Something fun especially for newbies...
 

I just typed this up and wanted to share..It really is how I started and I am somewhere between #3 and #4.



So you want to torch???


Very basic set-up;
#1 Didymium glasses.. These do not protect your eyes completely from flying glass , they only protect against soda flare.
#2. Hot Head torch
#3. One pound propane canister
#4. A few glass rods
#5. Two fiber blankets to place your beads in between
#6, Bead release
#7 A few mandrels

This set up is not desirable because you do not have proper ventilation, you do not have a kiln to anneal your beads. Putting them into a fiber blanket is just a holding area before they get to a kiln for batch annealing. You do not have any way to attach HH to a bench or table so you may have to set it in a bowl of sand or?? So this set up is very incomplete to say the least…
Cost would be around….$125.00 Give or take.

Basic Set-up #2
Same as above but you have added a floor fan to your bench/table and a made a clamp to attach HH torch to your table and purchased a bulk hose, and BBQ tank . This set up is still undesirable because you still do not have a ventilation that is set up to really protect you. You still do not have a kiln.
You have now added another $125.00 give or take. No glass orders, tools etc. Bare bones still.

Basic set up #3
You now decide to add a homemade stove pipe annealer…it will work for the time being. You decide to make a homemade Barley box with a high velocity fan for drying carpets or? that you pick up on sale at Harbor Freight….

Now you’re getting there…..
You have just added another $300.00 give or take depending on how much of this you did yourself and how much material you were able to scrounge up around the homestead….still no glass orders, no tool orders, no frit orders etc…bare bones.


OOPS!!! Now you are blowing fuses!! DRATS, DH wants his garage back, You want more glass, tools, frit, silver foil, and your own little space just for you! What to do????

Set up #4.
You decide to build a cute small shed studio, professionally installed ventilation system , upgrade to a Lynx and buy a nice generator, buy more glass, tools, Have an electrician come in and wire your studio, buy a nice kiln, build a glass storage rack, order more glass, supplies, join Etsy, make up business cards, get a resale license….no looking back now.
And you have only spent an additional…...wait for it…..here it is….

Another $3,000.00 to $9,000.00 or more…
Lorraine Chandler

LOL! I had a separate studio waiting for me. I bought a kiln first off--most expensive. I'm still a little iffy on ventilation, but that is this summer's project...The new torch still has to wait. Daughter, Ariana, designed my business cards for a class project.

Celeste

Hi Celeste..It doesn't seem like so much because we do it a little bit over time but when you start putting it on paper..wow! adds up fast..Hehe

Good luck this summer...

Lorraine

I can't even begin to tabulate how much money I have invested in this.........well it's a business now. More thousands than I care to admit to.

This is the thing here...We are talking thousands of $$$$. I have people get excited when they see my beads and ask if they can learn. They are surprised at the cost for classes and that they have to travel to get to one.

Then they ask how much it costs to start making beads...I say thousands if you want to do it comfortably and safely with a goodly amount of supplies.

I don't think they believe me.:lol:#-o

It was cheaper to own horses...It was cheaper to do watercolors, it was cheaper to do pottery....I thought all of those things were soooo expensive back when I was doing them...Hummph.

Lorraine

You're right, it's the spreading out the expenses that makes it palatable...I sold single beads on a headpin with two crystals and put them on cell phone charms. I told my friend that I was selling them for $5.00 (and people were happy to pay that) and her response was " you charge $5.00 for one bead?!!"

Celeste

Great post you started, Lorraine! Very timely - there's another recent thread asking how much it costs where Kalera and Pam had some great inputs.

A friend of mine has been interested in getting started, and, if she does, wants to bypass the HH and start out with an oxy/propane torch. I invited her over for a lesson and talked with her about what kinds of things she'd need. After asking me a couple of questions and considering for a moment (she'd also priced things on her own), she observed that it would take about $2000 (including ventilation) to add lampworking to her studio. She's thinking hard about it...

I started out with #1, bypassed #2, went straight to something between #3 and #4 and am now basically at #4.

I'm like the three of you.... incremental build up for me, too.

Linda

lol, I got my HH,a few glass rods and basic tools for Christmas, over the rest of break i took over part of the basement, built a ventilation system and workbench and got to work. I already had a kiln for glass fusing... so now i want bulk fuel and an etsy, oh, and a bit more skill! lol

I started out fusing - so had 4 kilns.. should'a shut up and stayed happy... lol

Now - I've got the HH torch, tank, lots of glass (I've got great wholesale accounts) but..... still "make-do" on the ventilation.
Still no lessons - but want and need them horribly!!

Dang - those little beads are expensive to make!!

Great post!! Yep yep... thousands... and counting. LOL!

Yeah, my mistake was keeping track of it all in a spreadsheet. Had I done that with my quilting years ago I might have had a clue. I still have a closet of fabric sitting there from that venture. I keep saying I'm collecting all of it for retirement when I'll be broke. Hmmm....maybe that's why I still haven't retired. Too many expensive toys. Thank goodness hubby has an equal number of toys.

Well I haven't spent nearly that much but... I hope my DH never reads this. He has asked me before how much money I have invested and I just try to change the subject.
It's just like crack, you start out with just a taste, then it's all you can think about, your searching in the garage and junk drawers for things to use and before you know it your lying to friends and family about where all your money went!:-$ LMAO

That is kind of like when I was showing dogs - do not, I mean never, ever add up all the money you spend!:-$[-X

I started out with a kiln (we got it about two years before I ever made a bead). We got a great deal from a friend who tried lampworking and decided it wasn't her thing. I had wanted to try lampworking and we decided we could use the Caldera for PMC even if I never picked up a torch. Talk about backasswards!:smile:

Peg

waiting for my kiln, paid by Paypal, from income from my "other business" that doesn't even have a real website. So far this is my biggest expense in one go. I really want to get a shed to set up a more real studio. Where I'm torching now (open carport) I get eaten by mosquitoes and occasionally attacked by (our own) cats. However, moving to a shed would require real ventilation that I currently don't have to worry about (3 open walls and almost constant wind. Cracking beads is more of a problem than ventilation).

And well, it's my plant benches that are in the way of where the shed (DH wants one too) is going to go. How to get it there is another problem, it will have to be lifted over the house, and we both want metal sheds. We're talking about a big crane to get it there and hope for the ground not to collapse (lava tubes) and the crane fall on the house. I'm not sure this can even be done (there's some physics and geophysics involved here). I may move to the back lanai (porch), more ventilation there as long as we have any wind (our house contains a natural wind tunnel), and being out of most of the rain. Concrete floor, but still a wood wall.

My husband and sons would much rather buy me welding gloves, hoses, BBQ tanks and other assorted tools than other things. They were ecstatic when I started requesting glass equipment and they could go buy my stuff at the local hardware store. This year, they got me Val Cox frit and her book. Still better than clothes etc. But now we're going to have to get into the serious money because I need the decent ventilation, and I want to start working with the silver glasses, foil and wire...

I still wouldn't have any glass set-up, but I received a small inheritance and spent some of it on my kiln and starter kit.

Celeste

Nooo... can't keep track of it... if I did that, hubby might see it... (*hides*)

Yeah! Those darn hubbies..Whats up with that?. 8-[ Giggle
Lorraine

ohhhhh, marry an astronomer. They can outspend us glass ho's hands down!

Their telescopes are never big enough....

Linda

Linda...:lol::lol::lol::lol:

:wink: Lorraine

But wait! It's all good because I think my 25 Etsy sales in the past 6 months has paid for all this stuff...and then some!
Ha ha hahahahahahh ah aha ha aha ha !!!!

Eh, what, I'm not the only one married to an astronomer?!

Come to think of it, that 14" Meade cost more than all I spent so far (on lampworking equipment, not on beads). - and that 14" Meade was used in quite a few Observational Astronomy classes at UH Hilo. But, I didn't just hoard the beads either, I sold quite a few of them.

thanks for the explanation! (I admit that by education I'm an astronomer too)

I'm soooo glad I found your post!

I'm not sure I even want to go there. We both work full time, still. He still does in spite of type I diabetes. Feel yourself lucky if you're not providing everything for everybody in your family. I did a some point. The situation I'm in now may change at any time. I feel lucky that my husband takes care of his (type I) diabetes well most of the time. I hope he can keep his job because I'm not sure mine is going to last past 2012 at this point (and you don't really want to know all the details.).

When I get a glass or tool order I ask my DH how much he spends on beer and cigarettes a week and what does he have to show for it.....he just goes away and leaves me alone.....HA!!!

Cool, Maren! I thought you might be an astronomer yourself. Is it your husband's Meade or yours? If it's yours, you've got a double addiction! :-D My husband has a 20' Celestron and it's not enough....more glass for me! In all seriousness, I wish the best for your husband.

beadsoncypress - That's good!!

Linda

***BUMP***

This is a very good thread for newbies so I am bumping it up. Lampworking is very expensive if you really "get into it":hide:

Lorraine

Isn't that the truth, Lorraine. I've never seen so much money fly out of my wallet before.

I'm very, very fortunate in that my husband is a plumber and a gasfitter, and he also does a fair bit of electrical work, AND he knows a lot of people in the trades so anything he couldn't do himself like build the ventilation, he could get it done for cost. I got a LOT of stuff for cheap or free, the technical stuff that is most important but least fun to spend money on. :D

Even with this benefit, it still cost me thousands to get set up. Fortunately I had the money; my husband had been receiving Christmas bonuses for several years and he always gave me some, but there wasn't anything I ever wanted to really spend my money on until I discovered glass.

I remember seeing a lady on Etsy wanting to do glass as a "quick way to make money". I think she figured she could just get a torch and start cranking out the fifty dollar bead sets. Me and HelensHarvest gave her the heads-up as to equipment requirements, costs, etc and she sounded a little miffed about it all.

It is indeed getting to be a very expensive hobby. I am finding this out firsthand. My son recently took his first "real" class and now wants to go from a Hothead to a dual fuel torch. This means ventilation, torch, oxycon, and propane tank....YIKES!!!! However, the enjoyment and satisfaction that he feels is priceless!!!

I remember saving up for my starters kit and HotHead torch, going back a whole seven months ago. :) I think I spent $50 on an assortment of glass and thought that it was a huge amount. Ah, the good ol' days.

About 2 months ago, I decided that I wanted to step up from the HotHead and put a list together of the things I'd need. I told my husband, "The torch I was is 'only' $167." I just didn't tell him that all the stuff I needed to make it usable would be another $700. Hunh. I guess he'll find out soon enough.

I started on a hothead and a few basic tools/glass for about $250
then 3 months later I upgraded to a minor $300 (australian) a year after that I upgraded to a minor/midrange $700 and got my first kiln $1690!!! Add hoses $60 regs: oxy $120 propane $80 the 30 or so boro rods I have at about $10 australian a rod plus my tool and glass stash and you have quite an expensive hobby!
lucky I am a daddy's girl and he paid for most of it for me!!!