Yes the crystal is one of the two new presses for which I had to pay £21 in VAT before Royal Mail would deliver. Almost as much as another new press from Zooziis. The crystals look much better in real life because you can't appreciate the angles as much in a 2D picture. As for the blobby bead, I have no comments. The other new press is the heart and I have perhaps not chosen to include the best ones here. With this press the hole lies horizontal, whilst the freehand ones I've made, the mandrel hole is North-South of the bead. I have a press for a small crystal but I've found it much more difficult to get the amount of glass required correct. With the larger beads, any excess glass can be taken away with tweezers and the bead reworked to get back the shape. All the while twirling the bead to stop it melting too much and falling off the mandrel.
Comments
New Presses
Yes the crystal is one of the two new presses for which I had to pay £21 in VAT before Royal Mail would deliver. Almost as much as another new press from Zooziis. The crystals look much better in real life because you can't appreciate the angles as much in a 2D picture. As for the blobby bead, I have no comments. The other new press is the heart and I have perhaps not chosen to include the best ones here. With this press the hole lies horizontal, whilst the freehand ones I've made, the mandrel hole is North-South of the bead. I have a press for a small crystal but I've found it much more difficult to get the amount of glass required correct. With the larger beads, any excess glass can be taken away with tweezers and the bead reworked to get back the shape. All the while twirling the bead to stop it melting too much and falling off the mandrel.
Cool
Is the double square pyramid one of your new presses? The blobby bead looks a bit like an organism.... ;-)