The Crunch

This is one of my favorite lampworking tools - called a "crunch" - it's what makes the flat but rounded shape of most of my focal beads. But I learned something cool about it recently that has changed my whole bead shaping experience and I thought I'd share with some of my beading peeps! It's kind of a "duh" thing, and you may all know of it already - but just in case... If you pick up the top part, and hold the handle with the brass side up, it makes a great marver/shaper for barrels! The same goes for your lentil presses - you can use the rounded molds for shaping round beads and to help press your encasing into place. See, duh! But so helpful to know if you didn't ever see someone else do it or think of it yourself!