Looking for advise on Burning Man set up
 

Hi,
I am thinking to set up a working station on my camp during Burning Man festival (http://www.burningman.com/). The idea is to show what is lampworking and how exciting this process is. I searched through this forum but it looks like nobody did it before.
Some challenges I see are
- altitude at 4,000 ft.
- wind and dust in air (I am not planning to work through very windy conditions but it always some quantity of dust anyway)
- dust has a slight alkaline reaction

I am planning to bring HH with regular BBQ propane gas, very basic tools and colors, and work mostly with simple shapes and techniques to get more beads quickly. No kiln, no cleaning, beads from vermiculite are ready to pick up as soon as temperature allows.

I will appreciate any tips on that approach.

Thanks,
Julia

PS: you are not allowed to sell your creations there but people always appreciate giving away :)

you dont post often do you :p

so i love your idea... i think its great.
I wish i had some advise for you - but I can only offer encouragement and beg you to take lots of pictures and share them.

above all else - have fun

Yep, I am reader type :) not writer
Thanks for good wishes.

don't eat the brown acid.
oh wait, wrong era lol.

I'ts not much different the most outside shows,
The lighting can make working during the day difficult, a good lean to style setup can also help if you endup with a bit of a draft.
Visite your local welding shop for some kevlar sleaves, they are cheap and often a knit material.

These are handy to cover your torch head, connectors, and valve on the tank.
Just to cut down on the dust and grit.
Tube socks work just as well but if the metal is hot the elastic can melt on the hot torch.

For demos I like useing a new paint can from the hardware, it makes setup fairly quick.

Some wire or hemp to string the beads on can help ensure they don't get lost by the folks you give them to.

That is a great idea about covering! I added it to my preparation plan. Thanks!

Not sure if there are any safety regulations they have in place, but you may want to check. Would hate for you to get it all set up and a fire marshall come by and shut it down.

Definitely have something to cover your equipment. The dust is hideous. You'll spend years trying to clean everything even with the cover. You shouldn't have a problem with altitude. I torch at 5500 feet.

My concern is giving away beads that have not been annealed so... my advice is to keep your beads small.

If it's a bright day outside, your flame is going to be hard to see. And if it's breezy, plan to swear INSIDE your head... again, keeping your beads small will help. They don't take that long to make so you won't fight with the wind for long on each one.

Be sure to block off the area your flames will be heading in. People are fascinated by what we do and are not smart enough to add 1 + 1 to make it = HOT! Ya don't want anyone strafing themselves with flames.

Just my thoughts and worth about what you paid for them.

Sue

As for keeping people back fondue forks and marhsmows or vienna sausages work well.
though I would not eat when doing glass.

Or you can often get a few feet or police or fire tape from the authoritys, a 1k" roll is usualy around $15 and a little overkill for one setup.
often the fiberglass driveway markers should do the trick to keep people back.

And if someone does get hurt will you have liability insurance?

As far as I know if you go there you automatically agree to take all risks :). There are a lot of activities during that week and a lot of them involves fire.
But I will definitely check rules on that topic and will limit access to the zone one way or another.

Hahaha....I dont think a hothead flame is even close to a liability compared to what else goes on unregulated there :)

They do require a fire permit, there is an application process/

Good luck and let us see those pictures!

I have only been once, but the year I went was a year of epic dust storms and wind all the time, so you will probably want an entirely enclosed space or be willing to give up on torching altogether if conditions are adverse.

No fire marshall, no real safety laws to speak of other than firearms and most explosives being banned.

I didn't know about the fire permit, is that new-ish?

Since the festival has increased in size there might be some new regulations that have gone into effect. I'd check with Pershing County, NV which has a county seat in Lovelock.

Seen a three sided high plexi glass shield taped down on the workstation before and if really windy put an extra one on top. You can all hold it together with clear packing tape. Yeah and you don't want some "acid" freak touching your flame either.
Katja