I wish I had done this a few months ago when the pound was stronger. Today I have ordered a bead press from Jim Moore Glass Tools in the United States. I baulked a bit at the shipping cost of $105 but it looks like it'll be worth it.

The machine will enable me to add silver cores to big hole beads like these so that they can be used on bracelet systems like Pandora, Biagi and Love Links. Basically, you buy a chunky sterling silver chain with a robust clasp and the beads, with their big holes, fit over the chain; this enables you to vary the beads according to your mood, outfit and/or budget.

You can core these manually using annealed sterling silver tube and dapping blocks that I already have for riveting. I have wasted quite a lot of time in trying to get an efficient system going. At the moment, it takes me 45 minutes to do one and it didn't look that great. Hopefully this machine will automate the system and speed things up a bit.