Blowing glass

[psybercillin]

This is something i would really like to get into but i have no idea where to start! Does anyone know any good glass blowing links or guides?

I think there is a class in san francisco somewhere.

my friends learned from other friends.

it's mostly practice and learning the different techniques.

not hard at all.

[mossback]

Eugene , oregon is suposed to be the mecca of glass blowing.maybe try a search there, i have a friend that blows (sorry ha haha ) i can ask him if you have no luck.

eugene makes some sick pieces for sure.

[hawk]

Hey does this guy Eugene have a site? sounds nice.

I have met glassblowers that give lessons. For a price I'm not sure, but I think it was like 50 bucks a session or something.
PB

[maliki]

Ive searched high and low for the same information.
as yet to no avail. Ive found some things, but nothing definative like the topia. I think our best bet is classes or books.

http://hotglasscolor.com/

thx

Is it safe to use a MAPP gas torch to smooth the edge of a glass pipe? I'm worried about it cracking. Could propane work?

Edit: The pipe is pyrex, it should be fine right?

(Message edited by farmerfran on February 03, 2005)

[life]

any time a glass has already been worked and cooled properly in a kiln it's gonna have a risk of cracking when reheated. i don't know any glassblower who would ever gaurantee touch up or fixing work.

i don't know any glassblower who would ever gaurantee touch up or fixing work.

my buddy up the road owns a headshop, if you buy from him, and it breaks, and is reasonably fixable, he'll fix it free

i just dropped one off to him today, and have brought em to him many times, they are never quite the same... but they are whole again

[life]

yeah my friends will fix broken pieces (of their friends) and even do it for free, but they still wont gaurantee the work. often they come out just fine but there is still no way to say it won't break from reheating. glass is touchy that way.

I registered just so I could answer this thread I'm a glass worker and your piece is made of boro, a handtorch won't get hot enough to melt the glass, but it will get hot enough to stress the glass meaning there's a good chance you'll end up with a bunch of broken pieces of glass instead of a pipe with a rough edge. If you have a local glasshead near you they should have a kiln and a torch, in which case they can smooth that edge for you.

Hope that helps a bit

Right on!

Welcome to topia!

[mycojay]

do not try to heat it heating glass without bringing it up to workable temp about 1200 F weill immediately cause spider cracks and as you chase the crack with the flame it will run. When i blow glass Ive had it happen due to impatience and taking the piece out of the kiln too soon. Boy does it suck when youve been working on a piece anll day and get immpatient or tired. Them WHAMMY crack crack boom. Ive thrown more than one piece of glass in my day.

I was thumbing through an old college book and found this chapter on glass blowing. There have been many questions on glassblowing and I thought this might be valuable for the Mycotopiates who like torchwork. Sorry some are crooked...the scanner is a challenge sometimes.

Some of the info is a little out of date as this was a 1989 version of the book. Enjoy.

nice,
i always wanted to try it,
love watching the glassblowers at work.
amazing stuff,
thx for sharing

moved from General

[eternalfrost]

ive been doing torchwork for about a year now. check out thegldg.com its a great glass working forum if your really interested in getting into it.

you can get a super bare bones set up for making soft glass beads for under 100 bucks. check out a hothead torch. it runs on plain mapp gas from the store. will let you get a feel for it without blowing loads of cash.

to answer some of the other questions... pipes are made out of borosilicate (pyrex) glass which requires a higher working temp. you will need a fuel/oxy torch to melt it, not just a brazing type torch.

if you do melt it back smooth, you will need to anneal it after. which is the process of 'baking' the glass to allow the thermal stresses built up from having some parts molton and some not to flow out of the pipe. if you do not do this, someday down the road the glass will end up cracking by itself.

[shimmy]

i dont know if anyone else has said this but check your local community college if you have them all of mine in my area have glass blowing classes

[SquaresandCubes]

This is a sketch of a buddy doing some glass work