TYRONEEZEKIEL Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Hello, Tomorrow will be my first attempt at rolling stars, and I am curious to know if I could use poppy seeds or something similar for cores. I figure since they are very small they would not take up much space of the star, as I am only making little 3" shells currently. Would the seeds not be heavy enough to efficiently pick up comp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xtreme Pyro Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Hello, Tomorrow will be my first attempt at rolling stars, and I am curious to know if I could use poppy seeds or something similar for cores. I figure since they are very small they would not take up much space of the star, as I am only making little 3" shells currently. Would the seeds not be heavy enough to efficiently pick up comp? It would seem to me that poppy seeds might be a bit too small for this purpose, although I've never tried it. I use either millet or # 7 1/2 lead shot as cores. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYRONEEZEKIEL Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 I think it may be worth a shot. Thats what I was worried about too was how small they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guntoteninfadel Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Can't hurt to try. Let us know how it works out. Like others I use small lead shot or those commercial d/e. did find some 2mm glass beads that work good too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 A lot of people start with lead. Basically, it's an easy core to learn on. When they get it down, nearly everyone switches away from it. Starting on something lighter may be more challenging, but hopefully the learning curve wont be that much steeper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Potassiumchlorate Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Aside from the reaction you get when you want lead shots for fireworks (in Europe, that is) I'd say that it's sometimes a bit hard to get the composition attached to the shots to start with. But once that works, it's the easiest way. If you make metallic stars, the shots are consumed when the stars burn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guntoteninfadel Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 http://www.ebay.com/itm/1000pcs-2mm-Czech-Glass-Seed-bead-Jewelry-Making-B147-/180791876864?pt=Craft_Beads&hash=item2a18091d00 I used some of these this year. worked great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYRONEEZEKIEL Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 http://www.ebay.com/...=item2a18091d00 I used some of these this year. worked great! Really? Those bad boys are super cheap. I will have to try those. I did pick up some millet today, but the only kind the shop had was millet spray, which was full of stems and trash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guntoteninfadel Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 you just have to go slow at first. once you get them up to about 4mm it goes much faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan999ification Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 a good way to build the first layer on light small seed is to put them in a flat pan,plate,dish you get the idea, it must have straight walls high enough to hold the seed when you move it and the seed should not cover the bottom completely.what i do is put the seed in my dish spray them with water if using an aqueous binder and shake in a circular motion on a flat surface, then put some comp in the middle and shake again,bringing them into the middle evry now and then to take where you have applied comp or water, repeat, if you put too much on it will fall off as it does not bond as hard as rolling but to get them to a few mm's makes rolling easier, i hand roll mine a hundred at a time and cant build up from tiny cores in my jar it may be different with a dedicated roller with different maintainable speeds.another solution would be to use small cut star cores either the same comp you roll over or a compatible colour comp, with square cut colour stars a charcoal streamer over it will give a colour tip and charcoal tail once a few mm has burned away, you wont get a perfect colour cange but it looks good to me.then you could always granulate some comp and use that as cores once dry.c6 with 20% mgal makes a lovely cut core for streamer comps that ends with some nice long hanging sparks that fades before the spherical shape of the break has gone dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justhininabouti Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I'm not a great star roller, but I use mustard seed. Cheap, good start size, and no ulgy fallout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackthumb Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Small Tapioca pearls...they are starch and are round...work great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justhininabouti Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Small Tapioca pearls...they are starch and are round...work great! That's a cool idea! cheaper than mustard seed too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TYRONEEZEKIEL Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 Interesting. I need to find small tapioca. I have thought of that before, but I have only seen some that is too big for cores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seymour Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Are mustard seeds really all that expensive? I'd say poppy seeds would be a fairly good core, and if you have access to California poppies they would be one of the easier seeds to roll on due to size and relative roundness. If you want to learn the general techniques on something a bit easier, whole pepper corns are much bigger, thus easier, but also costlier and have a larger volume of inertness. In largish batches I personally like to granulate mix through a screen or a fine grater in to the roller and roll "coreless" stars. It's not that hard once you've got rolling down and the feel for the correct moisture content of the mix that you granulate. In smaller batches I just don't roll stars, or I cut cores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts