La Patisserie Press III - flowers and diamonds

Today I am going to show you two more step by step tutorials for my beloved Kati was here! Patissierie Press.  This post is for the two most complicated chocolate shapes, the first is for the flower cavity and the second is for the diamond shape that I can't help but think of as "vanilla fudge".

This is what the flower cavity looks like, symmetrical across the mandrel line but asymmetric hole to hole. For a little while this shape has presented me with a little bit of a challenge but now I finally have a consistant working process that I'm happy to share.

Step 1 add a row of small wraps of glass to your mandrel and roll it out on your marver at an angle until you have a cone shape long enough to fill the full length of the flower cavity.

Step 2 press your cone into the flower cavity (I like to use the handle side only at this point so that I can work at eye level) to leave indents where the internal points of the flower meet your core bead.

Step 3 add four small dots of glass between the indents to start building your petal shapes

Step 3 warm your beads and press inside the flower cavity on the handle side of your press. turn the bead over and press the other side.

Step 5 Start to give your flower form some depth by putting five small dots on top of your petals, turn the bead over and place five more dots on the petals on the other side.

Step 6 warm your bead thoroughly and press in the flower cavity on your handle, turn the bead and press again. Repeat steps 3 through to 6 as many times as you need to, adding small amounts of glass each time until you are happy with your flower form.

Step 7 add small dots of glass to the centre of your flower shape on both sides.

Step 7 warm your bead thoroughly and press in the flower cavity in the handle, turn the bead and press the other side.

Step 8 add a generous dollop of glass top and bottom of your flower bead.

Step 9 heat your bead through and place your bead in the base and press between both halves of the press. This will smooth the shape and push glass down onto the texture plate to give you the waves on the bottom.

Next decorate your choc with murrini, stringers, textures and other fun stuff to make it look extra yummy!

If you take more care in the initial length of your footprint than I have here (mine was about 1/2mm too long) there will not be any overspill on to your mandrel through the pressing process. This bead will need to be cold worked with a diamond coated bit once properly annealed to remove the tiny amount of excess glass between its bottom petals.

I have also been having quite a bit of fun with this shape by treating it like a murrini making mold - the smiley face on my Pumpkin Murrini was form by half filling the flower cavity with black glass. This gorgeous orange colour is CiM Creamsicle which is one of my all time favourite glass colours.

Next I'd like to show you the vanilla fudge (diamond) form. I have found this shape the most difficult to get to grips with despite the fact that at first glance it looks to be quite a simple form without curves or ridges to consider. I have found that it is a rather round about and counter intuitive route that I have needed to take to get consistently crisp looking lines and smooth and uniform bead holes.

Step 1 add a row of small wraps of glass to your mandrel and roll it out on your marver until you have a tube shape long enough to fill the full length of the diamond cavity. In cross section it will look like a rectangle with corners that stick out beyond the cavity shape.

Step 2 super heat the tube until the whole core is liquid and shrinks back in to a rugby ball form. Keep the bead turning to keep the glass centred and even.

Step 3 Allow the bead to cool slightly and then press in to the diamond cavity in handle part of the press. Turn the bead over and press the other side.

Step 4 add two dots top and bottom of the bead fairly near where the bead footprint tapers off on the mandrel.

Step 5 heat the dots on and press the bead again in the diamond cavity in the handle, turn the bead and press again on the other side.

Step 5 repeat step 4 add two dots top and bottom of the bead fairly near where the bead footprint tapers off on the mandrel. The idea is that I am adding glass specifically corners little by little and building up the form gradually.

Step 7 repeat step 5 heat the dots on and press the bead again in the diamond cavity in the handle, turn the bead and press again on the other side.

Keep going with adding tiny dots at the corners and pressing in the diamond cavity until you have neat filled in corners and smooth well formed bead holes that are no longer tapered or sharp.

Step 8 add a generous dollop of glass top and bottom of your flower bead.

Step 9 heat your bead through and place it in the base and press between both halves of the press. This will smooth the shape and push glass down onto the texture plate to give you the waves on the bottom.

This delicious looking toasted caramel/toffee/boiled sugar sweet treat looking glass is CiM Ghee and I will be doing a whole blog post dedicated to this glass and how well it lends itself to confectionery beads in the near future.

I hope that my trio of short tutorials with the Kati was here! La Patisserie Press have helped to inspire. You can view the full list of tutorials that I have published on my blog here.

Have fun! Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads