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

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  #1  
Old 2014-06-23, 1:15pm
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carolinainmymind carolinainmymind is offline
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Default shaping hollow beads

I can't, for the life of me, seem to make nice, evenly shaped hollows. I'm using a marver to help shape the ends and even up the sides, but by the time I'm through reheating, they go all wonky again. I know that solid beads "want" to be round, but what about hollows? Anyone have any suggestions?
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Old 2014-06-23, 5:16pm
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How large of a bead are you making? I don't want to tell you,"ppp", but that's true. The big ones (20+mm) are hard to control for me, too, and I make a million hollows. There's 30 hollows in my kiln right now..
It's more about heat control and really watching the bead as you're turning it to get it to round itself out. Because there's less glass, it goes wonky easier, just a little bit of you daydreaming and it's fat on one side... patience is what I would suggest. just rotate it further out in the flame to round it, even though that takes longer. Don't be in a hurry, and really watch the glass subtly move, let it shape itself.
And when all else fails, force it into shape with a beadroller or marble mold.
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  #3  
Old 2014-06-23, 6:29pm
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The ones I make end up around 15-20mm. It seems like there is a moment when the shape is right, but by the time I get them out of the flame, they're wonky. I've been using a flat marver, I may order a small marble mold to see if that helps. Thanks!
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Last edited by carolinainmymind; 2014-06-24 at 4:58am.
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Old 2014-06-24, 4:00am
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my go-to is Jim Moore's

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  #5  
Old 2014-06-24, 8:47pm
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I put my hollows in mqrble shapers, presses, spiral tongs.. You name it! I tend to use a marble shaper with the round on one side and the open ended shaper on the other. And a dapping block set as well. (I use a bit of bees wax on that one to help it turn smoothly) bead rollers an also work. I find I like the graphite tools better for shaping hollows. More flow less grab on the glass. Like this one

the open ended side is very useful to keep ends in check and very forgiving to the actual size vs the round side. Also graphite will not suck as much heat out of your glass so their should be less a chance to dimple or contract where contact is made.
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Last edited by jaci; 2014-06-24 at 8:52pm.
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  #6  
Old 2014-06-25, 6:36am
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Great info for my shopping- thanks Jaci!
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Old 2014-06-26, 6:13pm
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Glenda, I don't think you mentioned whether you use regular mandrels or puffy mandrels, but hopefully this might help a bit:
Try to lay down equally sized spacer beads
Keep wall thickness the same on either side
If you notice a thin spot-don't concentrate the heat on that spot, but on the surrounding glass. Otherwise, this will now be hollow with an interesting hole in it
If you are using puffy mandrels, you're in luck- give the bead an allover gentle heat and shrink down the size a bit to re-puff air and help even out the walls.
And don't fret, I still have a wonky bead or two every torch session- and I've made thousands!
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Old 2014-06-26, 7:09pm
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Aja is so right. I will add that if you have a nice shape, and then lose it, you might be over-inflating (again thinking you are using Puffy Mandrels). They grow about 20-30 % (roughly) when you puff them out. But if you keep blowing whatever remaining part of the bead that has heat left in it will expand last, and thus distort the bead. Jeri
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Still selling beadstands but no more Puffy Mandrels.
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Old 2014-06-30, 7:55pm
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Thank you, ladies. No puffy mandrels right now, I have used them and the beads I made were even wonkier than what I'm making now. It seems like at some point, the bead "slides" on the mandrel and the bead ends up bottom heavy. Or when I use a tool (usually the edge of a beadroller) to true up the ends a little, I end up with a squarish shoulder that I can't seem to round out. I just can't seem to fix the uneven-ness after that, no matter how much I try. Oh well, PPP!
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Old 2014-07-01, 4:57am
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Hi Glenda, the "sliding" you describe sounds like you tip the mandrel as you round up the bead. If you are starting with disks of even thickness, but at the end one "side" is heavier, tipping is the likely explanation. If it is the belly of the bead that has thick spots, the likely explanation is that you aren't applying coils of an even diameter and/or you are dabbing in glass where you have little holes (which also creates thick spots). Don't give up, it sounds like you are getting there!! Jeri
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Still selling beadstands but no more Puffy Mandrels.
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