I suggest a "frugal tips" section? - Page 5

Fine Folly Glassworks · #**121** 2011-04-20, 4:26pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by tammydownunder

Kristina, I know that you are a fan of the Devardi glass but I have to honestly say, I think it is a real false economy. It is a very inconsistent, shocky glass that has compatibility issues. I don't want to spend all day working on a bead or bead set only to find out the next day that everything is cracking. Plus I hate shocky glass.

That is not to say that other glasses don't have compatibility issues when worked with other glass but it that is infrequent. And, yes, there are some colors that are shocky but I can name them on one hand. About 98% of the time, I can just pick up a rod and shove it right in the flame.

Frantz and the other great vendors often have their glass on sale for an affordable price. Plus, for those of you in the USA, there is always the option of buying glass in the garage sale.

Now, a better frugal tip would be to use up what glass you already have before you "have" to buy more.

I do understand what you mean... and my work is mostly decoration on the surface, so I do not face the issues you are listing when I use their glass. I sure agree that the level of work you put in must have a tried and true glass.

My main reason for the Devardi recommendation is their tools for this 'Frugal Thread'... their prices are just great, so I wanted to let people know. Thank you for chiming in on the glass issue!

rainygrrl · #**122** 2011-05-03, 10:04pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by tammydownunder

Now, a better frugal tip would be to use up what glass you already have before you "have" to buy more.

Ummm... I keep trying to remind myself of this. So true!

ElementalsDesign · #**123** 2011-05-03, 11:48pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiaH

Thanks everyone for all the awesome ideas. I am new to lampworking and searched all over online looking for something to store my glass rods in. I wasn't finding much. Then one day while wandering the isles at our local home improvement store I came across plastic downspout material. I brought a couple sections home and cut it up. In the beginning I stacked it neatly in a cardboard box. Eventually I found these great scrapbooking cubes for 40% off at Michaels Craft store. I turned the cubes so the shelves run vertically and the downspout material fits perfectly in it. Best part is I can keep adding to it as I out grow the space.

I am going to try to add a picture but this is my first attempt uploading a photo at Lampworketc. - keeping my fingers crossed that this works.

Lia

Lia.. that is brilliant (and the photo turned out great too!

~Rachel

ElementalsDesign · #**124** 2011-05-03, 11:54pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by rainygrrl

Ummm... I keep trying to remind myself of this. So true!

Roberta.. me too, but then my grandmother's voice ends up whispering in my ear (although she was talking about fabric, same dif.. just her obsession ;} "if some is good, more is better!"

~Rachel

Jo Ann · #**125** 2011-05-04, 5:08am

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiaH

Thanks everyone for all the awesome ideas. I am new to lampworking and searched all over online looking for something to store my glass rods in. I wasn't finding much. Then one day while wandering the isles at our local home improvement store I came across plastic downspout material. I brought a couple sections home and cut it up. In the beginning I stacked it neatly in a cardboard box. Eventually I found these great scrapbooking cubes for 40% off at Michaels Craft store. I turned the cubes so the shelves run vertically and the downspout material fits perfectly in it. Best part is I can keep adding to it as I out grow the space.

I am going to try to add a picture but this is my first attempt uploading a photo at Lampworketc. - keeping my fingers crossed that this works.

Lia

OMGosh! This is exactly what I have been looking for. I too searched and searched online forever.....Thank you, Thank you and THANK YOU for info and the pic......now i know exactly how to set mine up.

rainygrrl · #**126** 2011-05-04, 9:35pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by RCB23

Roberta.. me too, but then my grandmother's voice ends up whispering in my ear (although she was talking about fabric, same dif.. just her obsession ;} "if some is good, more is better!"

~Rachel

Ooh, it's hard to argue with a grandmother...

28676bhe · #**127** 2013-06-22, 8:55pm

Buy a tall jar of olives - eat the olives! - and use the jar for your bead release. Just keep filling it up from the original container. It will be tall enough to dip your mandrels in without wasting any release.

When you use downspouts for storage, take a 1x1 piece of wood and place nail it or secure it about 3" back from the front edge of the downspouts to lift the front of them up. That way, your glass is always on an angle backwards and less likely to slip out and fall on the floor.

Harbor Freight sells a cheap welder's apron made from leather. It will save your clothes from many, many burns!

Look on Craig's list for oxy cons. In a lot of states, it is illegal to personally sell them for home oxygen use , so you should be able to pick one up for $150.00 or less (a 5 lpm).

28676bhe · #**128** 2013-06-22, 9:06pm

One more:

Carry a really good magnet with you when you shop in thrift stores, flea markets, etc. True stainless steel will not attract a magnet. Cheap steel will. If it sticks, don't buy it!

ingetraud · #**129** 2013-06-22, 9:09pm

My new favorite store is Daiso. Most things are $1.50. I have found many great stainless steel items: chopsticks, frit trays, tweezers, spoons, pokers.

tammydownunder · #**130** 2013-06-22, 10:40pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by 28676bhe

One more:

Carry a really good magnet with you when you shop in thrift stores, flea markets, etc. True stainless steel will not attract a magnet. Cheap steel will. If it sticks, don't buy it!

I also use a magnet on Sterling Silver. If the magnet sticks, RUN!!!

Janie · #**131** 2013-08-20, 2:23pm

I use an old George Foreman grill I got at an attic sale for $5 as a rod warmer. It heats both top and bottom and sits on a little rack right on my work table, under the rack is my rod rest. I've had this one for probably 8 or 9 years all ready and it works great.

ESC · #**132** 2013-08-20, 4:25pm

Get a can opener that removes the ridge at the can top. The removed lid has a lip that controls frit easily and you can stack them to keep dust out instead of pouring them back into the container. Write on the lid what frit it is if you have a lot of them (use a sharpie)
Use a car wash chamois to clean your rods. No flammable liquids, no smell, lasts indefinitely.

Eileen · #**133** 2013-08-20, 4:55pm

The lids from frozen juice are similar & I also use those if I want a flatter surface than the aluminum can ones.

KJohn · #**134** 2013-08-20, 9:05pm

Good idea, I could never picture how aluminum can lids were useful, perhaps it is due to my can opener? The frozen juice ones do have a lip. I wish I had known sooner, but I still have one....

Metamorphi · #**135** 2013-08-21, 6:00am

I make a lot of my own frit, and I wanted to sieve it out into different sizes. Frit sieves were too expensive, so I went to a kitchen store and bought three skimming sieves with differing grades of mesh. Hey presto, my frit is now sieved out into three different sizes , #1, #0 and "powder".

All my glass is stored in a factory seconds bookshelf (absolute bargain, just scratched and chipped in places and is so well constructed is holding 70kg of glass without any problems) The glass is sorted into cut down pvc tube (pipe). I got the pipe for free as I found it parked in unused space between two factories and the owner said I could have it

Granted it was icky to clean out because it was full of dust and bugs, but I all I had to do was cut it to size and file the edges a bit and now I have a great storage rack for my glass. Think this has been said, but old pickle and jam jars, boiled to remove the labels are great for holding glass rods, sometimes second hand stores also have boxes of jars all cleaned and going cheap.

FosterFire · #**136** 2013-08-21, 9:05am

New tip: I bought one of those little cups that are for drinking saki. I turned it over and it makes a great little frit holder. It's ceramic and very sturdy, so it's safe on my work table.

jhamilton117 · #**137** 2013-08-21, 1:59pm

Bacon bits jars are a good size for bead release as well, and yum!

Devardi is fantastic! Great tools! Great prices! And great customer service as well as fast shipping!

Oh and they now sell boro too!!

I really need to post my rave reviews on there marble molds, graphite paddles, and hot fingers holding claw thing lol $10! The cheapest Chinese claws I've found were about $35 more and had terrible reviews.
Devardi gave me a free tool with my order and some new color and clear boro tube to play with!

Blue Weaver · #**138** 2013-08-21, 7:53pm

Super thread to start! Thank you everyone for these handy tips.

Anne Londez · #**139** 2013-08-24, 11:34am

I use sawn in 2 soda cans as frit trays. The half with the hole in it has a built in mandrel hole ! The only downside is I don't drink soda so I only get them when someone leaves one in the vicinity.

For storing rods, I use the thick carboard tubes that fabrics are wrapped around in fabric stores. Saw them into rod size pieces and there you go. Most fabric store don't recycle them so they'll give them away easily. They're thick enough that I've also used pieces as table raisers.

Trish915 · #**140** 2013-08-26, 1:59pm

Janie, you mentioned a George Foreman grill for a rod warmer... do you just lay your rods on the grill or do you need to cover it with anything? I see them at Goodwill quite often and that seems an excellent idea!

KJohn · #**141** 2013-10-05, 1:59pm

I just got a pair of scissors that have four blades, used for making decorative paper fringe. Cheaper than a shredding machine, and will work for recycled and lightweight packing material.

silverlilly1 · #**142** 2013-10-05, 2:14pm

I got a four-high office filing cabinet (has doors that tilt up and slide in rather than drawers) for $40 from a local secondhand shop. They're regularly about $600! Used cut up cardboard tubes horizontally for rod storage. Carpet centers have big ones that are good for your comonly-used colours that they'll tend to give away if you want a few. Awesome glass storage, closes up to keep out dust, and has wheels so it can be rolled to where it's needed!

glass obsessed · #**143** 2013-10-05, 4:08pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trish915

Janie, you mentioned a George Foreman grill for a rod warmer... do you just lay your rods on the grill or do you need to cover it with anything? I see them at Goodwill quite often and that seems an excellent idea!

I do not know how to use the George Foreman for warming rods but was given an old mug warmer that I use. I put a ceramic mug on an mug warmer and put my rods in the mug. Works nicely.

Eileen · #**144** 2015-04-13, 3:21pm

DH made me some shorts holders today (I bought six pounds of them recently) and I think they will be an asset to my workbench, so I'm sharing.
Scrap wood, and some scrap PVC cut to about 3", and the PVC was glued into a circle which leaves another space in the center. The whole thing was glued down to the wood (he used PVC glue for the tubes, and my hot glue gun to glue it to the wood).
I think it will make it more likely for me to use the shorts now that I can find them more easily.

2DogsPhoto · #**145** 2015-04-13, 3:26pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eileen

DH made me some shorts holders today (I bought six pounds of them recently) and I think they will be an asset to my workbench, so I'm sharing.
Scrap wood, and some scrap PVC cut to about 3", and the PVC was glued into a circle which leaves another space in the center. The whole thing was glued down to the wood (he used PVC glue for the tubes, and my hot glue gun to glue it to the wood).
I think it will make it more likely for me to use the shorts now that I can find them more easily.

Oh! I recently got a lot of shorts from a lady clearing it and this is such a great idea! I currently have them sorted my color family in mason jars, but they're not very accessible.

PattyK · #**146** 2015-04-13, 5:35pm

That's a great idea Eileen!

And thanks for bumping up this thread .. there's a ton of good info in here!

Chocake · #**147** 2015-04-13, 7:43pm

One of my absolute must have go to tools is a cheese knife I bought at a thrift store for .25. It's a paddle; it's a shaper; it's a blunt poker; it's a turnip twaddler. Really, Ronco could make a fortune marketing it...

My other great gadget is a piece of 1/4 copper tubing that DH cut to make me a smile press. He pot a wooden dowel on it for a handle.

As for off bench thrift, I make my DD acne wash with 1 part apple cider vinegar and 1 part raw honey, with a little aloe mixed in. She dabs it on out breaks, lets it sit while she brushes her teeth and fusses with her hair, then rinses it off. She swears that works faster then clearisel and doesn't smell any worse.

lpryde · #**148** 2015-06-01, 7:08pm

All these ideas are great, thanks. I have just one. When I have a bead that goes awry either burns or scums or some such thing, instead of tossing it in the water jar, I make an inside out bead. I heat up the glass till droopy then hold another dipped mandrel below it and wind the glass onto it so the outside becomes the inside and the non burnt non scummy side is now the outside. Works well and often looks like an organic bead or gravity bead.

bubblenbead · #**149** 2015-07-03, 3:00pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by beadsoncypress

what is a short? If mine get too short, I attach them onto a clear rod and use it ALL!

I do the same! And shorts of stringers get melted back onto the end of the corresponding colour full rod and re-pulled

bubblenbead · #**150** 2015-07-03, 3:05pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lea Zinke

I use all the chips and shards and scraps for end-of-days beads, lovely tradition passed down by the Italian glasshouses who would make end-of-day doodads for the tourist trade!

For those of you who purchased the new Copper Dichroic -- don't throw the copper lining away! I use it for cutout/inclusions like leaves and dragonflies, etc. Twice the bang for the buck!

Thanks for the fun thread, Robin!

Cool idea. On the subject of copper backed dichro, maybe we could explain to the supplier that it can be just posted in a cheap envelope instead of a protective box as it doesn't matter if it gets flaked off, we are going to remove it anyway! My last sheet cost me almost as much again in postage to get to New Zealand, as they ever so conscientiously sent it in a pizza-sized box to protect it! I would rather have saved on the postage