When is it too cold to work outside?

[cherylsart]

I live in the mountains and it's starting to cool down here. I'm glad for that because I'm not a fan of hot weather but my HH is set up outside. I do have some windbreaks and such around the torch, but I'm wondering when it will be too cold to work out there? I'd like to avoid the whole idea of bringing the torch into the apartment, since it is a rental. Any advice? I don't have my own kiln yet so my beads are going into a bucket of perlite, and I'm concerned about them shocking from the cold breeze before I get them in. Maybe I could use a crockpot thats keeping the perlite hot? If I can get that up on the table and get the bead right into it before the wind hits it, do you think that would work? Thanks!

Cheryl

[MikeAurelius]

If you have to bundle up to torch, it's too cold.

Please don't consider torching inside your apartment - it could be grounds to get you evicted - many apartment supers (not to mention the other residents) would take a dim view to an open torch being run next-door.

[sarabu]

If you put your bead in the perlite too hot, it will deform/pick up the perlite texture. You're supposed to let the orange glow go out of it- but I can't tell you how to factor in the breeze. I can't beleive it would work for you, though- sorry
Sarah

[cherylsart]

Don't worry Mike, I'm not going to chance working inside the apartment. It's just not worth the risks. I do have the option of working in my Dad's garage, so I may do that. It's not too cold to torch yet; if I work in the middle of the day into the early afternoon I can still get a bit of torch time in. After that I'll just have to put it away till spring, unless I work in Dad's garage. Thanks for the help Mike and Sarah!

[Lara]

I work in my dad's garage too. It is pretty cold, but I have done it for the last several winters. The best thing to found to keep me warm was a heated foot pad that my mom found at a office supply store. It just takes the chill off the concrete on my feet. Lots of layers too.

[Moth]

I bundle up to torch in the winter and if I didn't I'd be out of work 3 or 4 months of the year. Then again, I have a kiln so maybe Mike just meant that if you have to bundle up...it's too cold to work without a kiln to put your beads right into.

I can't imagine that putting your beads into vermiculite when it is really cold outside is the best idea. I would go into my dad's garage at least.

Not in the apartment though, but you already know that.

~~Mary

[pmoores]

Well if your garage isnt big why need get the smalless indoor portable heater you can find.

The smalless model is:

http://www.4siteoutdoors.com/colpowporcat.html

For a small area like 10x10ft this would do the job. Slightly larger ones use 20 lb propane tanks.

[cherylsart]

I plan to get a kiln while I am in Tucson in February. Once it's too cold in my back yard I'll go to my Dad's. That will work through the winter. Thanks everyone!

[DesertDreamer]

Okay, granted I live in Arizona, but it still gets darned chilly here. Before we moved into a house, the only place I could work was on my 2nd floor balcony. Summers were horribly hot (highs in the 100-teens) and winters could wander down to the 50s. I think the lowest I ever worked was into an early January twilight with a temp around 48. You don't notice much when your hands are by the torch. I used to wear jeans with tights, and my precious wool Stegmann clogs and a sweater with a long-sleeved t-shirt underneath. On extra chilly days I'd lay a light blanket over my lap, and I used the fingerless gloves they sell at Joann's for quilters/knitters to keep my hands warm. Where there's a will, there's a way!

The other big issue is shocky glass...a lot of colors get temperamental when it's that cool out. Once you have a kiln you can use a rod rest to preheat them.

[lunamoonshadow]

I've torched outside down to about 45 degrees if it's sunny out. Below that my fingers get too cold...and my spacers don't make it to the fiber blanket . I can't make much other than tiny spacers though...

[Leanne]

I worked all through winter here in Australia. I have an outside studio under a pergola (don't know if you call it a pergola in the US It's like a verandah roof) I was wearing a russian fur hat and an isreali army jacket and could see my breath it was sooooo cold. The torch keeps you hands warm though! None of my beads cracked on the way to the kiln.
if you can handle the cold there is no reason at all why you can't torch! Go for it and you can be a little torching eskimo like me!

[Moth]

Ummm...I torch in my outdoor studio and even with a space heater it can get below 30. Battery operated socks anyone? Elbow-high fingerless gloves? A hat?

I finally put a space heater in there last winter to see how it would work. The blown heat one did nothing as the heat was sucked out the ventilation very quickly...but the radiant heater did the job. It made it bearable. I put it under my workbench aiming at my feet and that helped a lot. The light coming off actually warms the body instead of trying to warm the air in the room. But it dried my eyes out something fierce.

I moved it behind my chair then, shooting at the back of my legs and I like that much better because it also keeps my back and shoulders warm. I did have to run a heavy duty extension cord though because to have my kiln, my vent fan, my oxycon, my lights AND the heater all on one breaker was causing problems (of course!). If anybody turned anything else on in the kitchen the breaker would trip and I'd have to wait with my bead twirling in an all-propane flame while hubby got the breaker back over and the oxycon caught up.

I would be yelling quite colorful phrases this entire time even though nobody could hear me.

Not everybody in Ohio gets the same weather as those of us further north and deep in the snow belt. It's not fun to work in. Especially because I work late at night, the coldest time of day.

Good luck getting warm, and remember...RADIANT heater.

~~Mary

[Moth]

OH, and I almost forgot. They sell big lightbulbs called heat lamps. I put that in my overhead light fixture one year. It really did keep me warmer, but once I got the radiant heater, I didn't need it anymore so when it blew out I didn't replace it. If you have a light fixture near your torch that would take one of these bulbs, they work great.

[lunamoonshadow]

If I had a kiln I'd torch outside waaay colder than the 45 or so degrees!...it's the fiber blankie/cool down so they don't "mush"/get fuzzies- cracking problem vs. stick into kiln while still really hot issue that I've got (likely the same you'll run into if you're using perlite/vermiculite--try warming it up tho & see how low you can go!!! )

(picturing Mary Moth happily torching away in a discarded shower stall, under one of those big red heat lamps...rofl...)

[cherylsart]

A discarded shower stall! Wow, I wish I could find something like that! It sounds like I'll be able to get down into the cooler weather and still be able to work. Dad's garage should be fine then, once it really gets cold here. It does snow here in the Winter. This is making me feel much better. My lampwork is selling so I want to keep doing it!!!

[Moth]

Originally Posted by lunamoonshadow

If I had a kiln I'd torch outside waaay colder than the 45 or so degrees!...it's the fiber blankie/cool down so they don't "mush"/get fuzzies- cracking problem vs. stick into kiln while still really hot issue that I've got (likely the same you'll run into if you're using perlite/vermiculite--try warming it up tho & see how low you can go!!! )

(picturing Mary Moth happily torching away in a discarded shower stall, under one of those big red heat lamps...rofl...)

Actually, it was a phone booth...NOT a shower stall. Silly girl.