The Press Arrived!

My Impress Bead Liner arrived this weekend and I've been coring like a mad woman when I had the time. I now totally understand why beads done this way are so much more costly- it takes quite a while to get everything ready- measuring, cutting, deburring, filing, coring..THEN you take pics after admiring. I haven't broken a bead, but I did tear the tubing on the first three beads I did- too much enthusiasm?

As much as I love this press, there is a huge problem w/ size impediments. My hollow beads are LaRgE and chubby and the press is only so wide- I supposed most people use this for their small cored beads that go on Pandora, etc. bracelets, but I had to be a rebel. So now I have a dozen or more hollows that won't even fit into the press to get lined :(

I've been waiting on pins and needles for Dave to custom fabricate smaller pegs so I can core my 3/32 and 1/8" hollow focals- now I have to concentrate to make ones that will fit into my press.

We won't tell hubby that the next big purchase will prolly be a (whisper it now) Jim Moore press. Maybe he'll consider it my Xmas present?

One nice thing I noticed is that there is some leeway in imperfect bead holes- you know how sometimes you have a slight high spot or not much of a pucker where your glass caught too far out? As long as it's not too extreme, you can core it and you can't tell it wasn't perfect in the first place.

So here are some pics- I hope to get some of these listed tomorrow on Etsy: