start up help with new studio

James Lewis · #1 2012-08-10, 7:59pm

Ive been playing with fire for about a year now. However i have recently moved and had to put everything into storage and its time to start up a new studio. My girlfriend and i both have the glass bug. Both of us enjoy doing boro and soft glass. My girlfriend isnt sure what kind of work she wants to focus on. I am more focused at the moment in doing hollow form sculpture work (not pipes). I was wondering what everyones thoughts were on getting restarted. The list below shows what all glass,and equipment i currently have.

BORO. SOFT 15 8 and 7mm clear rods. Bead release 20 6mm clear rods. Few goldstone chips 10 3mm rods. Clear, black, white, assorted colors from kind hearts also 2 25mm tubes. Colbolt too many 1/8" manderals. 5/8" big hole 3 22mm tubes. Manderal 8 16mm tubes 15 9.5mm tubes not sure what else some color not much though

Equipment graphite paddle Small kiln Bottle oxy Claw grabbers fiber blanket Midrange with minor and a hothead i thinks about it comments are very welcome
budget is at max 400 would like to stay around 300

menty666 · #2 2012-08-10, 9:28pm

It's not really clear what your question is. Do we think you should get back into it? Sure!

But if you're looking for advice on what you might need for your shop, go poke around a bit in the past threads then come back with some specific questions. Most of what you need is in here already.

I think in most cases, a list of what glass you have is low on the list of concerns ahead of other things like a fire resistant work surface, a safe and properly sized power supply, adequate ventilation, good lighting, and a fire extinguisher.

Lorraine Chandler · #3 2012-08-10, 10:59pm

You will need eye protection, extinguisher, and a ventilation system, preferably one that is a lot more than just an open door and fan.

I also wear a respirator, Bear in mind that you should always feel the same way you leave a torching session as the way you went into it except for maybe being tired.

No dizzyness, shortness of breath, headaches, neck aches, chest aches, eye strain, burning arm or face skin from ambient heat etc. If you set your workbench up right, with the right equipment for you and build a proper exhaust system you will feel fine after torching.

And safety first. ALWAYS...

Exit door safety, extinguisher easy to reach, and maybe some aloe plants for any burns.

Be safe, have fun.

Cornbread · #4 2012-08-11, 8:05am

what lorraine said and what tom said.

I think the biggest thing here though is there is no set list of things to have. Each artist uses similar techniques, but will ultimately use completely different tools. a lot of artists make their own tools, to an extent. I know I have. The best way to figure out what you need (and increase your learning curve) is use only what you have to create what you have in your head. If you fail, you'll recognize why on your own (or you'll have a specific question to ask [tom]). If you succeed, you are one step ahead of most.

My favorite thing about being an artist (2.5 years in to it) is creating from what I have on hand. I have thousands in glass and tools and multi thousands in equipment and tools. But I typically only use the same 3 or 4 tools and the color combos are always fun when i get in the morning and pull it out of the kiln. I feel like, just using what I have on hand has really helped me learn a lot. My first 6 months I had almost no tools (paddle, poker, tweezers) and i learned sooo much!

Best of luck to you and as cliche' as it sounds, Safety first!!! NO COMPROMISES!!!

James Lewis · #5 2012-08-11, 9:07am

I have eye protection and a 2.5' squared sheet of steel as my work surface. I already have the ventalion planned and the fire exstigusher as well. I have alot beginning tools. I was mainly asking about the random tools like marble molds, big hole manderal, what tools do you use the most that you would suggest for someone in my postion. Some random color glass ideas would be cool too. Not asking for your personal pallete just a few ideas. Be assured i am going back into my glass. I have the glass bug itch twitch. I am literally crawling with ideas its really quite uncomfortable lol thank you for everyone that responses

James Lewis · #6 2012-08-11, 9:45am

This thread is also suppose to help keep my girlfriends mind and my mind off of smokimg since we are quiiting so we have more money to spend on glass. Quiting a bad habit for a habit that can make you quite insane lol

todda · #7 2012-08-11, 9:56am

good luck quitting - try hard candy to keep your mind off smoking

James Lewis · #8 2012-08-11, 10:01am

We have those e cigarettes to help as well they dont seem to have alot of nicotine in them but they do help with habit from the action alone

untamedrose · #9 2012-08-11, 10:49am

what kind of ecig are you using? know what your MG level is? and how much did you to smoke before?

James Lewis · #10 2012-08-11, 1:28pm

Its called FOOS cant find the MG amount and used to smoke a pack a day now im down to only having about 3 drags from a cig at a time and thats about every three hours so i think im doing good so far only started thursday

caliglassguy · #11 2012-08-11, 4:20pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Lewis

We have those e cigarettes to help as well they dont seem to have alot of nicotine in them but they do help with habit from the action alone

Awesome that you're quitting smoking! I quit 1 year 1 month 5 days ago by reading a book by Allen Carr called The Easy Way to Quit Smoking
The guy that wrote it was a 5 pack per day chain smoker. The book works...sounds weird I know but it boasts a success rate of 88% to 93% (something high like that) of people that read it stay quit and dont start again. Here's an amazon.com link so you can search for cheapest one http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...ay%2Caps%2C207

Another great motivator to quitting smoking is to get a jar and put exactly how much $ you would spend per day on smokes into the jar and at the end of the week or however long you want to let the cash build, take the $ out and go buy glass or nice dinner or something good

As far as glass goes my recommendation is to buy quarter lb increments of several colors to try for the boro especially as it is more expensive than effetre or other soft glasses. Double amber purple , blue moon, butterscotch, mai tai pink, jet black or onyx black, snow white, or egyptian white sand, quite a bit of clear.....also highly recommend Milon Townsends book Advanced Flamworking Volume I , The Contemporary Lampworking Books Set By Bandhu Scott Dunham, Corrina Tettingers book Passing the Flame for soft glass beads(this last book is not cheap at about 75 bucks but good instruction colored pics) If you plan on solid work like marbles the Infinite Rim Mold is awesome but about 150 bucks for one of them ....tools wise griffinglass has some nice tools so do many other places a good set of long tweezers is a must I think mine are 6 inch, 9 inch and 12 inch....you can get them with or without the grooved teeth arrowsprings glass and other places....sometimes you can find decent deals on ebay too for glass and tools....you could buy boro short rods which mostly wont be labled but cheaper than buying full rods just gotta attach to a punty or use some kind of holder...many ways to start on a budget....many ideas from people here ....not sure how many torches you have or oxy bottles or oxy concentrators....my first torch for soft glass and I still have it was a Carlisle CC mini, good workhorse type torch and good for soft glass and will melt some boro too....GTT has great torches so I hear as I have not used one yet...I run Nortel Red Max on tanked o2 and my CC Mini is now on a single M20 oxycon from Jack @ unlimited oxygen. Im sure you will get multiple reccomendations here....start small and definitely safety first even though I listed it last here

James Lewis · #12 2012-08-11, 4:53pm

I have a nortel midrange with a minor top fire thats my boro torch and larger bead work i also have a hothead torch which is of course soft glass and when ever i feel like using some store bought marbles as stringers with my soft glass it actually works pretty good give it a try some time no dragon tears though they just dont work with 104 the marbles work really well when used on the surface in thin lines or dots but thanks for the ideas

untamedrose · #13 2012-08-11, 6:10pm

Ouch... here this might help on the quitting..... http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/

menty666 · #14 2012-08-11, 6:17pm

Hit up goodwill for tools. I use an old butter knife I got cheap just about every session (I have one clamped to my torch too as a necking tool)

melon ballers can be used as marble molds in a pinch. Gravy boats make good frit trays.

There's enough money tied up in the ventilation, eye protection, torch, regs, hoses, lights, gases, and glass that sometimes you improvise the tools.

istandalone24/7 · #15 2012-08-12, 3:12am

little dollar store rectangular Sushi dishes (the kind you put the soy sauce in or whatever) make awesome frit trays!

home depot will just about give away 12" tile if it's been chipped..i use this for a bench marver...be careful some kinds will burn!

and believe it or not, but brass pipe fittings and a grinder and you can have a stump shaper.

i love making something from almost nothing.

that Mark Wilson dude over on wetcanvas is my idol for this....he built a small hotshop for only about $2000 i think.

James Lewis · #16 2012-08-12, 8:46am

Damn im going to have to go do some digging around we have alot of random ideas at my old house and we have a counter top building place here

James Lewis · #17 2012-08-12, 9:39am

Ive been thinking of buying a plate of graphite and making it into a L marver for my torch

istandalone24/7 · #18 2012-08-12, 9:55am

i'm going to have to break down and buy one. damned expensive for what it is. i may try and make one.

Lorraine Chandler · #19 2012-08-12, 10:15am

"what tools do you use the most that you would suggest for someone in my postion"

If you mean little tools the best ones to start with are tools for what you are interested in making i.e.
Marbles
Beads
Small sculptures
Large Sculptures
Etc.

Most of us start out making our own tools at first as we have a need for them. Thats it. You grow from there.

I also am always on the lookout for things that can be turned into tools while shopping, yardsales, Harbor Freight, Home depot, Walmart etc. You would be surprised what I have hanging on my pegboard!

I now have tools and equipment my husband is envious of but I have been into glass for over nine years now. One of my big investments was a air compressor and a sandblasting cabinet.

You just have to start and see where your muse and interests take you. That is a huge part of the fun.

Most people buy their tools and tutorials when something piques their interest or after they have taken classes.

I really believe that books, dvd's, and class instruction should be first, as many as you can afford. They really really give you lots of AHA! so that's how you do it moments!
Then you take that info home and put your own twists and styles on your creations and make them your own.

The faster you set up and get going the faster you will know what you need and want.

James Lewis · #20 2012-08-12, 11:19am

Good way of putting it ive always wanted the marver just to help with my shaping i normally just use my paddle as a marver. But its just not in the right place ya know. Hmmn i need to sit down and brain strom some

James Lewis · #21 2012-08-15, 3:52pm

The size of my studio is 8'L by 8'w by 8'h 512 cubic feet small but i know people have done great things with even less space then that

The work stations are going to be pretty close together. We're going to aslo be getting some welders blanket to put on the floor and some areas around on the wall thought it would be good since the whole thing is made out of wood and that stuff is suppose to be fire retardent. Might not stop the burning but there wont be any unwanted flames at least lol

caliglassguy · #22 2012-08-15, 6:03pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Lewis

The size of my studio is 8'L by 8'w by 8'h 512 cubic feet small but i know people have done great things with even less space then that

The work stations are going to be pretty close together. We're going to aslo be getting some welders blanket to put on the floor and some areas around on the wall thought it would be good since the whole thing is made out of wood and that stuff is suppose to be fire retardent. Might not stop the burning but there wont be any unwanted flames at least lol

May I suggest the concrete board from big box home improvement stores for your fire retardant flooring and wall boards and even your lampworking table tops.. I use it on top of my lampworking tables. It says moisture resistant but Ive dropped blobs of molten glass on it and it has not caught fire though it may smoke and leave marks on the concrete backer board. It goes by the name wonder board for about 10 bucks for a 5 ft by 3 ft by 1/2 inch thick piece.

Just remember if you need to cut it you will need a masonry saw....dont have a duh moment like me and buy a wood cutting saw and try to cut it to fit my honda accord in the parking lot of the store lol

Baywinger · #23 2012-08-15, 10:23pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Lewis

Ive been thinking of buying a plate of graphite and making it into a L marver for my torch

OH I did that last year and the marver was useful though I did not get it perfectly square that being said I will never work with graphite again I made several tools, I had a vacume hooked up to my band saw and sander but I spent the next 6 moths cleaning graphite out of the garage and then when I thought we had it licked my wife used the band say and graphite got all over again. both times it got on the bottom of our shoes and tracked all through the house as well.
making graphite tools is very easy but unless you have away to hermetically seal the dust it is just not worth it lol and of course if you do make sure to wear a respirator

Baywinger · #24 2012-08-15, 10:27pm

if you can braze you can make handy andy tweezers really easy. I bought a large pair of tweezers for 3 bucks at a scrap yard cut off the tips so I had the length I wanted drilled holes in the end and brazed tungston tips I cut and sharpend myself from tungston rod. very easy tool to make and great for making holes in hot glass

James Lewis · #25 2012-08-16, 4:21am

Nice my plan with the grahite plate was to use a jig saw and have the plate submerged in water

Role · #26 2012-08-16, 8:28am

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Lewis

Nice my plan with the grahite plate was to use a jig saw and have the plate submerged in water

James,

A jigsaw + water = electrocution.

Do not do that.

Graphite is very easy to cut, use a hacksaw outside.

Baywinger · #27 2012-08-16, 8:28am

that might work. I got a piece of stainless and bent it into shape, screwed the graphite to the stainless plate, then used a pipe clamp screwed into the bottom of the plate to atatch the marver onto the torch

Baywinger · #28 2012-08-16, 8:28am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Role

James,

A jigsaw + water = electrocution.

Do not do that.

Graphite is very easy to cut, use a hacksaw outside.

unless he is using a hand jig saw

Role · #29 2012-08-16, 8:35am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baywinger

unless he is using a hand jig saw

LOL, and here I thought those handsaws had a secret nuclear battery
inside that would electrocute the operator !!!

Graphite dust doesn't absorb water, it doesn't help it just makes a
bigger mess.

I cut graphite on a regular basis, I have about 1/4ton of it in the garage.

I do it outside with a blower behind me to blow the dust away.

Baywinger · #30 2012-08-16, 9:05am

I used to have a really cool hand operated jig though the table was wood so no water use there.
good to know water and graphite just make a bigger mess.
like I said for me I will just buy the graphite tools from now on, I love making my own tools but that is just way to messy lol