Finally, a bead I actually like....

I finally made a bead that I like and would wear on a bracelet if I had one. I made a couple others too but they were wonky. One was made on a 1/4 inch mandrel which I think is too big for a Pandora/Troll/Biagi bracelet. The one I made on the big mandrel, I tried to core with copper just for practice but I had to order some more tools because the ones I have are just not making it easy. I made the big mandrels out of metal rods I purchased at Lowes. I don't know why but the big rods get hotter and I have to hold them further back when making a bead. I am hoping I will be able to sell some beads soon since they are looking much nicer now. Hubby keeps telling me that I am spending too much money and I need to make some with what I have got so I guess I will try. :) I wish I was rich and had an unlimited amount of money to spend.


I forgot to mention, I love Fusion bead release. It is my favorite of all of the bead releases that I have tried. It is smooth and strong and never cracks or flakes off like some of the others. I also had to start wearing a respirator while beadmaking because my lungs were feeling sore afterwards even with a 1000 CFM exhaust fan and a lot of makeup air. I even have a blastshield which keeps the fumes away from you but there was still soreness. I wore the respirator for the first time today and once you get used to wearing the thing it isn't so bad. I used to hate it because it made me feel claustrophic and I would hold my breath. I kind of got worried about the sore lungs when reading a thread on lampwork etc about this lady that had bleeding in her lungs so I think I prefer the respirator to bleeding lungs. I made beads today and since I wore the respirator, I don't feel at all sore. It seems as I get older I have become sensitive to more things than I used to be. I don't think everyone needs to wear a respirator, just people that are sensitive to the fumes and people that fume metals a lot, you don't want to turn grey like they say you will. I also bought a creation station and I absolutely love it, no more resting my elbows on my knees. I highly recommend it to everybody and it is worth the $89 I spent on it.