I played with it today for the first time and was surprised at how easy it was to get the shape, but it took me a minute to figure it out.
I marked my mandrel at the top, bottom and at the widest point. I made a small bead at the top and the bottom mark about 1m shy of the press and then filled the cavity with what could have been a tube, rolled that slightly on my marver to get a nice even shape, then I put a few extra rounds of glass at the widest point, it kind of looked like a table leg. I then pressed to see where I needed more glass and was surprised to see that it filled the press perfectly.
This press doesn't need as much glass as you would think and there is alot of wiggle room to "perfect the shape" after you press the first time. I did notice that the channels for the mandrel are less deep than some of my other presses, so I would recommend a thin coat of bead release so it fits all the way down.
Play with a single color glass so you can add or tweeze off glass as needed, it really was pretty simple, way easier than I expected, I still cringe when I have to use my lentil mold! LOL
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