Hello Raymond & Katie,
Your ventilated lampworking bench turned out so well. Since I am a neat freak I just love how it looks, so well organized, just beautiful.
In looking at the pictures of Katie torching at the bench I instantly thought "She needs a Creation Station!" I have one and they are so comfortable, have you considered installing one for Katie?
Have a very happy Holiday,
Regards,
Mary

Nice-looking setup there! What a thoughtful and kind husband you are Raymond. DWP is a lucky gal, and you two seem very happy! Can't wait to see her handiwork.

I have a DH2B (aka: fiance :grin:) who is awesome and helped me build a table in the garage. I may start a thread and post some photos once it is all painted and done!

Thanks again, gals.

And Mary...we both did not like the concept of the Creation Station for ourselves.

Not that it's bad or anything (as evidensed by the fellow lampworkers who own one, and love it), but we didn't like the fact that the arm rests stuck out over the edge of the table like it does.

The parts nearest the torch are nice (to give you some stability when doing intricate stuff), but we found that it was not really needed if we were properly positioned on the seat & table.

Let me explain: If we sat lower on the bench, then we would also be lower on the table. (The torch would be higher in our line of sight). And if we raised the torch 1.5" inches off the table (a great tip we found in Corrina's book, "Passing the Flame"), it enabled us to place her elbows flat on the table, while keeping her arms straight to the working part of the torch. And THIS was the trick to good stability.

Like I mentioned before, we also made some nice elbow pads out of the extra material.

Now my DWP sits lower to the table, and we also raised the torch itself 1.5" inched off the table. It works!

The Creation Station is nice, but we would need to re-adjust ourselves to it. The way I see it, why re-adjust ourselves to a piece of equipment...when we can custom-make a piece of equipment that is adjusted to ourselves, and gives us the optimal positioning. (For our size and frames).

The Creation Station is a great tool. For some, it is EXACTLY what they needed. But for others, it is not. But in the end...it is just another tool in the lampworkers arsenal.

We hope this post helps someone out, especially the VENTILATION STUFF. But sadly, we are still seeing soooooooooooooooooooooooo many folks with "ghetto-homey-don't-you-know-me" unsafe ventilation systems...and no one is mentioning this to them. I read, "Oooooo, that's cute". "Wow, I'm sure you're so happy with your new set-up". Your little corner of love is gorgeous", etc, etc... But yet the ventilation system is totally absent, as are the safety comments. (I guess they don't want to be the one that hurts someone by "bursting their bubble")..

I so much want to say something - but I also don't want to be glued to my PC to police all the errors. So I guess I'll do my part by posting our bead table journey, and hope someone reads it and takes our (and others) advice.

Thanks again to everyone who responded.

In Christ: Raymond

Still helpful 11+ years later!