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Tips, Techniques, and Questions -- Technical questions or tips |
2008-05-16, 1:54pm
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Mar 04, 2007
Posts: 791
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How to make ornaments?
Well I got my hollow mandrils from tink yesterday and last night I made my first shards and a few blown vessels. I think I am in love with blowing glass!
I have heard you can make ornaments using hollow mandrils, how do you do it, how do you finish them off?
One of my first blown vessel attempts:
One of my first shard attempts:
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2008-05-16, 3:01pm
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Jul 23, 2007
Posts: 475
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I am having alot of fun blowing ornaments. If you do it just like you make a vessel it works well. I make a couple wraps at the end of the dipped mandrel and then marver them smooth and flat like the top of a comercial glass ornament. Then I just spiral the glass on in a round hollow sphere. Then just melt it down without messing up the flat lip and blow. I am really new and really bad at this and it is not hard. The 1/4 inch mandrels will fit the 10mm ornament caps if you make sure the glass is not to thick on the lip. I can make 2 1/2- 3 inch ornaments on my mini cc and they still fit in my kiln. After you anneal them you just clean the bead realease out of the top and plug the ornament cap in and you will be as happy as I was.
Have a blast,
Alison
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2008-05-16, 4:22pm
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Ad astra per aspera
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Join Date: Jun 15, 2005
Location: Apache Junction AZ
Posts: 7,324
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Here's my official guilt moment of the week. I've had a dozen of those German glaskolben bubble-tubes for....ummmm, a few years now? I'm scared stupid to use them and screw up. AND I'm not sure how to anneal them. Eeek! I have hot fingers, I have frit (OMG do I have frit LOL), but I also have a fear of screwing them up.
I bought them on a whim. Maybe I should put them in the Garage Sale but I'd love to figure out how the heck to work them.
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Karen Sherwood
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2008-05-17, 7:41pm
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Glass-aholic
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Join Date: Mar 21, 2007
Location: CT, tolland CT
Posts: 4,332
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oh just play with one... lol
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Minor 10lpm Oxy-Con + HH on Propylene . . . . . .
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To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. hand dyed silk ribbons in many colors!
WASHERS & TOPPERS - layering components for interchangeable glass topper and to use in other jewelry/metalwork.:
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2008-05-18, 4:31pm
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Jul 23, 2007
Posts: 475
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Yup! DO IT!
Here is a link with instructions
http://www.edhoy.com/BlownGlassOrnaments.pdf
This is easier than trying to get round beads. I promise.
Alison
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2008-05-18, 8:48pm
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Ad astra per aspera
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Join Date: Jun 15, 2005
Location: Apache Junction AZ
Posts: 7,324
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Thank you Alison! I had that file on my old PC and totally forgot I'd even lost it!
Okay, this week I'll sit down and give one a try.
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Karen Sherwood
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2008-05-19, 6:34am
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Jul 23, 2007
Posts: 475
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You know we will want pictures. We loooove pictures. Have fun!
Alison
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2008-05-19, 6:57am
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Wait.....what?
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Join Date: Oct 28, 2007
Location: Ypsilanti
Posts: 756
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So my sister has my mother's old teeny tiny plastic Christmas tree. It has glass ornaments and slowly they've been breaking, a few at a time. Now she needs half a dozen or so teeny glass round ornaments. I told her I'd see if I could make something to work for her. Does anyone know where to get the really tiny ornament tops? The ones I've seen are all very big. I'm talking the size of a pea for the smallest ornaments - which I probably won't be able to do for a while anyway - to something maybe as big as 15mm in diameter, probably 10 mm though.
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Katie
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2008-05-19, 7:19am
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Glass-aholic
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Join Date: Mar 21, 2007
Location: CT, tolland CT
Posts: 4,332
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I could not find a well prices source for the caps. The lady in the craft store suggested big bead caps, I could not find any that would have fit my specific bead, so I hit the discount store after christmas and pulled off the ends an a bucket of ornaments. they cost me like 5 bucks for almost 60 of them. If you make handles you can either wire wrap them a hanging device or string them on a short cord to just put right over the tree branch or what-not.
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Minor 10lpm Oxy-Con + HH on Propylene . . . . . .
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. . To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. hand dyed silk ribbons in many colors!
WASHERS & TOPPERS - layering components for interchangeable glass topper and to use in other jewelry/metalwork.:
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2008-05-19, 7:35am
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Nov 25, 2007
Location: Wadsworth OH/St. Louis, MO
Posts: 866
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Don't know where any of you live but Glasshopper's in St. Louis has a class in blowing ornaments. (May be in the Fall) There web site is www.glasshopperstudio.com. They're a really great group of people. I think they also have the caps.
Kathleen
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2008-05-19, 9:29am
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Formerly known as weasel
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Join Date: Jun 10, 2005
Location: Worcester N. Y.
Posts: 5,514
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DesertDreamer
Here's my official guilt moment of the week. I've had a dozen of those German glaskolben bubble-tubes for....ummmm, a few years now? I'm scared stupid to use them and screw up. AND I'm not sure how to anneal them. Eeek! I have hot fingers, I have frit (OMG do I have frit LOL), but I also have a fear of screwing them up.
I bought them on a whim. Maybe I should put them in the Garage Sale but I'd love to figure out how the heck to work them.
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I did the same thing you did, and I don't have a clue how to use them at all!!! Thought the instructions would be easy, but still don't understand the whats and how to's . color me dumb. Just might sell off mine too as I have quite a few.
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Wilma
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2008-05-19, 12:03pm
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Jul 23, 2007
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2008-05-19, 4:21pm
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Wait.....what?
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Join Date: Oct 28, 2007
Location: Ypsilanti
Posts: 756
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I think I'll have to make caps for the little teeny ones i need to make.
I want to try those glaskolben too, I just have to save a little money for them.
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Katie
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2008-06-07, 2:24am
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Member
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Join Date: Jun 05, 2008
Posts: 32
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Total newbie here still working on making solid round beads. This sounds like so much fun! I think I would have a blast. It's wonderful learning about all the new items & techniques I'll get to try out someday.
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2008-06-07, 6:44am
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Feb 24, 2006
Posts: 1,168
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instead of caps, if you cant get the right size, you could add a loop to the top for a ribbon. thats how i have mine on my tree.
ro
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Gtt Mirage torch with tanked oxygen.
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2008-06-07, 11:50pm
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Jun 10, 2005
Location: Alabama
Posts: 3,326
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You could also make one with PMC...
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2008-06-08, 4:40am
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Run Free Sweet Boy
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Join Date: Jan 29, 2008
Location: Orlando, Fl.
Posts: 2,194
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hi,
Ed Hoys has several sizes of the ornament caps. I also will give ya a super easy and cheap way f making small ornaments, and ornament pendants for christmas necklaces. I made neon signs for years. and every neon shop( look under signs in the yellow pages) has gobs of scap glass thats a foot long or so. The neon sign tubing is all 90 coe. So, go ask your local neon guy for some 10 and 15mm scrap tubing thats clear, not the phosphorous coated stuff. They may even sell you a few whole sticks as well.
next, just start gradually heating the end og the tube, and gather a glob of solid glass, and roll in frit or pwoders etc, melt in, and then tip the end of the tube UP slightlyand beging to blow and rotate slowly. When you get your bubble done, set it off in a rack to cool and beging the next one. After you get a bunch, just use a glass file and cut the tube close to the ball and pop on your cap.
Neon sign tubing is lead glass, so you need to work in an oxidizing flame. But you can use the powders that the furnace folks use, and the gold reeduction ones are YUMMY. ITs been about 7 years since I have worked doing neon, but the clear glass is pretty cheap, like abuck a pound, so asking for scraps isnt asking for a pot of gopld, and its also saving the landfill. I bet if you ofered to show the neon person how to make the ornaments they would be thrilled.
neon sign tubing also does not recycle like our botles etc do, because its not used commercially in other things. But for you folks that have small furnaces, it can make great cullet if its clean and is wonderful for paperweights. NIce optical clarity.
have fun.... and go ahead and play with the glass kolben blanks, its just glass, and you can get more. If you are not scewing up, you are not doing anything, and you are not learning anything.
Candice
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