Best Book for Boro Noob
 

Never tried boro but am motivated by a seeing a class I want to take next spring. I've worked soft glass for about eight years, so what do I need to do to try boro? Can I just buy some and see what it does, or will I be wasting my time if I don't know the tricks? Any decent book recommendations?

What do you want to do with it?
if you plan on using it the same way you use soft glass just pick some up and play with it, it is less prone to shock so it is a bit easier, but you will need more heat and it feels stiff to move by comparison.
if you want to do marbles or implosions then I would recommend drew fritts book on marbles Ron Bears tut on implosions is great. both North star and glass alchemy have news letters on their website's with lots of advice on how best to use their boro colors.

Thanks, Morgan, that's very helpful. I wanted to try beads as a first step, but marbles would be fun too, but I guess the best thing is to just jump in and try it out. I got an email from TAG a little while ago, and they have a sampler that might be a good first buy.

I think off mandrel boro was easier for me when I made the change from soft. You may try Brent Grabers heart video. It is a great shape for many different effects using boro color. Once you learn about the colors you can better choose how to get them in more shapes.

I burned a lot of mandrels before I got good at the bead work with boro.

You can find the videos on Mr. Smileys web site

Thanks Pam, but i would suggest the first video if you've never done boro before... it starts from the very first step and builds from there. ;)

get the samplier and give it a shot. the two main differances in soft and boro is boro works a lot slower. it isnt as runny as soft while you are working it. and boro dosent shock as easy, making it less likely to crack
one word of warning though. when you do try it, you will be hooked. it is very addictive.
Mike

Yea, I've heard about the addiction thing...but what's one more?\\:D/

I always recommend the first video as well. Starting off with A/P color success is a good way to start =)

Play with it for sure! You can translate all your soft bead techniques into boro; some of the the stuff that is different is the preparation for striking, slowing down, and not bouncing your glass in and out of the flame. This is good for soft glass but will mess up your striking colors. Also heat the bead not the mandrel and go for a larger mandrel size. Use lots of clear with the striking colors and layer colors over others. Get a few basic colors and work with them -- like black, white, Elvis red, Extra Light Yellow, butterscotch, aqua, clear rod and frit and a couple of silver colors like One of the Amber Purples in rod and frit or Loki's lipstick (easy to strike and my favorite striking color ever) and Blue moon. I made the mistake when I started and went crazy buying colors and got overwhelmed.

Off mandrel is so great, I LOVE it!
Yes, get Brent's video.
Also Cosmo and Pipyr have some great books and tutorials.

This is a great place to start too:
Wave bead tutorial: http://lampworketc.com/forums/showth...+bead+tutorial
Boro Newbie Thread: http://lampworketc.com/forums/showth...ht=boro+newbie

best book
Contemporary Lampworking volume 1 & 2
by Bandhu Durnham
covers so much
my bible.

Thanks for all the help, everyone. I have ordered a boro sampler and have the Durnham book, so I'm going to consult that for the basics.