great and I use them almost every time I bead, but I love making sets of rounds and I love making little sculpted things too. Whatever rocks your boat. It's all good to me.
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  #42  
Old 2006-06-09, 6:44am
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Thanks everyone, for all your input *smiles* It's really been interesting reading what everyone's said, and seeing the poll grow.
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  #43  
Old 2007-01-09, 12:08pm
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I have a few presses that I use for some flatter shapes like lentils that I could do by hand but would take much more time but I have mixed feelings about presses in general. I feel they restrict creativity, like a potter's wheel can for ceramics. As soon as you have them you start using them all the time and all your pieces end up looking alike. I have a friend who is a great ceramist and refuses to use a wheel for that reason, and her work is much more interesting than that of the other ceramists I've seen... but then I do use some presses too, so I'm not necessarily consistent !
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  #44  
Old 2007-01-09, 5:52pm
Zuzu Petals Zuzu Petals is offline
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I have quite a few presses and love most of them. I was rabid to get my mits on the Corina Orrb and finally got it! Those beads are so comfortable to wear! Now I can rest. I made beads for ten years though before I ever even heard of a press and my big amazing discovery was that the "industry standard" was a perfectly round bead! I couldn't believe it, why would anyone want a perfectly round bead? I spent 10 years trying to make anything but a round bead! I thought they would look "manufactured". So there you go. I am hooked on pressed beads now but there is still so much wiggle room there. I can't honestly say that I have actually made two exact duplicates of any pressed bead yet! Unless you are just using one plain color of glass, it's not as easy or an exact science as it would seem. I don't think you could say that some of those bead artists that are selling in the thousands that are making those sets with presses could be easily coppied even with pure golden press in a likeness to the ones they use. LOL! It still takes a lot of talant! cheers, Zuzu

Last edited by Zuzu Petals; 2007-01-10 at 8:43am.
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  #45  
Old 2007-01-12, 6:18pm
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I love presses! I haven't been making very many sets lately, but when I do, I like the beads to be uniform in shape - I feel like that way I can go a bit wild with colors and design, and the set will still "look like a set".
(I admire people that can do that with freeform beads though!)
I'm a Cattwalk addict - I LOVE the button and the sleek pillow shapes. For most of my focals I use the crunch (does that count as a press?), but I like to put too much glass in it before pressing - then I melt in the overflowing edges in, to get the curvy shapes that I love.
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  #46  
Old 2007-01-13, 6:40am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Frostfire View Post
Who said that earring beads had to be identical, anyway? Back in March, when I was up at the Campbell Folk School, Kimberley Adams had a number of pairs of earrings for sale in their Craft Shop. For each pair, the bead colors were the same, and the designs went together, but the shape for each earring bead was usually TOTALLY different!!
I like all things asymetrical *sp?* My beads tend to match in color scheme but never in shape and size. As a designer and as a buyer that is what my eye likes.

Thankfully the bead world is made up of all different tastes. I hope there are those out there who like my off-center style!

The great thing about glass is that it's beauty shines through even in some of my most horific design ideas! LOL.
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