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Old 2015-07-17, 9:04pm
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artwhim artwhim is offline
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Join Date: Jan 10, 2006
Location: Central Illinois
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Is it breaking where your two sides meet? If so, you may not be giving it a good enough melt before blowing. You may be getting the outside melted, but not the inside which leaves a weakness that can be exploited once blown. After you build both walls and join them, it takes a bit of heat to get everything to melt. Mine seem to shrink a bit at this point because the walls are evening out in the melting process. I like to get a good melt and shape on the base bead before I add more decoration. It can probably be done collectively, but I have the best luck with creating a good base bead first.

IMO, if you are new to hollows, besides making some with transparent, you could make some on a regular mandrel without the blow hole. Learning how the glass behaves when in the hollow form will help you be able to read the glass. Once you can get a good hollow, then add the blow pipe.

White and ivory can be more challenging because they are so soft. I actually love making hollows with white because they flow together so easily, but it does add a layer of challenge compared to using transparent glass.
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